}} The Cadillac by Vitaly Pukhanov |

Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










The Cadillac by Vitaly Pukhanov

A voiceless Cadillac Cabriolet
Buried alive three winters and two summers
In the gloom of the garage
Began praying to the Lord,
For every creature languishes and suffers upon this earth.
And the Lord gave the Cadillac a tongue
Negligent man might understand:
He called upon a rat to come
And weave its nest under the hood
And gnaw through wires and lads
To the tune of 100,000 rubles
And shit, shit everywhere, wherever possible,
For this is how God speaks to man.
This is the language of God.
So that one day on popping the hood
Man might be horrified as fuck
And experience the terror of being
And the fear of God
And do all that he was duty bound to do
And start his car every other day
So it went vroom vroom
While God stayed silent as was his wont
So that man might thank the rat
And so that he might speak from his heart
Unto God, “Thank you,
For giving instruction and having mercy
And for accepting cash, dear Lord.”

 
 
Translated from the Russian by Philip Nikolayev