Innokenty Sharkov, Birth of Light
Interpretive Bits
John Zedolik
The novelist* described the light as “powdery”
though originally in French
(poudreuse, perhaps)
so as I have only the English translation
I must surmise regarding the original
even as I ponder the application of this adjective
to said light and attempt to visualize
the effect–bright granules in a sea
of dark–or is it a pale-gold fog above the ground?
The pair confounds my mind’s eye, so I muddle
through the image as I question
what quality the author was seeking
to express regarding the sun’s effect
upon the air of his created day or if
the phrase communicates a character’s
state of mind, settle for a moment
upon a vision of dust motes drifting
closely upon a slant of rays descending,
allow for the night to reach like insistent
fingers impatient of the time of day,
trying to gain purchase upon the flecks
and disperse the shine, the digits splay
* Sébastien Japrisot, Un long dimanche de fiançialles, 1991, trans. Linda Coverdale as A Very Long Engagement, 1994
John Zedolik
The novelist* described the light as “powdery”
though originally in French
(poudreuse, perhaps)
so as I have only the English translation
I must surmise regarding the original
even as I ponder the application of this adjective
to said light and attempt to visualize
the effect–bright granules in a sea
of dark–or is it a pale-gold fog above the ground?
The pair confounds my mind’s eye, so I muddle
through the image as I question
what quality the author was seeking
to express regarding the sun’s effect
upon the air of his created day or if
the phrase communicates a character’s
state of mind, settle for a moment
upon a vision of dust motes drifting
closely upon a slant of rays descending,
allow for the night to reach like insistent
fingers impatient of the time of day,
trying to gain purchase upon the flecks
and disperse the shine, the digits splay
* Sébastien Japrisot, Un long dimanche de fiançialles, 1991, trans. Linda Coverdale as A Very Long Engagement, 1994