Friday, July 04, 2008

What is political poetry, Kent?

Kävin tänään täällä:

THE TUNNEL

I was coming back to Sarajevo the only way you could: through the tunnel. Water seeped in everywhere through the narrow passageway; the mud made it even harder to get through. Since there wasn’t enough air, I became so exhausted that I had to to stop halfway. I was ready to lay down and die right where I was till I found a spot that was a little wider, made to put aside the dead, so the living could pass. I stayed right there, for hours, underground, and thought of Radovan.

(From Sarajevo Blues, by Semezdin Mehmedinović)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Semezdin is brilliant. This poem set to music by Charming Hostess.

http://www.last.fm/music/Charming+Hostess/_/The+Tunnel?autostart

Anonymous said...

the poem and music blend together to make it a tone poem -music brillently conceived