while I was asleep at the wheel
and hit a deer
you were all sitting in the
back reeling off jokes
and telling stories of the comical
misunderstandings during your trips
it seemed like a dream until your brother
called me and said that I’d have to pay for
the paint job
light cheerful music was playing
as if nothing was going to happen
and now a beautiful brown creature will never
crunch sweet spring sprouts anymore
oh what a feast we had
with venison olives marinated steaks and classic
delicious cutlets in different sauces
and potatoes with the hidden happiness inside flooded the guests’ faces
if I were a deer I’d be delighted in
this surprisingly practical approach to death
By Krišjānis Zeļģis
Translated by Jayde Will
Krišjānis Zeļģis is not only a poet, but has also been a metalworker, baker and librarian. He now lives in Riga and works as a brewer, enjoying bouldering in his spare time. This broad experience inspires and informs his writing. Zeļģis’s first collection All Those Things was published in 2010, and nominated for several awards.
Jayde Will is the translator of Memoirs of a Life Cut Short by Ričardas Gavelis and has co-edited the Anthology of New Baltic Poetry (Parthian, 2018). His translations of Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian authors have been published in numerous journals, including Poetry Review, Trafika and Mantis.