AGNI 52

AGNI 52

Previously unpublished interviews with Jorge Luis Borges and Stanley Kunitz; the “Best German Poetry of 2000” in translation; fiction by Madison Smartt Bell, Pamela Painter, and Charles Bock; poetry by Daniel Berrigan, Jason Shinder, Peter Balakian, Dara Wier, Dan Chiasson, Charles Bernstein, and Linda Gregg and Thomas Sayers Ellis; “The Rise and Fall of Yiddish” by Ilan Stavans.

Editor’s Note Fiction Essays Poetry Art Feature Conversations Reviews

Editor’s Note

Shadowboxing: Able Was I Ere I Was Cain

by Askold Melnyczuk

Fiction

New Slave, Old Master

by Madison Smartt Bell

That Way They’ll Know I’m Alive

by Charles Bock

But, Microsoft! What Byte through Yonder Windows Breaks?

by Melvin Jules Bukiet

Hugo 2000

by Jeffrey Mehlman

Pilot of the Year to Pilot of the Day

by Pamela Painter

Essays

Rafael Alberti between the Sword and the Carnation

by Louis Bourne

Mixed Choir with Eleven Voices

by Christoph Buchwald

Melville’s The Confidence Man and His Descendants in David Mamet’s Work

by Barry Goldensohn

What the Poets in Germany Are Up To These Days

by David Lehman

A Note on Eduard Bagritskii’s “Origin”

by Maxim D. Shrayer

The Rise and Fall of Yiddish

by Ilan Stavans

Poetry

Going Back to Love in Old Alleys

by Rafael Alberti

Translated from the Spanish by Louis Bourne

The Coming Back of a Spring Morning

by Rafael Alberti

Translated from the Spanish by Louis Bourne

The Coming Back of Chopin through Hands Now Gone

by Rafael Alberti

Translated from the Spanish by Louis Bourne

The Coming Back of Paul Eluard

by Rafael Alberti

Translated from the Spanish by Louis Bourne

The Coming Back of School Days

by Rafael Alberti

Translated from the Spanish by Louis Bourne

Under Scorpio

by Jirayre Avedisian

Origin

by Eduard Bagritskii

Translated from the Russian by Maxim D. Shrayer

Lowlands

by Peter Balakian

Since Just This World of Pain

by Stanisław Barańczak

Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh

by Stanisław Barańczak

Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh

The Ghetto in Umán

by Mykola Bazhan

Translated from the Ukrainian by Michael M. Naydan

Hoods and Scatters

by Charles Bernstein

In Between

by Charles Bernstein

Five Senses of the End Time

by Daniel Berrigan

Draft of “El Poeta Declara Su Nombradía”

by Jorge Luis Borges

The Poet Declares His Fame

by Jorge Luis Borges

Translated from the Spanish by Alan Dugan

Another Dawn Watch Song

by Volker Braun

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

by Alfred Brendel

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Having Descended to the Heart

by Scott Cairns

Ruminant

by Scott Cairns

Easter

by Dan Chiasson

by Dan Chiasson

Phantom Pain

by Steven Cramer

God Compares the Soul to Five Things

by David Daniel

Nights and Days

by David Daniel

Table

by David Daniel

Uncle Emmet, Wiser Than God

by David Daniel

Venus Among the Wanders

by David Daniel

Revival

by Chard DeNiord

Notice

by Diana Der-Hovanessian

T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M. (The Awesome Power of a Fully Operational Memory)

by Thomas Sayers Ellis

The Singers Change, the Music Goes On

Mathematics

by Jane Hirshfield

by Jane Hirshfield

Muslin

by Jane Hirshfield

self-portrait as youth with cherries

by Norbert Hummelt

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Jazz Poem

by Louis Jenkins

Body, Remember

by George Kalogeris

The Satrapy

by George Kalogeris

Labor

by Kathleen E. Krause

by Angela Krauß

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Noon Bells in the Field

by Johannes Kühn

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

At the Winter Window

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

In Connection with Loneliness

by Marie Lundquist

Translated from the Swedish by Christophe Brunski

Evening, Coming down Salwator Hill

by Bronislaw Maj

Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh

by Joe Osterhaus

The Tree Rings in the Surface of the Butcher’s Block

by Joe Osterhaus

Hymn to the Wild East

by Matthias Politycki

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

The Lounge Jacket, the Years

by Ralf Rothmann

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Social Cleansing Including Request for Spiritual Assistance

by Peter Rühmkorf

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Untitled

by Igna Saruaslan

by Jason Shinder

What Gets in the Way of Love Is Love

by Jason Shinder

Confirmation

by Ann Snodgrass

by Martin Strauss

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

by Hans-Ulrich Treichel

Translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Unlucky Photographers

Art Feature

On Gail Boyajian’s Three Paintings (essay)

by Gerry Bergstein

A View From Above

by Gail Boyajian

Communication

by Gail Boyajian

Enjoying the Out of Doors

by Gail Boyajian

Conversations

A Master in Montreal: A 1968 Interview with Jorge Luis Borges

The Productions of Time: Stanley Kunitz on William Blake

by Jason Shinder

Reviews

Found in the Dreamhouse

by Sven Birkerts

The Biography of Displacement

by Peter Campion

The Language of Sorrow

by Rafael Campo

“There Are Other Stories”: Pamela Painter’s The Long and Short of It

by Joshua Harmon

A Real Modest Proposal

Democracy’s Disconnect

Seeing Dickinson Plain: Editorial Strategies and the Poet’s Intentions

by J. S. A. Lowe

Walcott, Pisarro, and the Search for Tiepolo’s Hound

Swords and Scalpels

Visiting This Life

by David Roderick

The Poetry of Freedom (translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh)

by Adam Zagajewski

Translated from the Polish by Clare Cavanagh