MAGGIE SAWKINS

After Dostoevsky


Since she’s discovered Raskolnikov
she’s dug a hole in the garden
to bury her school uniform
her flat black shoes.

She’s acquired too
a taste for Smirnoff
and perfected the art of gesticulation.

And no-one has noticed -
her mother’s too busy in the kitchen
chopping parsnip and swede
and her father’s flat out
in the potting shed.

Only the pawnbroker’s boxer dog
sits up and growls as she swishes past
in her surplus store raincoat. An axe
tucked neatly under her arm.

Alina Olimpia Miron

Maggie Sawkins
 

Dupa Dostoevsky

De cand l-a gasit pe Raskolnikov
a sapat o gaura in gradina
ca sa-si ingroape uniforma de la scoala
balerinii ei negri.

A inceput sa-I placa
si Smirnoff
si-a desavarsit si arta gesticulatiei.
Iar nimeni nu a vazut-
mama ei prea ocupata in bucatarie
taiand pastarnac si nap suedez
si tatal ei intins
in sopronul de conserve.

Numai cainele boxer al camatarului
se ridica si maraie pe cand ea se furiseaza
in impermeabilul de la magazinul military.
Un topor bine ascuns sub bratul ei.