What Sparks Poetry a series of original essays that explores experiences and ideas that spark the writing of new poems. In our new series focused on Translation a group of poet-translators share a seminal experience in translation. Each Monday's delivery brings you the poem and an excerpt from the essay.  
Vasily Kamensky
Translated from the Russian by Eugene Ostashevsky
Typography by Daniel Mellis
Image of the English translation of Vasily Kamensky's graphic poem, ConstantinopleGraphic presentation of Vasily Kamensky's graphic poem, Constantinople, in Russian
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Cover of Vasily Kamensky's book, Tango with Cows
What Sparks Poetry:
Eugene Ostashevsky on Vasily Kamensky's “Constantinople"


"The Cubist language of the poem imposes cuts on words, fractures them into planes by repetition and variation, and recombines parts of words to build other words. Although the poem lacks a single order of reading—nor do we have evidence that Kamensky ever performed it out loud—it pulsates with sound repetitions. Repetitions convert its word lists into the sonic counterparts of Cubist planes, with each word turning into a formal variation of the one above it."
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Black-and-white image of two bare feet marching while tied to empty boots
"Terms of Entry"

"Solmaz Sharif wrestles with the ways that acclaim can become an imperial enclosure; I once heard her say, 'I try to write poems that make it impossible to applaud afterward.' Reaching toward forms of relation that are not fully apprehensible from life in the metropole, her work rejects the embrace of any we for whom sharing is an uncomplicated act."

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