Already, at the age of three, the author of these lines was remarkable: he'd make a portrait of the concierge as an Aunt Sally, earthenware color, mouth wide open, at the moment when, eyes full of tears, she was plucking a chicken. The chicken stuck out a platonic neck. But this game of Aunt Sally was just a way to pass the time. All in all, it's remarkable that no one has remarked on him; remarkable, but not regrettable, for if he had been remarked upon, he wouldn't have been remarkable: his career would never have gotten off the ground, which would have been regrettable. It's remarkable that he might have become something to regret, and regrettable that he might have become something to remark upon. Aunt Sally's chicken was a goose.
By Max Jacob
Translated by Ian Seed
From The Dice Cup
by Max Jacob
translated by Ian Seed
Published by Wakefield Press (2022)
Max Jacob (1876-1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. A key figure of the bohemian setting of Montmartre Paris and the legendary cubist era , he rubbed shoulders with such figures as Guillaume Apollinaire and Amadeo Modigliani, was a lifelong friend to Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Jean Cocteau, and an influence on a generation of young writers. After experiencing a mystic vision in his studio apartment in 1909, Jacob converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1915, with Picasso as godfather. Arrested by the Gestapo in 1944, he subsequently died in a deportation camp from bronchial pneumonia.
Ian Seed teaches Creative Writing at the University of Chester, and has also lectured in Italian Language and Literature at the University of Lancaster. He is a poet, critic, fiction writer, editor and translator. His latest collection of poetry is The Undeground Cabaret (Shearsman, 2020). He is a contributing editor of The Fortnightly Review.
Photo by Lisa Kalloo
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Read previous poems from Poetry Travels:
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AGAINST TRAVEL. FOR DANA by Rachel Levitsky
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*** (RABID WINDS) by Gerður Kristný, translated by Rory McTurk
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*** (I D[R]IPPED MY PEN…) by Mario Martín Gijón, translated by Terence Dooley
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