Jan Zikmund studied English and American studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University. Since 2018 he has worked for the Czech Literary Centre where he is primarily responsible for the promotion of Czech literature in English-speaking countries. As part of this job, he initiated, for instance, the 2020 Czech issue of the Modern Poetry in Translation magazine and organised the presentation of Czech comics at the 2021 Lakes International Comic Art Festival. His reviews and essays have been published widely in Czech literary magazines. He is currently on the jury for the Magnesia Litera Award for Poetry.
B O D Y, through its ties with translators, has always given space to intriguing voices from the past. When selecting my favourites on the occasion of the magazine’s ten-year anniversary, it seemed fitting to highlight three deceased poets – a Hungarian, Czech, and Russian – that deserve more attention.
Maybe We’re Leaving By Jan Balabán Translated by Charles S. Kraszewski Glagoslav Publications 2018, 164 pp Ray Bradbury’s Machineries of Joy (1964) includes a
Short stories by Ádám Bodor, Anna Bolavá, Zoran Ferić, Richard Pupala, Dušan Mitana, and Pavla Horáková. A review of Uršula Kovalyk’s The Night Circus by Michael Stein and a review of the story collection And My Head Exploded by Kirsten Lodge.
to stare for too long into the empty china cups of your eyes / is more dangerous than a scorpion’s caress / but you are my sister and the flag of your bra signals incest and night
It races, / carrying eleven meetings, / a lady’s purse, / a separation’s grief, / seven briefcases, / eight belated greetings, / and a beetle / on a jacket’s sleeve.
In my village, I’m the fool. / Sad dogs know me – sad white school / of sleepy dogs that drift away /
into the distance.
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