Selected Poems

by Tereza Riedlbauchová

from Paris Notebook

Translated from the Czech by Stephan Delbos

Arrival

When she came from abroad I was waiting for her
she was startled she sat on the stool behind the door
bent her legs and hugged them
she had dark blue knees
dusky purple
light blue
pink
lemon
rich orange

For Yves Dreiss

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Departure

apartment cleaned to obliteration
long hallway to terrace heat
eleven friends departed
and the lovers got up from the Mexican dinner with knives instead of fingers
a nurse behind the bar pulls glasses from the dishwasher
and hangs them upside down behind a slender shank
rough moss pushes through entrails

---

There’s nothing sadder than open country
it lives with its own indecipherable order
spring, everything blossoming
and no one looks at the flowers
only the stars cuddle evening
on white cherry blossoms
and pink apple blossoms
And a doe that stopped for a moment in the field
returned to empty space
a white triangle of nothingness

---

P. went to Walpurgis Night on Saturday and I went to the USA
I walked through unfamiliar streets
in one restaurant they had a toadstool head on each table
I was told they were specially prepared to eat
I ate half of one and started screaming
Americans were fussing over me and an ambulance whooped
then my dad appeared out of nowhere

---

My dream was within reach
neither glass nor wall between us
I had only to hold out my hand

instead I carefully fastened
all the buttons on my jacket
and ran for my solitude

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Photo cover by Julia Dragan