Aleš Šteger Urinal
The backs of male shadows amidst the stink of urine. Like some firing squad, staring At the multiplying ceramic tiles. The wall stretches out in front of you, too. A fish is pushing her white head through From the other side, doesn’t penetrate. She wants to drink up the whole world, which she carries, To release the surplus human weight. Who knows, perhaps she already did so long ago. And aren’t the faces of the men urinating Reflections of Jonah’s, squeezed between fishy spikes? What is here, what there?
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What kind of human voice is on the other side of the urinal? Are people happier, more timeless there, fish Fa? Or there is no other side, Only the visions of drunks, tensed in fear That you don’t close your thirsty mouth, Faronika, As fair punishment for grinding your yellowed teeth, And castrate us. Translated by Brian Henry
Note: Fa is a popular brand of soap in Europe. Faronika is a mythological fish common in old Slovenian folk songs. Faronika carries the world on its back, and when there is too much evil in the world, Faronika will dive into the cosmic sea and thus destroy the world.