[Carl Copeland]

Thanks, Susan. I’m glad I posted, because I was confident that the majority opinion would be to give this poem a miss. I’m not terribly concerned about editors, since I’m not in a submission mode, but I could hear the questions from people I show it to: Was this poet a maniac? No, only a few of his poems are this shocking. So why did you choose the deranged ones to translate? The fact that you won’t be asking these questions is encouraging.

Thanks, Cameron. I’m not surprised by your response, since you like to stay on the jagged edge of things. I actually do too in my own more diffident way, hence the interest in this poem. But I also remember that you frowned on my choice of the Stalin Epigram as a first translation of Mandelstam. You felt the epigram’s popularity overshadowed his other achievements, and that’s what I meant about misrepresenting Zenkevich. Still, I’m very tempted by the poem, and I appreciate your encouragement.