Three Poems From My Epic

MY EPIC / SONG 1. / HOW KONSTANTIN PETERZHAK SOMETIMES HAS A FACE /

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here

in my grasses
in my inner steppes:

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I am the cloud
I am the big dog
I wear one hundred and eight different guises

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here:

I caress the head of a grazing horse
I caress the back of a pig
my fangs are solid and square

I get lost joyously in the mountainous lands
I call a musky steer by name
I wear sixty-two antlers

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sometimes things happen to me:

I wash my mouth with rainwater
I live stripped to the waist
I look a bit like myself

a fine down pushes me from inside
a find down pushes out of my scalp

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this is my true face

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MY EPIC / SONG 2. / HOW KONSTANTIN PETERZHAK MAKES BEEF STOCK /

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at other times

in my grasses
in my inner steppes:

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I revel for three days in shaggy fur
I stink a beast and a bug
a cow tail whips my brow

at other times I boil up some beef stock
my leg muscles get strong
I am the master of trees and streams

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from time to time

in my grasses
in my inner steppes:

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I get cozy with a yak
I get cozy with his lice

I rub myself down with lye
I dazzle myself

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here any fur coat is good for me

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I repeat: here any fur coat is good for me

MY EPIC / SONG 5. / IN WHICH KONSTANTIN PETERZHAK STATES: “I DON’T FATTEN THE PIGS HERE” /

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georgy flyorov / I would like to tell / everyone / anyone / like I do with you / only with you:

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hello / I’m peterzhak / konstantin peterzhak / this is my epic / this is song 5. / it takes place in my steppes / in my inner grasses / in the dusts and rains / in butcher shops and bakeries / welcome everyone /

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but is it possible / georgy flyorov / is it possible / without looking like an idiot / is it possible /

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here however

in my steppes
in my inner grasses:

you rub up against the world / you make a hide with a thing / you make a world with a thing /

here however:

you listen to the little people /

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the onions don’t stress
the carrots don’t stress
not one tomato fears the great void

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here however:

someone can grab my ear
someone can drown me in thick tea
someone can drag me through the yellow mud

I wear a long felt coat
I don’t make a single gray sound
I don’t fatten the pigs

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okay / here: sometimes I swallow ten times in a row / okay / sometimes I smoke a pipe in a strong wind / okay okay / sometimes I eat headless roosters /

okay okay /

but I also make wishes / I turn circles around a big stick / I repeat: but I also make wishes / I turn circles around a big stick / that’s how I get away from the yellow spit /

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isn’t it wonderful / georgy flyorov / isn’t it wonderful /

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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Alex Niemi is a writer and translator from the French, Russian, and Spanish. Her recent work includes a translation of The John Cage Experiences by Vincent Tholomé (Autumn Hill Books, 2020), and she is the author of the poetry chapbook, Elephant(dancing girl press, 2020).

Vincent Tholomé is a Belgian writer and performer. He has published almost twenty books mixing fiction and poetry. His latest works are: Mon voisin Noug [My Neighbor Noug], his first book for young people, as well as La mécanique automobile [The Auto Mechanic] and Rêves et vies d’Alphonse Brown [The Dreams and Lives of Alphonse Brown], both co-written with future mechanics, masons, and carpenters. Currently, he is working on a libretto for an opera of his book My Epic.

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