Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev

Translated from Russian to English by Venya Gushchin

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[there’s no returning after all to that]

there's no returning after all to that

for which you initially had to maintain anonymity

or to bewail lamenting

how to mount the trussing more dense

it is possible even in the scabious stingers of heat

on mother’s insistence to the mulberry tree

you wander the village anticipating how below the nape will heap

from all the nearfruitnesses of the furled ornitography

                                                                        of the hot dry wind

so debridling

brushing aside metaphoricity

from the contents of overstayingly awating amidmiddling revelations of honeydew sunk relief

of the clotting of oblivion transmitting grammar and exceptions (apparatus tautologiam)

in the feverishly reconstructed surroundinglessness of the thing’s flight into self-repetition

and a moth on the blade of fingereyed snowstorm

will expose doubts and exhaustion

of the crystalline forgery to creation anew

::: stormlight dancing in a ring –

                                                                                    -/to become more attentive in laughter/-

safekeeping depersonalizes

show the demons their likeness

this is exile

having split the ripened tackle open

you will confirm

it was hiding in

what did not want to be dislocated

emitted whitish feathers on the flattened floor

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[ведь не вернёшься к тому]

ведь не вернёшься к тому

к чему для начала приходилось сохранять анонимность

или причитать сокрушаясь

как бы посадить поплотнее стропила

возможно и в чесоточных жалах жары

по настоянию матери к шелковице

бредёшь по просёлку предчувствуя как под затылок навалится

во всех околоплодностях свернувшейся орнитографии

                                                                                               суховей

так и обезудерживающего

отметая метафоричность

содержания засиженно подстерегавших средисредственных откровений падевого контррельефа

створаживания беспамятности сощеления грамматики исключений (apparatus tautologiam)

в лихорадочно реконструируемую безокружность ускользания вещи в самоповторении

и мотылёк на лезвии пальцеокой метели

раскроет сомнения и усталость

хрустального подлога к сотворению вновь

::: буресвет хороводящий –

                                                                                        -/стать более наблюдательным во смехе/-

хранение обезличивает

покажите демонам их обличье

это изгнание

раскроив созревшую снасть

ты убедился

оно пряталось в том

что не желало быть перемещённым

испустив белесые перья на раздавленном полу

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Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev is a poet from Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russian Federation. His work has appeared in [Translit], PoetryEastWest, Circulo de Poesía, and elsewhere. In 2021, he received the Arkady Dragomoschenko Prize and was shortlisted for the Cicada Prize. His debut collection Experiences and Intentions was published in 2022 by Porydok Slov.

Venya Gushchin is a poet, literary translator, and assistant professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California. His translations of Vladimir Mayakovsky and Elizaveta Mnatsakanova have received the Columbia University Slavic Department Pushkin Prize. His translation of Blockade Swallow, selected poems by Olga Berggolts, appeared from Smokestack Books in 2022. His translation of the Russian-language Kalmyk poet Dordzhi Dzhaldzhireev Beyond Salvation is forthcoming from World Poetry Books in 2027. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus; Exchanges; Broken Lens and elsewhere.

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