I recently picked up a new release,
Evening Brings, which pulls together three of Jaan Kaplinkski’s early works. Reading through I found this translation that echoed a poem I remembered from
The Wandering Border (from the late 80’s).
A)
There are so many insects this summer.
As soon as you go into the garden
a buzzing swarm of flies besieges you.
The bumblebees are nesting in the boxes you made for birds,
the wasps have made their nests in hazel bushes.
And sitting at your desk in the attic room
you constantly hear a buzzing, and don’t know
whether it’s the sound of bumblebees, wasps,
electric wires,
a plane in the skies, a car on the road,
or the voice of life itself wanting to tell you something
from the inside, from your inner self.
from Evening Brings Everything Back
trans. by the author and Fiona Sampson
B)
This summer is full of insects.
As soon as you go to the garden,
a cloud of flies buzzes around your head.
Bumblebees nest in the birdhouses,
wasps nest in the hazel,
and as I sit at the window
I hear a buzz I cannot name,
whether the voice of bumblebees, wasps,
or electric lines,
a plane in the sky, a car on the road,
or the voice of life itself that wants
to tell you something from the inside out.
from The Wandering Border
trans. by the author with Sam Hamill and Riina Tamm
Of the two, I prefer Hamill and Tamm’s translation.
Why say
“nesting boxes you made for birds” instead of
birdhouses?
From the inside, from your inner self is the “get it” elbow in the ribs I didn’t need. And I prefer the “I” in Hamill’s take to the “you” in Sampson’s. More notable choices: swarm vs. cloud; besiege vs. buzzes.
.. always get him down, especially rainy Tuesdays -- like it is right here in Akron. 
As my wife leaves our bed in the morning, the covers blow her scent to me, a blend of: Blackberry, blackberry. Autumn, grass, green or yellow; redwing blackbirds; the little kiss of red on the wings. Bach. The ocean. Death, sunbathers, sun, breast milk, deer, pine trees. Heat, rain in hair, lilacs. Tea rose, fig jam. Coffee on lips.
Opening day I saw Cloverfield twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. The monster is amazing. Not your garden variety lizard-saur.
*Use a variety of meats!
Kind of like if Chucky were a stuffed animal. Then, the surprise! Flip kitty over and a giant slit in her belly allows you to pluck up new born kittens - ala tissue dispenser engineering.
In the end, we turned Kitty Surprise into dark Spidercat. 
I have to say, walking through room after room of tropical plants married with sensuous glass is very soothing. (The flirty little orchids did their part as well.)
I don't have a picture of it, but in one body length glass case they had a complete suit of skin, eye, nose, mouth holes, etc. Nothing else gave me the willies - but this. (BTW, those are bands of skin on the body to your left.)
The Blog is getting rusty these days. I have not been around much, but I am hoping to get back in a groove now and breathe a little life into Poor Fool. 
New Years Eve was pretty quiet here, though Otty got into his stash of Schnapps and turned into Loopy Dog on us. Here he is dancing through his buzz.
