Ivan Slamnig - Poetry in Croatian and English - JCS 21

FROM CONTEMPORARY CROATIAN POETRY*[1]

TRANSLATIONS

By ANTUN NIZETEO and G. MARVIN TATUM

IVAN SLAMNIG Born 1930:

Born in Mecković, Dalmatia, lives in Zagreb. His books of poetry are:

ALEJA POSLIJE SVEČANOSTI ["The Avenue after a Celebration] 1956, ODRON [Landslide] 1956, NARONSKA SIESTA [The Siesta at Narona] 1963, MONOGRAFIJA [The Monograph] 1965, LIMB [Limbo] 1968, ANALECTA 1971, PJESME [Poems], 1973.

KANONIZACIJA	THE CANONIZATION
Šećem kroz zrak kroz medju ono odredjeno s tri točke a probito s tri riječi koje ja znam, a oni ne znaju Hrvati iz slovenskih autobusa i Talijani koji bi im nešto prodali ali im je već dosadilo. Bijela golubica privilegija (ili bijaše plameni jezik) spušta se na me.	I am taking a drive through the air through the border determined by three points and pierced by three words which I know and they don't know Croats from the Slovene buses and Italians who would like to sell something but who have already gotten bored by all that. The white dove of privilege (or is it a tongue of fire) descends upon me.
Poznam ja ova mjesta ako me ona i ne poznaju. »It must be a canonization, the Holy Father in the middle« Yes, the first Croat saint, Croatian, you know, Yugoslav ... « »Croatian, of course we are of Irish origin too.«	I know these places though they don't know me. "It must be a canonization, the Holy Father in the middle" "Yes, the first Croat saint, Croatian, you know, Yugoslav ... " "Croatian, of course we are of Irish origin too."[2]
Spuštam se prema Koloseumu. malo u hlad ... cipele moram skinut ... ovuda ... ja sam išao ovuda ...	I go down toward the Colosseum a little into the shade ... I must take off my shoes … this way ...I went this way...
ne, ali poznam stepenice pa to su pravi Rimljani, otac izvodi sina ja bih da sjednem u hlad, u hlad od krune čempresa. Crvena zemlja medju kamenjem kao u Dubrovniku (o da padne sitna kiša) i tako sjedam, jedva su me pogledali vide da nisam Amerikanac, premda u modroj košulji, alii nisam ni Talijan, zna to sinov otac.	no, but I know these stairs after all, they are real Romans, the father is taking out his son I would like to sit down in the shade, in the shade of the cypresses. The red-earth amidst the stones like in Dubrovnik (oh, if it would only shower) and so I am sitting down, they hardly notice me, they see I am not an American, though I wear a blue shirt, but neither am I an Italian, the son's father knows that.
A ja sam doma, skidam cipele crvenica nije prljava Ovdje mislim svoje misli, u mrlji hlada, ovdje sam složio kuću daleko kod sebe.	And I am at home, I take off my shoes the red-earth is not dirty Here I think over my own thoughts, in the shady spot, here I have made a home far away, within myself.

HRVATSKI PJESNICI	THE CROATIAN POETS
Uzvrnute brkove, serdarske brke, crne brke, brčine uštirkane visoke kragne, surke mnogominutni tinto und turkožderski grudobolni pogled okrugle smešne pobratimove naočale wenn möglich deutschsprachig	With twisted moustaches, sirdar[3]-like moustaches, black moustaches, great mustachios with high stiffened collars and surkas[4] a long-lasting inky und[5] turkophagous consumptive look with bosom-friend's round funny eyeglasses wenn möglich deutshsprachig[6]
štujući ljubne najmladji član	the youngest member with respect kisses them[7]
koji je još uvijek na prsima posjednut na visoki bijeli barski stolac ne misleći ni najmanjim dijelom maloga mozga da je ovaj jezik koji žvačem dijeleći ga sa Srbima kao zdjelu bravetine u sočivici pružen od vas, and I have taken it.	He still sucks the breast sitting on the high white barstool not thinking with the slightest part of his little brain that this language I chew sharing it with the Serbs as a bowl of mutton and lentil soup is offered by you, poets, and I have taken it.[8]

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[1] For the first part of these translations see the Journal of Croatian Studies, vol. 20 (1979), pp. [52] - 101.

In the introductory note of these translations, on page 53, an onomastic error should be corrected: the first name of the poet and critic Mrkonjić is not Zlatko but Zvonimir, so it should read Zvonimir Mrkonjić.

Also it should be brought to the attention of the reader that two poems of Zlatko Tomičić, formerly included in this selection, were taken out and added to the translations of Tomičić poems published in this issue of the Journal of Croatian Studies, p. 9-25.

[2] In English in the original.

[3] Sirdar, a person of high rank in India.

[4] Surka, a brownish coat, favored by the 19th century Croatian patriots (the Ilirci).

[5] In German in the original.

[6] In German in the original.

[7] In the original, "štujući ljubne," a line from the poem "Radniku" (To the Worker) by the Croatian poet S. S. Kranjčević (1865-1908), which refers to kissing the worker's hand.

[8] In English in the original