Seminar
beginning with a half a line by Evan Rail

I carry America into these young heads,
at least some parts that haven’t yet got there –
Hawthorne’s Salem, Ellison’s blacks and reds,
Bishop’s lovely lines of late summer air.

The students take quick notes. They pause or dive
for dictionaries and laptops, or turn to ask
a friend as new words constantly arrive.
The more they do, the more complex the task.

They smoothly move from serious to blasé
and back again. I love the way they sit
and use their bodies to nuance what they say.
I lean forward to catch the drift of it.

When it’s ended, they’ll switch back to Czech,
put on their coats and bags, shift wood and chrome
and ready themselves for their daily trek
across a continent and ocean home.

(Báseň vyšla v knize Vlny a stromy v překladu Tomáše Fürstenzellera v nakladatelství Opus r. 2009.)