In the Darkening Watery Mirror

Written bv Livia Viitol

Translated from the Estonian by Ilmar Lehtpere

Narrated by Kristine Doll

Estonia

In the darkening watery mirror

some bird-eyed woman

is raking up the last splashes of light,

the echo of the corncrake’s cry

caught in her breast.

Raking the soul,

raking the flesh,

raking herself,

until the rain,

the last fervent secret lover

of summer

kisses the cry

to death.

 

Livia Viitol is an Estonian poet, short story writer and cultural historian. A Handful of Light (Lapwing), translated by Ilmar Lehtpere, is a selection of her poetry in English.

Ilmar Lehtpere is an Estonian poet and translator. His most recent translations into English are On the Edge of a Sword  by Kristiina Ehin (Arc, 2018),  and Shortening the Candle’s Wick by Andres Ehin and Ly Seppel (Carcanet, 2018).

Kristine Doll is a poet and translator (English/Spanish/Catalan).  She teaches at Salem State University in Salem MA.  Her work has been published domestically and internationally in such venues as Asymptote, The Seventh Quarry, Cross-Cultural Communications Art & Poetry Broadside Series, The Paterson Literary Review, Gargoyle, Loch Raven Review, and Immagine & poesia.  Her most recent translation from English into Spanish is the book of aphorisms written by Carolyn Kleefeld, Soul Seeds/Semillas del alma (Cross-Cultural Communications and Edicions Saldonar, 2021).