ambling along
by Tristan Tzara
translated by Lee Harwood
the glance’s sand
the loose earth
the tower’s bark
the exchange of pleasant hills
the first stone
charming octopus
the vines torn off
from the flocks of stacks
they’re lying
then the low trusting water
and night everywhere
doors banging
unseen hands
the grass sheathed
the voice blocked
the road beheaded
the house buried
everything for you you see
you don’t see anything anymore
From Mr AA the antiphilosopher
By Tristan Tzara
Translated by Lee Harwood
1
Captain!
the thunderbolts, the full might of the waterfall menaces us, the
knot of serpents, the cat-o’-nine-tails, triumphantly march into
countries contaminated with continual strife;
Captain!
all the accusations of ill-treated animals, yawn, in bites above the
bed, in rose-windows of blood, the rain of stone teeth and the
excrement stains in the cages shroud us in endless snowlike cloaks;
Captain!
the brightness of the coal becoming seal, lightening, insect under
your eyes, the squadrons of moonstruck people, the monsters on
wheels, the screams of mechanical sleepwalkers, the liquid stomachs
on silver salvers, the cruelty of carnivorous flowers will overrun
the simple country day and the cinema of your sleep;
Captain!
beware of blue eyes.
Playing White versus Daniel Noteboom (Nice, 1931)
By Marcel Duchamp
Will machine choose sand or desert?
Probably sealed act
powdered applause questions beyond rule
that temptation or blurred king
What is the massive bubble?
Where is the staged temptation?
this wish each harmonious separation
isolatedly instructs beneath each spoon
Which massive angle lives each knight?
keyed wish outside redundance
or instant mirrors cast, matter
or cast and slippery woman
The End of the World
By Richard Huelsenbeck
Indeed things have come to such a pass in this world
that cows sit atop the telegraph poles and play
chess
the cockatoo sings so sad under the Spanish dancer’s
skirts like a trumpeter from HQ
and the cannons complain
the whole day long
it’s the lilac landscape Mr. Mayer spoke of
when he lost his eye
only the firefighting squad can drive the nightmare from the
salon
but their hoses are all cut
yeah yeah Sonya you think the celluloid puppet’s a changeling
and shout, “God save the king!”
All the Monist Club is meeting on the steamer Meyerbeer
the helmsman alone can conceive a high C
I pull an anatomical atlas from my toes
and set to serious study
have you seen that fish who’s loitered by the opera
in a morning coat these last two days and nights?
Oh, oh, you great devil – oh, oh bee-keeper, base commander
wants a wow-wow-wow, wants a woe-woe-woe who doesn’t know
what Daddy Homer wrote
war and peace I hold in my robe but I’ve decided
that mine will be a cherry flip
no one knows today if tomorrow he’ll have been
the rhythm’s beat on the coffin-lid
if someone had only the balls to tear the feather-tail
from the streetcar it is high time
zoology professors gather in the fields of grass
they avert rainbows with upturned palms
the great guru places tomatoes on his brow
you fill again the castle and copse
the roebuck whizzes the horse leaps
(who wouldn’t go crazy at that)