-Rušimo granice | Überwinden wir Grenzen | Breaking down Borders

von am 29. Mai 2022 um 22:54
Veröffentlicht in: Allgemein, Poetry, Translation

SRDAČNO POZIVAMO! / WIR LADEN HERZLICH EIN!

SR/MI, 01.06.2022. / 20:00

CENTAR.LITERATURA
Rušimo granice | Überwinden wir Grenzen | Breaking down Borders

Hrvatski centar| Kroatisches Zentrum – Schwindgasse 14, IV Beč / Wien

(Herausgeber: Petar Tyran und Herbert Kuhner).

 

Präsentation der dreisprachigen Anthologie zeitgenössischer Lyrik aus der alten kroatischen Diaspora „Rušimo granice | Überwinden wir Grenzen | Breaking down Borders“
Die Originaltexte lesen die Autor*innen selbst, die Übersetzungen Kornelia Mikula (Deutsch) und Herbert Kuhner (Englisch). Das Buch ist im Rahmen des Österreichischen PEN im Löcker Verlag, Wien 2022, erschienen.


Hawks and Nightingales/Ptici i slauji, edited by Tyran and Kuhner and published in 1983,
was the first collection of poetry by the Burgenland Croatian ethnic group in Austria.
This anthology established Burgenland Croatian poetry in Austria
and won an English readership for it.
Breaking Down Borders includes new poetry by Burgenland Croatians in Austria,
as well as poetry by authors in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic
who write in the Burgenland Croatian dialect.
Borders successfully presents the spirit of a small ethnic group
that must struggle to maintain its cultural and lingual identity.
Poetry is the confirmation of language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lingual Music and Rhythm

Each language has its own music and rhythm.
It is the poet’s business to bring out
that music and rhythm in his lingual work.

It is the translator’s business to transfer
the music and rhythm of the poet’s language
into the lingual music and rhythm
that is innate in the translator’s language.

Poetry is the confirmation of language.

 

Translating the Poetry of the Burgenland Croatians

It is my singular honor to have translated the poetry
of the Burgenland Croatians into English.
This small lingual enclave is engaged in the laudable task
of attempting to preserve its language and culture by poetry,
which is the conformation of language. In view of the violence
and cruelty that dominates our world now, we must show
that we are committed to the cause of culture. This cause has
always been contrary to barbarism, but regretfully barbarism
always make a comeback both individually and communally
It is the task of the poet to counter the dominance of brutality
by a dedication to the word in its purest form. Telling it,
is a way of countering it.

 

 

-Supreme Leaking

von am 11. Mai 2022 um 8:17
Veröffentlicht in: Polemics, Politics, Text

Supreme Leaking

A hero or a heroine leaked that the Supreme Court was getting ready to overturn Roe v Wade in order to bring about a Renaissance of the Knitting Needle and the Back-Street Abortion (As our former POTUS promised. (“Grab them by the – – – – -!”) Hallelujah!!!

“While Bishop Oscar Romero lived, John Paul II reprimanded him thrice in private, once even asking him to align himself with the Salvadoran dictatorship. Romero refused, calling the request ‘unjust.
’” from Jesus Our Shepherd Website.

 

Fingering a Saint

A Saint was cancelled out by a Saint!

And then BAM; BAM!

 

Bishop Romero’s Successors

Fernando Sáenz Lacalle

In 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed Fernando Sáenz Lacalle, an Opus Dei member, archbishop for San Salvador. Lacalle was instrumental in having harsh anti-abortion laws established. A woman who has had abortion can be sentenced to thirty years in prison. If a woman is brought to a hospital, and she suspected of having undergone a botched abortion, she is tied to her bed and serves as an exhibit of the crime committed. (Sam Harris: Letter to a Christian Nation, Alfred Knopf, New York. 2006; Jack Hitt: “Pro-Life Nation,” New York Times, April 9, 2006.)

 

 

Praise for an 11-Year-Old Victim

In July of 2013 Chilean President Sebastian Pinera praised an 11-year-old rape victim who is pregnant, who stated: “It will be like having a doll in my arms.” Abortion is illegal in this country under all circumstances.

 

Child Denied Abortion

Amnesty International, April 29, 2015: Paraguay: The life of a 10-year-old girl who is pregnant after having been raped by her stepfather is in danger. The physical and psychological impact of forcing this young girl to continue with an unwanted pregnancy is tantamount to torture,” said Amnesty International’s Guadalupe Marengo  “The Paraguayan authorities cannot sit idly by while this young rape-survivor is forced to endure more agony and torment.” (They did!)
Pope Francis in the Holy City said not a word! He visited Paraguay and stayed mum!

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

 

-Past and Present Deeds Are Placed in Proper Perspective

von am 10. Mai 2022 um 15:25
Veröffentlicht in: Polemics, Politics

Past and Present Deeds
Are Placed in Proper Perspective

 

In a speech before the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, Bibi Netanyahu described a meeting between Hitler and the Mufti of Jerusalem November of 1941:“Hitler didn’t want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he merely wanted to expel them. He got the idea from the Mufti. Haj Amin al-Husseini said, “If you expel them, they’ll all come here.” “So what should I do with them?” Hitler asks. ‘Burn them!’ the Mufti replied.”

Sergei Lavrov

Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s distinguished Foreign Minister has joined the ranks of nouveau historians. Here he is on the subject of race: “I could be wrong, but Hitler also had Jewish blood. That is absolutely inconsequential. Astute Jews claim that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jewish!”

Congratulations to these tyro historians! They have made essential revelations. Genuine tried-and-true historians can only learn from them.

Let’s go back to Henry Morgan, the humorist – not the pirate: “Everybody is an anti-Semite, except a few Jews, and they’re not sure.”

While I make my jokes, people are being slaughtered in the Ukraine by the invading Soldsateska.

 

 

– Herbert Kuhner

-Pan Putin

von am 9. März 2022 um 14:48
Veröffentlicht in: Allgemein, Poetry, Polemics, Politics

Pan Putin’s Knights

They looked like knights
as they approached –
holding shields
and wearing visored helmets.
The only thing missing
were plumes on their headgear
and the blades of their swords
were a bit round and thick.

I’d always had a soft spot
for knights.
After all, I’d been weaned
on Mallory and Scott.

I’d read about
the Round Table
according to Sir Thomas
and the Crusades
according to Sir Walter.

I must admit
these knights looked noble
in their armor
as they marched down the street,
but what they did
was not at all chivalrous.

Instead of battling
or jousting
with other knights,
or rescuing damsels in distress,
they raised their weapons
and brought them down
on any head that happened
to be there to trounce –
whether that of foe or bystander.

I don’t know,
there must be something
to it, since they were doing it
so well, and having
such a good time at it.

Perhaps Mallory and Scott
had told tall tales
and this is what chivalry
was really all about.

 

Six Against One

(Six of Putin’s 3
were kicking and clubbing
a downed woman.)

 

Waiting

Adolf, Joseph and Slobodan,
in the nether region, are waiting
for Vladimir’s good company.
I hope he joins them soon!

* * *

How many people have to die
before Putin gets his just desserts?

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

-Old Days

von am 25. Februar 2022 um 23:11
Veröffentlicht in: Allgemein, Polemics, Politics

Old Days

In 1939 Joe and Adi got together and tied the knot. Poland was the wedding cake. Joe went home and rubbed his hands. On September 1, 1939 Adi broke his vows, and in late 1941 Joe was on the ropes.

On September 7th of 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and saved the day for our good old Joe. By way of his next-door neighbor Alaska, oodles of weapons and supplies began pouring in, and we know the rest.

 

The Myth: Ron and John

Just as East Europe was freed from Nazism
but not freed,
Russia (or the Soviet Union, if you will)
was freed from Communism
but not freed.

President Reagan and Pope John Paul II

There’s a myth circulating that President Reagan and Pope John Paul II brought down Communism in the Soviet Union. That’s a half truth. They helped prevent the liberalization of society in a Union that had been a dictatorship.

When Mikhail Gorbachev took the reins of the Communist Party in 1985, he set about introducing civil rights, a free press and all the trappings of a democracy.

Instead of supporting him in these undertakings, the two ant-Communist heroes undermined him. A totalitarian system cannot be changed entirely overnight, but Gorby certainly did his best.

Unfortunately, the economy didn’t pick up, so Gorby wasn’t as popular at home as he was abroad.

He was trying to take it step by step with the goal of forming a Soviet Commonwealth.

The West egged him on, and his friend, Ronnie said: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” referring to the Berlin Wall!” The negotiator sent to make things happen fast was Condoleezza Rice.

What happened? Gorby cleared out of East Germany, let it go to NATO, and got a pittance for doing so.

Now Gorby had more or less been brought to the edge.

The Russian generals said something to the effect of,
“This is madness. We have just lost World War II,
and we must put an end to having a political Santa Claus
in the saddle.”

A coup was staged in 1991.

Boris Yeltsin stepped onto the stage, put it down,
pushed Gorby over the edge and took over.
That signified the end of all the reforms.
Every republic wanted to go it alone, and some took a bloody path.

Now blood is flowing again.

Boris Yeltsin

Yeltsin was a drunk and a demagogue in that order. He let things slide, and in 1999, when they got too far out of hand, he turned the country over to Vladimir Putin, the former KGB man.

The Union is broken up; the reforms went down the drain. Repression and terror reign supreme in Russia and most of the former republics.

Russia is still equipped with a nuclear arsenal, and Alexander Putin is more erratic than his former comrades.

Since Gorby’s departure hundreds of journalists have been sentinto the next world

Gorby was relegated to speaking tours and doing TV commercials for Pizza Hut and the Austrian National Railways, too humiliating to describe.

The world would have been a lot better off if Gorbachev had taken the slow but certain road – minus the ads. But what’s the sense of wishful thinking in hindsight? We’ve got the world that we have.

What happened?!
Old Days became New Days.

And what have we got?!

The Hungry Bear’s appetite
became insatiable again
and he stated gobbling up anew.
Ukraine is his first meal

Thank you Ron and John!

 

– Herbert Kuhner

 

old days: Putin & Yeltsin