AUDIO OF THE DAY: Szabolcs Váradys Chairs Above the Danube (trans. George Szirtes) bit.ly/1z1au6c CHAIRS ABOVE THE DANUBE The two chairs were not unhandsome in their way. Shame about the springs protruding and the filthy covers. But chairs are chairs are chairs, and these would do. And so we carried them, mostly on our heads, from Orlay Street, across what once was known as Franz Joseph, now Liberty Bridge, right down to Ráday Street 2, where P then lived (as his poems of the time will testify). A chair, or even two, can prove quite useful in all kinds of ways. Two poets on the bridge bearing chairs on their heads – one could imagine a picture with that title. I’d like it to be a realistic picture not one of those visionary things. The two chairs, it should be clearly understood, are not to be construed as haloes round our heads. About the middle of the bridge – without wanting to make a point of it – we sat down on them. The springs of one chair stuck out particularly. I can’t remember which of us had it. No matter, what happened later can’t be explained by that. It was a pleasant summer evening. We lit a cigarette, enjoying the comfort of our circumstances, which were a little unusual. The chairs survived for a while doing respectable service: they were the chairs at P’s place. But naturally one wants to improve one’s lot: so they gave the chairs to an upholsterer. Then they changed addresses, the first time because they had to, the next because they hated the flat. We tend to meet less often nowadays. Much has happened since. G left A (P’s wife) and M (the wife of B) broke up with me, then the second M (G’s wife) abandoned G and came to live at my place (the Bs too separated in the meantime), P tried suicide and spends most of the time in institutions, not to speak of changes in world politics, in any case we’ve nowhere to sit down. © Translation: 2008, George Szirtes
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 10:00:41 +0000
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