Maria STEPANOVA
Maria STEPANOVA (Russia) is a poet, essayist and journalist. She is the author of ten poetry collections and three books of essays, and a recipient of several Russian and international literary awards, including the Bolshaya Kniga Prize, the Russia’s main literary award, as well as the NOS Prize and Andrey Bely Prize. Her poems have been translated into many languages, including English, French, German, Hebrew and Italian. Her novel Pamiati pamiati (In Memory of Memory), which blends memoir, documents and essays into an epic narrative, came out in Russian in November 2017 and received the Big Book Prize in December 2018. Stepanova is the founder and editor-in-chief of COLTA.RU, a crowdfunded online daily covering the cultural, social, and political life in Russia and in the world; it attracts an audience of 600,000 unique visitors per month.
the human body
the human body
is not soap wearing thin to a hole
in the scented water bowl
nor is it ever wholly
of the past, always of the here and now
glows through the deadwood
not easy to dispatch
it creeps up like a snowdrop
through the carbon patch
and what was pining, barely alive
shut away within its bony cage
now floods into the dark recesses
to happen again
new life emerges when hope is no more
and you stand there, empty-handed and unsure
(Translated by Sasha Dugdale)
International Poetry Nights in Hong Kong — 10th Anniversary Celebration
Supported by Hong Kong Arts Development Council and Ms. Li Wei
More: ipnhk.org
