Даниел Вайсборд. Переводы поэзии Ауэзхана Кодара на английский
Daniel Weissbort. 07.06.06
Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary and my very best wishes.
My wife Valentina Polukhina, a noted Brodsky scholar, loves your poetry and tells me that she sees a lot of Brodsky in it: the way you have integrated philosophical insights, the destiny of your metaphors.
I liked your poetry from the start, when I read some poems in Almaty. I was particularly impressed be the irony, allowing your poetry to be all-inclusive, with apparent casualness, although it is also clear that you are a master of prosody.
I have attempted to retranslate a few poems and append them. They are not yet finished and I wpuld appreciate your comments. I have noted one problem, and look forward to your response.
However, if you wish to use them anywhere, please feel free. I look forward to further collaboration with you and I am delighted that we met on my alas too brief visit to Kazakhstan.
With my very best wishes to you,
And warm regards to your wife and daughter,
Daniel.
Poems by Auezkhan Kodar
Letter to Nowhere
I’m going to write a letter, if only to shake off this mood.
I’m deceiving the muses, but they’ll not mind.
Even if the calendar has all its pages ripped out,
In the garden, apples and plumes abound.