Alexander Kushner (b. 1936)

Александр Кушнер

Alexander Kushner (b. 1936) as the senior member of the "Leningrad circle" of the poets, blessed by the Silver Age priestess Anna Akhmatova was somewhat overshadowed by the Nobelist Brodsky. Other Golden Age (first third of XIX c.) Russian poets including Baratynsky, were overshadowed by the genius of Alexander Pushkin, in the similarity, which Brodsky himself never forgot to mention. But, as a lyrical poet, Kushner is hardly inferior to Brodsky and it will be only fair to include him in this anthology despite mostly "classicist" inclinations of this poet.

A. Kushner

If only Peter’s Realm stood by the Black Sea Coast,

If only were the Straits seized by the melancholic Tsar,

We would have fled our boredom and boast

By mercy of the Fates, born under lucky Stars.

Lagoon that now hides this ugly dreary creature

In icy waters, could be bathing nymphs.

We could sleep well; nightmares never reach us,

The heroes and the gods would contemplate their hymns.

This City which as if the wine is sliding

Through marble-clad staircases to the cuddly waves,

Would be possessed by no ogre of Bronze Rider,

Who gallops over bodies of his slaves.

There would be no ax, Raskolnikov’s, nor coat,

From Gogol, Venice would be in our sights,

In dreams of emerald that our eyelids soak

By Hercules’ might, by Icarus’ flight.