3 poems by gabor g gyukics

in the swimming pool  

he jumped headfirst
but before each length
he read a stanza from a poem
and during each fifty meters
he engraved each stanza in his brain

as many stanzas
as many lengths 

when he finished
he recited the poem
to those present
at the pool’s cafeteria

he left damp pages
from his notebook
in the locker room trashcan




 
not stopping short at two in one

a selftought artist who made
a consciously forced close up of your eyes
might think that

your arching unibrow eyebrows 
should be able to
persuade him as a gullible photographer

not to stop relieving his smarting incentives  
as if they were accepted balancing acts
or overabundant majestic moments

that would ridicule adjacent blanket bans
manipulative vetoes and backfired missile attacks 

after participating at nuptial-weddings
of several lot lizards in midwestern truck stops 

with cameras hanging from his neck

he wants nothing from you
only a photograph
of the iris of your eyes



 

Bluebeard, see it?

Behold the imperfect city,
with your guilds
the illusion of organic waste
around the corner
blind pencil-salesclerk
her name is Eris
a moist shy host
her eyelashes are canned matchsticks
you'd take her in a whim
if you could

what is the origin of your being
you might think you’re charming
full of spiritual strength
if you're wrong
you could slip on your city’s
guild of bloody arias sang sidewalk

See?
all the faces are obvious
these are the invisible faces of the crucified
they bow their heads 
when you look at them
earth’s born from the battle of music
it’s not an ordinary cavalcade
and if you do not open
your guild will fall
can’t you see?

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gabor g gyukics (b. 1958) poet, literary translator born in Budapest, Hungary. He is the author of 11 books of original poetry, 6 in Hungarian, 2 in English, 1 in Arabic, 1 in Bulgarian, 1 in Czech, 1 book of original prose, and 19 books of translations including A Transparent Lion, selected poetry of Attila József (2006) and They’ll Be Good for Seed, a Contemporary Hungarian Poetry (2021) and an anthology of North American Indigenous poets in Hungarian titled Medvefelhő a város felett (2015). He writes his poems in English (which is his second language) and Hungarian.

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