Exquisite Corpse - A Journal of Letters and Life

Exquisite Corpse - A Journal of Letters and Life

This Time...
by Lev Rubinshtein
translation from Russian
by Phil Metres and Tatiana Tulchinsky

Author's Links

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This time let's begin like this:

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"A husband comes home from a business trip..."

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A certain situation. The middle of summer. Early morning...

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Early morning. A woman opens her eyes. She says, smiling...

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Early morning. The happy din of birds. The middle of summer...

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Early morning. The windows are thrown wide open. The sounds of the city waking up reach the ears: the cries of peddlers, the clop of hooves...

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Early morning. The sun admires its own reflection in the drops of dew. An immense joy overflows the heart. Life is good, life is good!

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Early morning. An airplane accelerates, takes off.

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Early morning. An extreme disorder in all affairs. Debts. Frequent assaults of palpitations. This situation is, in a word, hardly ideal.

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Early morning. All of them are running back and forth, the kids are bawling, the television is also bawling like crazy, and the window can't be opened for some reason. A total nightmare!

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Early morning. Fires. Floods. Earthquakes. Landslides. Other natural disasters.

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Early morning. Yearning. Anxiety. The owl's night cry. All the rest, later.

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Early morning. Lermontov's poem "Pine." Shubert's "Musical Moment." Levitan's "At the Whirlpool." All in all, something in this vein.

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Early morning. A short monologue. 1 1/2 to 2 minutes tops.

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Early morning. A long conversation, amounting to the fact that the circle seems to have closed, and the center has not yet been found.

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Enter Alexander.

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Alexander:

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We are all running back downhill so hard,
But we have never reached the peak...

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Ophelia:

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Why is he running after me,
I will not give myself to him.
Why is he running after me...

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Alexander:

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O Lord, how absurd is the dragonfly who hovers
Above an apple with just a few minutes to live.

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Ophelia:

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I do not fancy him at all
I love another one.
And to that other...

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Alexander:

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"But how lovely he is! It's as if he were made
Of some otherworldly substance,"
I thought, when among the crowd suddenly...

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Ophelia:

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I just don't know why
He has forgotten me.
Here's the shore, here's the sand.

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Alexander:

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"The painting's fine," the artist thought, and laid
Aside his brushes, while above his head...

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Ophelia:

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I'll let him see, I'll let him see
How I burn, burn for him,
I'll hunt him down, and hold him tight,
And hunt him down again...

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Alexander:

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Before the lecture ended, he leaped up
And like a madman rushed into the kitchen...

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Ophelia:

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Come to me, come to me, my dear,
And press your cheek to mine.
Or like a cat against the door¾

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Alexander:

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"The saddest season. A feast for the eyes,"
I suddenly remembered. Yes, it's true,
the saddest season.

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--And many other things. This, for example:
"We stand amidst the freezing world, our path
Unknown in the murky twilight."

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--Right, or like this
"We're still the same. For us,
All the world's estranged."

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--And then what?

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--"Why is there nowhere to go, then?"

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--Right. Or like this:
"The Flight of the Valkyries. Disgrace
Upon the crown." And then...

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--And then:
"Whoever's late for the rendezvous
Is buried well beyond the wall."

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--Exactly. And this one:
"They rushed inside, and brought in death with them..."
What's next?

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"At first we fought.¾" I can't remember more.

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--All right. And this:
"Let's go crazy, let's tear it up,
Let's drink to all..."

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-- "From paper cups?"

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--Exactly. And this:
"Whoever day and night all others proudly wills¾"

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--And their dreams with his dark anguish kills..."

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"To this unhappy one I say: from your midnight heart¾



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"Take out thy poison sting, and let in daylight..."

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Good. And this one¾ No, we've said this already.

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And this one is from Lev Tolstoy's "Alphabet":

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-- "A blind man was going home. It was night. The blind man carried a light in front of him. What a foolish blind man, carrying a light in front of him. He is blind, what does he need light for? He needs the light so that someone who can see doesn't knock him off his feet."

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And many, many other things. This time, let's finish like this:

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--"The parents went out to a party..."

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--Yes, yes, exactly like this: "The parents went out to a party. The boy stayed home, alone."

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