Books & the Arts / February 20, 2024

Jonah

Tomaž Šalamun

how does the sun set?
like snow
what color is the sea?
wide
Jonah are you salty?
I’m salty
Jonah are you a flag?
I’m a flag
all the fireflies are resting

what are the stones like?
green
how do doggies play?
like the poppy
Jonah are you a fish?
I’m a fish
Jonah are you a sea urchin?
I’m a sea urchin
listen to the murmur

Jonah is the roe rushing through the forest
Jonah am I watching the mountain breathe
Jonah are all the houses
have you heard about the rainbow?
what is dew like?
are you asleep?

(Translated from the Slovenian by Brian Henry)

Tomaž Šalamun

More from The Nation

Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon in “The End.”

What Comes After the Apocalypse? A Q&A With Joshua Oppenheimer What Comes After the Apocalypse? A Q&A With Joshua Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer’s latest film, The End, is a Golden Age, postapocalyptic musical crying out from the depths of the earth.

Peter Sellars

US congressman, writer, and scientist Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831–1901), circa 1863. He was the member of the US House of Representatives from Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. An engraving by G.E. Perine.

The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly The Peculiar Case of Ignatius Donnelly

The Minnesota politician presents a riddle for historians. He was a beloved populist but also a crackpot conspiracist. Were his politics tainted by his strange beliefs?

Books & the Arts / Andrew Katzenstein

Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets reacts after a play during the second half of an NFL game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium, 2024.

The Agony of Aaron Rodgers The Agony of Aaron Rodgers

Is he the world’s most interesting athlete or is he just a washed-up crackpot?

Books & the Arts / John Semley

A bunch of flowers marks the spot where 40 infants who died in the Bethany mother-and-baby home were buried in unmarked graves at Mount Jerome graveyard in Dublin.

Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret? Can You Understand Ireland Through One Family’s Terrible Secret?

In Missing Persons, Clair Wills's intimate story of institutionalized Irish women and children, shows how a family's history and a nation’s history run in parallel.

Books & the Arts / Emily McBride

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle Peter Schjeldahl’s Pleasure Principle

His art criticism fixated on the narcissism of the entire enterprise. But over six decades, his work proved that a critic could be an artist too.

Books & the Arts / Zachary Fine

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse How the Western Literary Canon Made the World Worse

A talk with Dionne Brand about her recent book, Salvage, which looks at how the classic texts of Anglo-American fiction helped abet the crimes of capitalism, colonialism, and more...

Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques