New Maxim Amelin Translations in Waxwing (8) and Two Lines (24) - March 10, 2016

The current issue of Two Lines (Spring 2016, #24) is a great one for Russian literature. Sibelan Forrester translates I. Grekova, James Kates translates Aigerm Tazhi, and Anne Fisher and I translate two more poems by Maxim Amelin. We’re particularly proud of our “Classical Ode to V. V. Mayakovsky,” where Amelin tells Mayakovsky to become “the man you never were: / grow old, but stay tradition’s scourge, / the crossroads where all streets converge, / the stallion mounting every mare!” Words to live by, for all of us! Thanks to C.J. Evans at Two Lines and all the good folks at the Center for the Art of Translation in San Francisco. Pick up your copy today!

Also available is our translation of “The Scribe’s Confession” at Waxwing Literary Journal (online). You’ll have to read this one yourself to learn the Scribe’s secret. Thanks for Sarah Valentine at Waxwing for accepting the poem, Curtis Bauer for soliciting the Translators’ Note, and Todd Kaneko–whom I met, years ago, at Kenyon College–for making such a beautiful journal. We’re proud to be a part of it. See also Katherine Young’s translations of the Russian poems of Xenia Emelyanova in the same issue.