FROM DIS TANZ, VELIZ BOOKS, 2025

*
did you touch my english
did you detach my english
did you debrief my english
did you break my english
did you english with my english
did you fool around with my english
did you ask my english for favors
did you depart from my favor
in a boat

were you giving it the cold shoulder
how do you like my english
have you listened to it
did you pay attention
did you pay it a visit
have you visited my england

have you been landing around here
are you attached to my english
would you retouch my english
would you give it a dressing down
have you passed by my english
have you entered the field of my english
what flowers grow there
have you walked around my english
were you on an eng leash
did you pass up on my english
would you pass my english on
does my english leave you at an impasse
would you turn the other way
would you listen with another ear
has my ear been long enough for you
does this belong in english
does this belong in english
did you include something that doesn’t belong here

x

*
unknown people know nothing of me
none of the unknown people know to know

me. embracing the air
of unknown people—we get to hug

people we don’t know
that they are there

over the shoulder—we get to see
hey there, do i know you

do i un-know you
while embracing the air

i breathe into the air—of unknown people
and then, pull something back

another part of the air
which part of the year

yet unknown

i know the people that i know
they are round around me

just like the word know
acknowledge that

stubborn word
against knowing

hey people, do we get to know each other
do we other each other. do you acknowledge

my presence in front of you
i am round. i am a people

i peep around. around you and other yous
i surround you

with effort and attention
affording to un-know you

i now you
i un-noun you

with yous. i you
no?

 

x

               *
                bare with me
                bear with me
                bear with
                bare me
may the bear be with me
may we burrow a lair with a bear                        
may we bear it in berlin
                beneath the sky of berlin
                под куполом под сенью
may we shine
                take a shine to
may we take shelter
may we be buried there 
may we bury this pit with our bare feet
may we step on it
may we stomp on it
may we bear ourselves away 
               on the side road
may we объезжать
                         оплывать umschiffen
may we take a ship on the hip
               a ship of hipsters
               will it go schief
may we tilt to one side and test
                          on the tastatur
                                        in retour
                        may it have aftertaste
may it be sour

x

*
is there an end to time
by what time will it be over
over which clock this gets to be written
who monitors the end to be the end
who will mock the time near its end
who will try to catch time by the tail
who will tell time to stop
who will stomp on top of time
will there be anyone to climb or claim time
will they proclaim aloud
how will i know it’s time
if i didn’t see time begin
will i know its end
will i be able to dance past my nose
dance around organic
can time be an icon
who is able to reach time
to reach the end of time
how plural is time
is it oral in any way
is it ticking right now
do i respond to time or a time
do we correspond to each other
who will report whom
will the report reach its destination
are we destined to doom
are we destined to думать about time
do you думаешь it will save you
can i save time on a hard drive
will it stay untouched
will i detach from the idea of approaching time
do you take a train to unsave time
do you time your travel
can you travel safely
can you take some waffles with you
do waffles withstand time
how long is no time
will you remind me
                             it’s about time
will you remind me
                             to mind the gap

x

*
have you seen a noun?
it’s in town
it’s a-noun-ing every side of the town
it’s a-town-ing—announcing the town
it is pronouncing that the town is a town
atop of the town—топчутся люди
tapping on the town, making it more towny
a typical town with some typos
the type of a noun to stum-ble upon
and go down uptown
on top of that, is a town also the place of a swamp
if you want to swim around, come visit
a liquidy town
liquidating all the angles about town
the town could at least have some pumps
a town can’t have too many stumps
but on the other hand
a stump was once a tree
at least this poem will not be getting into print
its noun and no-noun are not remarkable
it will not mark a town with its print
it might walk around, leaving some trace
a trace of a  _ _ _ _  to be left alone
“let us think on a clear day
sitting down on stump and stone”

 

x

 

The final two lines of “have you seen a noun?. . .” are from Alexander Vvedensky’s poem “An Invitation for Me to Think,” translated by Matvei Yankelevich.

Read more of Inna Krasnoper here, here, here, and here