Death of a Paratrooper — Web Exclusive
By Fyodor Svarovsky
Translated by Peter Golub
Jackson,
An experienced captain,
Was lost
All around him—Titan
Looks at his monitor:
In the distance
In the frozen sand
A paratrooper is dying
Alone
In a pool of methane
Clearly abandoned
His life flowing
Like water into
A stream
After rain
A concussion
Most likely resulting from the air raid
Identification
Unknown
Only
Angels all around
So many
They obstruct one another
Almost hindering
One another's flight
Swarming
Swarming
Rising
Up
Fyodor Svarovsky is a Moscow author who writes sci-fi and epic poetry. He has published three books, none of which have been fully translated. English translations of his poems can be found at Diagram and Jacket 2. His site is Roboteka. He has been nominated for the Andrei Bely Prize.
Peter Golub has been published in Circumference, PEN America, and Playboy. He co-translated Andrei Sen-Senkov's Anatomical Theater (Zephyr Press, 2012). He is the recipient of a PEN Translation Grant as well as a BILTC Fellowship. He is studying at UC Berkeley and coedits the St. Petersburg Review.
Fyodor Svarovsky. Everyone Wants to Be a Robot. Moscow: Argo-Risk, 2007