}} Migraine by Vitaly Pukhanov |

Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










Migraine by Vitaly Pukhanov

According to eyewitness accounts,
Migraines are much like artillery shelling.
The aura is the warning alarm.
Citizens descend into the basement in an orderly fashion,
Listening in the head to the remote reverberations,
Telling apart the respective grumbles of
Grad interceptor rockets, mortar launchers, TBMs, and howitzers.
Stifle the persistent desire
To exit the basement and be hit by the explosion wave, so it’s over.
No use. The missiles are exploding in the head,
So the barrage will find you anywhere: on the resort beach,
Next to the Eiffel Tower, or at a theatre premiere.
All you’ve time to say is, “Sorry, afraid I must excuse myself briefly,”
And you descend in evening dress into the bomb shelter,
To grasp your head with your hands and bow down,
To listen to the bombardment and tell apart the explosions,
Until the migraine lets up.

 
 
Translated from the Russian by Philip Nikolayev