Ilija Trojanow

Carry me home, stranger,
your rudder is my passport.
When doubts surface
the moon breaks on barren land.

When the surf beats a hasty retreat
The admiral’s daughter ties
her hair with tang and hangs
the sailor’s laundry on necklaces of pearl.

Draw eyelids on reason, stranger,
give me refuge in your tear.
Where skeletons are scattered
the coast crawls out to pray.

Prasat Kravan, 23/05/2002

The beginning:
Fear makes big cubes
And shapes blind as shelter.
Every word is a prayer by default,
Every god a patriarch in disguise.

Chronology:
After the surrender of evolution,
The temples feature categories,
Every stone has become a slave.
Infinity has been found wanting.

Today the conductor was abducted.
We did it.
Violins, violas, drums and trombones
Pitched to fury.
Our voices had gathered a lot of dust.

We do not harbour any ill feelings
But truly, he was long overdue,
his tempo slow
his temper rising.

And his obsession
that we should all play to his baton
was hardly ever convincing.

Perform -
My father said.
Perform as if …
As if it were a holy act? Said I.
It is a holy act, said he.
Perform -
My father said.
Perform as if …
As if nothing existed unless through you
Through your song and your word! Said he.
Perform and everything will want to be.
The memories will dance
Like elders warmed
By drum and brew.
The laws will march
Like wrestlers oiled
In force and chance.

The hopes will gather
Like kids around
A pot of stew.
Perform and everything will want to be.

Ping pong.
Where do we go from here?
Hop on a hope
Have you become a millionaire?
Picture the punch
Someone said: You’re hard to bear.
Tuck in the tide
What the heck: Just piss on the stairs!