The Category of Stuckiness

Dmitry Golynko

translated from russian by Rebecca BellA

the category of yuckiness, stuckiness, a
a twosome in the clinker, freakin’ shriekin’, economic crisis

approaches, the contractors got carried away,
screwing people over is in style, a pity—no time for empires,

drew from a nude, poverty exasperates,
Gzhelka warms the gut, the choice of lipsticks

not so great, the grain is milled, the whetstone honed,
it seems, on the sharpening block, why so wound up, the profit

dropped by a third, the threshing barns creak,
reassured in vain, pawed up and down, a swallow or swift

flies out, harassed by paean, ripped a program
off of payware, the tympanum is upbeat, compulsive types

note it all down, in a flash, something tumbled out
of the coffer, scored a bag a’weed, the feed

with emulsifiers is poisonous, career-building
takes so much time, surprisingly sober for being

plastered yesterday

категория впиливанья, влипанья,
двое в зиндане, визга-то, близится спад

экономический, подрядчики облажались,
в моде наебки, обидно, не до держав,

рисовал обнаженку, нужда донимает,
"Гжелка" прогреет, выбор губных помад

не богат, перемолото жито, брусок подрезан
словно по оселку, чего разбежался, на треть

уменьшился профит, поскрипывают риги,
зря обнадежил, облапил, касатка или стриж

вспархивает, пеана наезд, перекачал программу
с платника, бодр тимпан, аккуратисты в тетрадь

заносят всякое, вывалилось из кофра
что-то кубарем, коноплей затарились, корм

с эмульгаторами вреден, делание карьеры
отнимает все время, и на удивление трезв

вчера изрядно поддавший

Editors Note: golynko’s sudden passing in 2023 shocked the avant-garde russian literary community he was a part of. This poem is published in his memory

Dmitry Golynko, born in 1969 in Leningrad, was one of the most innovative poets in contemporary Russia, employing his poetry to examine the relationship between post-Soviet language, culture, and society. The author of three books of poems—Homo Scribens, Directory, and Concrete Doves—Golynko was nominated for the Andrey Bely Prize. His poetry has been translated into several European languages. In his parallel career as a cultural critic, he defended a pioneering PhD dissertation on the Russian post-avant-garde and regularly published essays on contemporary art and cinema. After a teaching stint in South Korea and a fellowship at the Literarischer Colloqium Berlin, he lived in Saint Petersburg.