Poets poised for Nobel glory; Swede is favorite – Mike Collett-White – Sep 29, 2010 – Reuters
British company Ladbrokes have given [Tomas] Transtromer, 79, odds of 5/1, or one chance in six of winning. He is ahead of three other poets backed at 8/1 — Poland’s Adam Zagajewski, South Korea’s Ko Un and Syria’s Adonis.
After a Death
by Tomas Tranströmer
translated by Robert Bly
Once there was a shock
that left behind a long, shimmering comet tail.
It keeps us inside. It makes the TV pictures snowy.
It settles in cold drops on the telephone wires.
Read rest of poem @ Poets.org
Balance
by Adam Zagajewski
translated by Clare Cavanagh
I watched the arctic landscape from above
and thought of nothing, lovely nothing.
I observed white canopies of clouds, vast
expanses where no wolf tracks could be found.
Read rest of poem @ Poets.org.
Untitled
by Ko Un
Translated by Brother Anthony of Taizé, Young-moo Kim, and Gary Gach
One day I took a pebble from
an East Sea beach and put it in my pocket
but it jumped back out, shrieking.
Read rest of poem @ Jacket.
Mask of Songs
by Adonis
Translated by Adnan Haydar and Michael Beard
In the name of his own history,
in a country mired in mud,
when hunger overtakes him
he eats his own forehead.
Read rest of poem @ Guernica.
