Language: Albanian
Poet: Luljeta Lleshanaku
Translator: Henry Israeli & Shpresa Qatipi
Region: Albania
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your shadow slips from the chair
From Issue 3, a poem by Luljeta Lleshanaku, translated from the Albanian by Henry Israeli & Shpresa Qatipi
Njolla e Bardh
Koka ime, e mbeshtetur mbi supin tend te majte
eshte valenca jote zero, vetmia metalike gri
perveç ajrit. Qukat e ndryshkut
perforcojne karakterin e ngjeshur e naiv prej femije.
Koha rrehqet ngadale . . . , termometri i varur
ne mur ulje me ndrojtje mbathjet e tejdukshme te zhives.
Striptiza e vjeshtes,
striptiza e pevitshme e vjeshtes
provokon indet e fshehta
te dimensionit tone te trete.
Me tremb e njejta enderr.
Krimbi i mendafshit
bren gjethet e saj te reja
e hija jote rreshqet nga karrigia
si fustan dekolte mbremjeje
qe ka mbuluar per shume kohe
veç brezin tim tropikal.
Valenxa jote zero eshte
vetmia kimike e pashprese
Reaksione djegjeje, gazra te zeza mbytese i vishen
shpirtit tim te lire.
E perkryera
gjithmone na ka trembur
si njolla e bardhe e stuardeses, atje ne hyrje
kur paralajmeron se duhen zgjidhur rripat poshte gjoksit,
kur paralajmeron se udhetimit i erdhi fundi.
The White Stain
My head on your left shoulder
is valence zero; a grey metallic loneliness.
Freckles, spots of rust . . .
Time drips slowly, mercury in the thermometer
hung on the wall shyly slides away
—autumn’s striptease
revealing what was hidden.
Each night, the same nightmare.
The silk worm
gnaws at fresh leaves
and your shadow slips from the chair
like a low-cut evening dress
I once wore.
Your valence zero is
a hopeless chemical loneliness—
burning flesh,
black suffocating gases.
Unconditional love
has always frightened me—
as has the stewardess in white, there, near the exit
who directs us to fasten our seatbelts
near the end of the journey.
Luljeta Lleshanaku, born in Elbasan, Albania, began publishing her work in 1991 after the overthrow of the Stalinist regime. Her critically acclaimed books of poetry are The Sleepwalker’s Eyes (1993), Sunday Bells (1994), Half-Cubism (1996), and Yellow Marrow: New and Selected Poems (2001), for which she won the Albanian National Book Award. In 2002, New Directions published a collection of her poetry in translation, titled Fresco: Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku. English translations of her work have also appeared in Grand Street, Fence, Modern Poetry in Translation, and Visions-International, for which they won the 1996 Translation Award.
Henry Israeli’s books include New Messiahs (Four Way Books, 2002) and Fresco: the Selected Poetry of Luljeta Lleshanaku (New Directions, 2002), which he edited and co-translated. He has been awarded a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for poetry translation. He is also the founder of Saturnalia Books.
Shpresa Qatipi is a professor of English at Tirana University. In addition to the poems of Luljeta Lleshanaku, she has translated and published short stories, essays, and articles for the Eurolindja Publishing House in Albania and the Soros Foundation.
