Alex Galper
Alex appeared in issue #3, the Spring/Summer 2009 edition of The Stray Branch with the following poems... "The Ring Snake Patriot" Scroll down to read...... |
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Alex Galper was born in Kiev, Ukraine and has been writing poems and short stories since he could remember himself. Immigrating to English-language America at the age of 19 did not change it; to the contrary, majoring in "Creative Writing" at Brooklyn College and being mostly influenced by American poets created a fusion of Russian pessimism, Jewish humor and Western literary traditions. He still writes in Russian and translations of his poems appeared in over 30 magazines in the USA and the UK. In Russia, he is considered a cult underground poet whereas mainstream Moscow literary magazines ignore him for luck of respect for rhymes, heavy erotic imagery, and being "too American".
The Ring Snake Patriot
The Ring Snake Patriot Client Bob Alex Galper, |
Up To The Heavens
Up To The Heavens
Outside, on a different planet
somewhere
Artic winds chill
to the bone
and winter bites.
But here:
in a Palestinian hole
on E2nd
it is hot: carpets, pillows, hummus, a plate of kebabs.
My friend
commands respect here
for his fluent Arabic
A former Mossad,
he pulls on his apple hookah
smiles
at the waiter and
whispers into my ear:
"...How many o'boys they's
killed...
how many o'theirs
I'd packed up
into the heavens!"
Alex Galper
translated from Russian by Misha Delibash.
