- Translation depends, not on what must be included, but on what must not be left out
after Idra Novey
You enter the country next door from under the stoneChurch of the Redeemer
subway exit. No Pork Chinese Restaurantand Mr. Chicken, flank the avenue
both strictly halal.The immigrant stories conclude happily
thus far: love at first sight endsin marriage. The NGO administrator
can finally quit the dead-endjob and be a stay-at-home mom, lobbying
to remove the ice-cream truck from the park.
The baby sons resemble their mothersor else their paternal grandfathers. Slender men in bright shirts
lean against shiny, long black sedans, smokingcigarettes. It is both the spawning grounds
and the death place of fiction.The little ones learn to become miniature
predators themselves, until they encounter othersof their own kind. An aggregation
is called a school.Visitors must check their own children
at baggage claim;are either conveniently
or conspicuouslybilingual,
depending on their income level.The average rainfall is silver
and distributed equally throughout the seasons.What the bible really says
instructors stand in neat skirts beside their docileplacards,waiting for you to ask them to dance.
There is no binary opposition — identity is where and what timeyou stand to put your make-up on,
relative to the points of time in spaceof those around you,
their handfuls of brightly colored plastic,their recession so slow you don't no
tice it at first. Polyphony is certainly possible, too,indeed, it is the preferred
method of communication, for the birdsare sky-bound at present.
The inhabitants are friendly and curious, and the militarycarry their cameras carelessly,
with the safeties off and the barrelsaimed haphazardly.