Aga The King of Dogs
By Vladimir Bogomyakov
Translated from Russian by Svetlana Lavochkina
Caught a leaf with his paw.
His servants will stab my palm
To the point of no return.
His servants will draft a scheme
Of the so-called locust flight –
A route from our world
Into the world beyond.
They wake me up with a punch –
The pit of my stomach hurts.
I hear a hamster
Scratch the cage with its claws.
Hamster, pernicious pet,
Hamster, nothing to sneeze at.
It’s not without a reason
That in Uspenka Village at dusk,
The worried peasants whisper,
“Khamsters are coming! Watch out!”
Hamsters have come indeed,
Blight has swept through the crops.
For lack of magnesium,
The blue from girls’ eyes is bleached.
And in the capital city of Moscow
The so-called Kremlin stands.
In the Kremlin,
A table is placed.
On the table, the Soviet banner is stretched.
On the banner, different starfish are crawling:
Crossaster, patyria, rubena.
Devouring mussels with a smack.
And everybody prattles,
“We are the élite – we read Berdyaev.”
And everybody says,
“We are the sublime, and all others profane.”
And everybody reasons about the Devil and God,
As if their God
Was Pyotr Petrovich next door.
You lame brains!
Don’t try to take care of mankind.
Mankind will thank you
If you just leave it alone.
Better go out in the street –
He will be sitting there,
That Dog,
And with a bit of luck
You will see
Aga the Canine King
Catch a leaf with his paw.
АГГА — СОБАЧИЙ ЦАРЬ
Владимир Богомяков
Агга — собачий царь
Листик лапой поймал.
Слуги врежут в ладони
Безвозвратности знак.
Слуги схемы начертят
Пролетных путей
Так называемой саранчи
Из нашего мира в другой.
И я просыпаюсь
От толчка в солнечное сплетение.
И в клетке скребется маленький
Так называемый хомяк.
Но хомяк — он не фунт изюму.
Но хомяк — не шухры-мухры.
И недаром в Успенке — деревне совхозной
Говорили под вечер тревожно:
«Комяки идут, комяки!»
Идут комяки:
У растений наступает минеральное голодание,
У девок от недостатка магния светлеют глаза.
И в стольном во граде Москве
Есть так называемый Кремль,
Посреди Кремля стоит стол.
В столе лежит советское знамя,
Ползают по советскому знамени Кроссастер, патирия
И рубена,
С чавканьем пожирающая мидий.
И все говорят:
«Мы крутые, Бердяева читаем».
И вcе говорят:
«Мы духовные, а все что-то стали бездуховные».
И все рассуждают
О Дьяволе, о Боге,
Будто им Бог Петр Петрович.
О, суки!
Не заботьтесь о человечестве
И оно вам скажет Спасибо.
Пойдите на улицу.
Он там будет сидеть.
Так называемый пес.
Если повезет, то увидите,
Как Агга — собачий царь
Листик лапой поймал.
Vladimir Bogomyakov was born in Leninsk-Kuznetsky, USSR. He is the author of three poetry collections and two novels. His first book of poetry “Muleta” was published in Paris. Vladimir holds a PhD in philosophy and is currently teaching at the State University of Tyumen, Siberia. In Russia, Bogomyakov’s work appeared in numerous renown literary magazines, including “Novy Mir” and “Znamya”. He used to be one of the pillars of “Crazed Madmen” Literary Association. Now Bogomyakov is the member of International Discourse Research Academy. In his house, he rears fifteen cats of both sexes.
Svetlana was born and raised in Eastern Ukraine. A decade ago, she moved to Leipzig in Eastern Germany, where she teaches English, writes fiction and translates Ukrainian and Russian poetry into English. Her short stories and poetry translations were published or are forthcoming in Witness, Chamber Four Fiction Anthology, Mad Hatters’ Review, The Literary Review, Eclectica (shortlisted for Million Writers' Award 2010) and In Our Words Anthology. This year, she was on the panel of judges of the Million Writers Award and co-edited an international generational anthology "A Long and Winding Road". Svetlana is currently working on her first novel.