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Post by moira on Oct 15, 2008 23:34:12 GMT 2
Vizma Belðevica
introduced by J. C. Todd
Vizma Belðevica (b. 1931; d. 2005) has seven volumes of poetry, and numerous awards in Latvia, including the Ojârs Vâcietis Award (1988), the Order of the Three Stars (1995), and the Cultural Ministry Award for Life Achievement in Literature (1997). Her Swedish awards include the Einar Forseth Foundation Award (1992) and Tomas Transtromer Award (1998). One of the foremost Latvian poets of the twentieth century, her work was forbidden publication for many years when Latvia was a Soviet republic.
Vizma Belðevica
“Medieval Motif: Inquisition”
I believe. But the symbol of faith is—a cross. Dissent, a cry between earth's lateral plot And the line that reaches directly for heaven. Dissent, a silence between the dark root And the bloom that reaches for the sun. I hang by nails. Becoming blood—the cross. My happiness and torment. Reward and punishment. I believe, only as a heretic.
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Translated by J.C. Todd Previously published in The Drunken Boat, 5:III-IV. Ed. Rebecca Seiferle. www.thedrunkenboat.com/belsevica2.html
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