The Triumph of the Family

 

this dreadful gray constancy

replaces for me today all colors

green blue red—what other ones are there?

i don't find a place for me here don't know where to sit

what to drink and to eat

 

was it long ago that daddy amused himself with his sonny?

the triumph of the family happened

mother was entertaining herself with the daughter

opening her mouth in the vicinity of hers

 

saliva poured slowly from here into there

never before two related bodies

were as close as then

green blue red

gray constancy

 

the identical you will never write like the different one

you were gone gone and the heart was beating

into the armpit like an exploded point

here is this one and here's another one completely different

you are getting used to signs of differentiation silly

are you getting completely assimilated?

 

while father was amusing himself

mother was entertaining herself

the triumph of the family happened

green blue red

 

the russian word for "family" comes from the word for "pig"

 

1990, Moscow

Translated from the Russian by Vitaly Chernetsky