Conversations With the Parrot | written by Maya Weinberg & translated from Hebrew by Yoni Hammer-Kossoy
1.
To hatch in a breeding farm.
To notch your flight feathers.
To steal every chance
or choice of freedom.
2.
Instead of joy
you bring sadness.
3.
Perfectly mimics
honking horns
trucks in reverse
a ringtone’s jumble
not a single sound
of the jungle.
4.
Brush your teeth
Brush your teeth
Brush your teeth
5.
All morning I spoke
to myself and after
with the plumber with
the neighbors with
customer service
I yammered at the ear
of the world that doesn’t
pretend to listen.
6.
Go to sleep
Go to sleep
Go to sleep
7.
You don’t try
to fly away even
when the cage door
is open.
8.
Pellets for food.
Minerals from a stone.
Hanging on a plastic perch.
A mirror
instead of friends.
9.
Zero danger.
Decent shelter.
Plenty of
food and water.
10.
Not today.
Too late for today.
Not tonight.
Maybe tomorrow?
11.
What about
tomorrow?
Let’s see
yes, it sure seems
like the same.
12.
Four in the morning.
Far from sleep.
Cats under your cage.
Fears under my pillow.
13.
Get up
Get up
Get up
14.
What does your parrot know
how to say?
Hello
Thank you
OK
15.
I tried
of course I tried
every day I try.
16.
If the parrot gets too excited or upset –
cover the cage with a blanket.
17.
The whole house
buried slowly
under the gray snow
of your downy
feathers.
18.
If the parrot show signs of apathy –
bring him a new toy or something sweet.
19.
The baby wakes
I say:
mommy’s here
and right away
the pacifier
teaches her
distraction.
You understand
someone must bear
the beauty of the world.
20.
And maybe the good
prevails
in your foolish
heart as well.
Editorial Commentary
Translation encompasses many of the things I love about poetry: listening to another person’s voice, understanding how their words move on the page, and then trying to figure out the best way to reflect and say what’s being said in a new language. In this context, it’s the collaborative process of working with a poet – indeed our conversation – that ultimately shapes and enables translation.
There are multiple levels of dialogue taking place in Maya Weinberg’s “Conversations with the Parrot” (from in her 2021 collection, “Hand to Mouth”). First and foremost there is the lyric sequence, where we the readers are brought into the poet’s exchanges with herself, her parrot, and the surrounding world. But also, this English version is the output of an ongoing conversation between me and Maya in which we focus on the relocation and transformation of her work from Hebrew to English.
Finally, there’s a conversation I have with myself as a translator, one in which I’m always asking, “Is this right? Or maybe it’s this word?” If the answer according to a dictionary is yes, but according to sound, rhythm, art, poetics, politics, and who knows what else, the answer is maybe, then I know I need to keep working, and asking, and listening.
~ Yoni Hammer-Kossoy