Third Coast Translators Collective is an international community of literary translators. Our members share resources, mentor one another, workshop projects in progress, facilitate pathways to publication, and foster a sense of belonging and excitement about the profession. We seek to build relationships with other literary and cultural organizations in Chicago and to become a valuable point of reference for international literature. This is the third in an occasional series featuring translations by members of TCTC.
d. h. lawrence
so one year after some cocksucker
fucked me up I started
to check out younger guys at gas stations
their broad shoulders, tight asses
and adam’s apples
then I got serious with
a plumber
who had broad shoulders, a tight ass
and an adam’s apple
thick gorgeous hands bigger than my head
we decorated the christmas tree together and visited
my religious girlfriends
he bought pants for my son
we visited his grandma
she was so old she looked like a craggy baby
one day he told me
good you write poetry that is quite alright
it’s just not a real job and I
have nothing against it, I write poetry also
I’ll show it to you
and so he did
oh mother
I still blush when I recall
my fury
my derisive snort
erupting and everything started spinning
I couldn’t even
cum with him
oh dear mother why the gorgeous hands
and those shoulders and tight ass cheeks and adam’s apple
what’s the point
why would he write those poems
so I put an end to that story
but he kept sending even more poems
holy mother of god I blush
when I recall my fury and
my derisive snort
why would he ruin
the christmas tree and the pants
and those gorgeous hands and write
such poems
I threw them in the trash
I’m furious when I recall
my derisive snort
and so
the story ended
I had a friend
neither good
nor bad
nothing more
a do-nothing
I hooked up with him
so the d. h. lawrence cocksucker with bad breath
didn’t end up with me
nor will he
I still feel his fury and his
derisive snort.
d. h. lorens
jedne me godine tako sjebao taj
stari pušikarović da sam počela
da gledam momke po pumpama
i njihova široka ramena i uske guzove
i jabučice
počela sam ozbiljnu priču sa momkom što je
radio u vodovodu
imao je široka ramena uske guzove i
jabučicu i
ogromne lepe šake veće od moje glave i
kitili smo jelku i posećivali moje pravoslavne
drugarice
i kupio je mom sinu pantalone
posetili smo njegovu baku
ona je izgledala kao
beba bila je toliko stara
jednog dana rekao me je
dobro, to što pišeš pesme to je sasvim u redu
ali to nije ozbiljan posao i ja
nemam ništa protiv i ja pišem pesme
pokazaću ti i pokazao je
majko moja mila stidim se kad se setim
čiste mržnje koju sam osetila i
odvratnog smeha
koji je poleteo i sve se okrenulo
i nisam više mogla sa njim
ni da svršim
majko moja mila čemu te divne šake
i ta ramena i uski guzovi i jabučica
čemu to sve
zašto je napisao te pesme
i završila sam priču
i dobila sam još pesama
majko mila i bože oprosti stidim se
kad se setim te čiste mržnje i tog
odvratnog smeha
zašto nekom
padne na pamet da zagadi i jelku i
pantalone i te divne šake pa napiše
takve pesme
bacila sam to
kad se setim osetim čistu mržnju
i odvratan smeh
i tako
priča se završila
tada sam imala jednog druga
nije bio dobar čovek
ni loš
onako
taj ništa nije radio
i počela sam sa njim
a d. h. lorens pušikarović kome smrdi iz usta
i neće
osećam njegovu čistu mržnju i njegov
odvratni smeh.
fuck your cv
my name is milena marković i was born in
zemun one april morning my mother
managed to cook breakfast for my sister and brother i tumbled out
headfirst and i was a good baby
my room was small and divided by a wardrobe into
male and female sections i remember my crib with
netting and the grown-ups came and went till
someone picked me up and changed me then i was dry and
my father smiled at me and when we went to the countryside
my father drove fast downhill as if we were in a toboggan
i had never experienced anything
so thrilling except briefly when i got drunk
before everything started spinning i went with
my brother on long walks by the river across
a bridge into the city once i hennaed
my hair and it rained and red water washed down
my neck and an older boyfriend
kissed me at the bus stop and smiled and smelled
of tobacco and dope and there was an old furnace in the woodshed
where i was sitting for hours and there was even an unhorsed carriage
and then i would lie down on the grass and i watched
people ice fishing and the sky of a poplar and the sky
the plum orchard was there and a cornfield and a very cold river and
silver trout and i gave birth prematurely
and breastfed for two years and he was nowhere
near to talking and he ran and ran all the time
and i lived alone in an apartment overlooking
the roofs and i cooked and laughed and ran and
fell and survived my name is milena
marković and i grew up in new belgrade
then i went to the đeram farmers market and then
i returned to new belgrade quite possibly
i’ll stay there till the end
i don’t know how to ride a bicycle and i don’t know
how to drive a car and i have difficulty with math and i know
very few things and i know that by the end
i’ll learn even less.
jebo vas cv
ja se zovem milena marković rođena sam u
zemunu jednog jutra u aprilu moja majka je
stigla da da doručak sestri i bratu ispala sam
uredno glavom i bila sam dobra beba
soba je bila mala i pregrađena ormarom na
muški i ženski deo sećam se kreveca sa
mrežom i njih velikih kako idu tamo dok me
neko ne uhvati i presvuče onda sam suva i
otac mi se smeje i kad smo išli na selo pravio
je tobogan kolima tako što se zaletao na
nizbrdicu i skoro da nisam više tako nešto
lepo doživela osim ono kratko kad se napijem
pre nego što sve počne da se vrti išla sam sa
bratom na duge šetnje pored reke preko
mosta pa u grad jednom sam stavila kanu na
kosu i pala je kiša i crvena voda je krenula da
curi niz moj vrat i taj me stariji momak
poljubio na stanici i smejao se a mirisao je na
duvan i dop i bila je stara peć u vajatu gde
sam ja sedela satima i čeze su bile
a onda bih legla na travu i gledala
bagrenje i nebo topole i nebo
šljivik je bio i kukuruz i jako hledna reka i
srebrne pastrmke i rodila sam dete rano
i dojila sam dete dve godine i on nije nikako
počinjao da priča i stalno je trčao i trčao
i živela sam sama u stanu koji je gledao na
krovove i kuvala sam i smejala se i trčala i
padala i preživela sam ja se zovem milena
marković i odrasla sam na novom beogradu
onda sam otišla na đeram pijacu pa sam se
opet vratila na novi beograd vrlo verovatno
ću tu i ostati do samog kraja
ne znam da vozim bicikl i ne znam i znam
vrlo malo stvari i znam da ću da kraja još
manje da naučim.
✶✶✶✶
Milena Marković (b. 1974) is an award-winning Serbian poet, playwright, and screenwriter. She has published seven poetry collections; her latest collection, Deca [Children], is a book-length poem published in 2021. Her plays have been staged across Europe and in the United States. She has also written screenplays for film and TV, such as Patria, winner for Best Screenplay at the FEST International Film Festival.
✶
Steven and Maja Teref’s translations include Ana Ristović’s Directions for Use, shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Best Translated Book Award, and the National Translation Award, and Novica Tadić’s Assembly. Their translations have appeared in The New Yorker, Brooklyn Rail, Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. Steven is a co-editor with Aleksandar Bošković of Zenithism (1921–1927): A Yugoslav Avant-Garde Anthology, forthcoming from Academic Studies Press in 2022. Maja teaches English at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.
✶
Simonida Rajčević (b. 1974) is a Serbian artist who has exhibited her artwork in Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, and throughout the Balkans. She has illustrated all the covers of Milena Marković’s poetry collections.
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