TOLNAI, Otto
Otto Tolnai (Kaniža, Vojvodina, 1940) is a poet, prose writer, playwright and translator. He studied at the Faculties of Arts in Novi Sad and in Zagreb. Between 1969 and 1974 he was editor-in-chief of the avant-garde magazine Uj Symposion in Novi Sad. After the magazine had been banned, he became editor with the local radio. Two years ago, after living in Novi Sad and Palic, he moved to Budapest. He vvrites in Hungarian, and has published more than 25 collections of poetrv, including Concave verse (1963), Really, vohat voill become ofus (1968), Country Orpheus (1983), and Wilhelm's Songs (1992).
Otto Tolnai (Kanjiža, Vojvodina, 1940) je pesnik, prozaist, dramatičar i prevoditelj. Študiral je na filozofskim fakultetima u Novom Sadu i Zagrebu. Od 1969. do 1974. godine bio je glavni urednik avangardnog časopisa Uj Svmposion v Novem Sadu. Po ukidanju časopisa bio je urednik tamošnjeg radija. Zivio je u Novem Sadu i na Palicu, a prije nekoliko godina preselio je v Budimpešto. Objavio je preko 25 pesničkih zbirki, pored ostalih Konkavne pjesme (1963), Zaista, šta če biti s nama? (1968), Orfej sa sela (1983) in Wilhelmove pjesme (1992).
Sodobnost 2001 I 360
OTTO TOLNAI
If it flies away
bring me a blade of grass
from the field mother
bring me a blade of grass
for tomorrow the/11 be sawing
bring me a blade of grass
if my soul flies away
may the blade of grass fly with it too
it is spring
lapwings are roaming
in the chestnut treetops candles flutter
tomorrow the/ll be sawing, drilling, hewing
in a sack with a wolf
they will sow me back together with myself
bring me a blade of grass
from the field mother
bring me a grass blade
bring it along I will
/
With chattering purple bodies
with a small stool over the fields
I stride
I like to help with plucking
I like to watch women
how they clutch a goose between their thighs
and start roughh/ plucking the plumage
sometimes a swan's neck may also get clinched
it rises up to their throats
Sodobnost 2001 I 361
Otto  Tolnai
and is hatched with a yellow beak through the downy
frothy mouth
with the already purple bodies
under my arm
I like to roam
in downy clouds
over the fields I stride
with a small stool
I like to help with plucking
even though I always get the smallest amount of feathers
over the fields I stride
in one barrel collecting tar
in the other feathers
I Stone
when the garden broom
is completely threadbare
when not a bristle of broomcorn is left
nothing
and what is more the bristles in the broomstick are break-
ing too
then I like to sweep with it
then it is my broom
my garden broom
then it can be used for sweeping
it sweeps the garden of nothing with nothing
but now it is completeh/ worn out
each of its strands is frayed
yet I cannot sweep
for now I will die
right now I will die
right now I must die
that is how it turned out
for everyone it turns out differently
for me it turned out so that
I must die now
just when it has worn out
when the garden broom broke down
I can stili hear how the/re saying he died
what a heavy load off my mother's heart
Sodobnost 2001 I 362
Otto  Tolnai
I like it when they call me stone
they compare me with an enormous stone
I really like that
I stone
enormous stone
I've never thought of it
but I should have
how many times I shouldVe thought of it
but Fve always thought only of the garden broom
and of my dad's army mirror
which I smeared with shit
and then yes stone
yes I stone
that Fm an enormous stone
and how wonderful this is
even god can talk like that
stone stone stone
how wonderful this is stone stone stone
an enormous stone that rolls away
simply tumbling down some red hill
down some quietly rumbling bloody hill
to hell with the garden broom army mirror
tumbling like thunder
tumbling like thunder down some quietly rumbling bloody
hill
Translated by Marjan Golobić
*
Sodobnost 2001 I 363