Diego Isaias Hernández Méndez, Convirtiéndose en characoteles / Sorcerers Changing into Their Animal Forms (detail), 2013, oil on canvas. Arte Maya Tz’utujil Collection.
Red Ice
Translated from the French by Phil Sugden
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In 1812 in Russia
when the soldiers retreated
their strong wine froze
in among corpses
of men and horses
a pick-axe
had to cut shares
even for the dying
from the block of red ice
shaped like a casket
that no museum
could have preserved.
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Jean Follain (1903–1971) was a French author who published nine books of poetry and one work of prose.
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Phil Sugden graduated last year from Sheffield University in England. (updated 1976)
AGNI has published the following translations:
Red Ice by Jean Follain