World Poetry Translation Project

Submit Human Translation | Discuss Poem | Post Poetry | Listen McGill Live A Historical Breakfast by Russell Edson A man is bringing a cup of coffee to his face, tilting it to his mouth. It's historical, he thinks. He scratches his head: another historical event. He really ought to rest, he's making an awful lot of history this morning. Oh my, now he's buttering toast, another piece of history is being made. He wonders why it should have fallen on him to be so historical. Others probably just don't have it, he thinks, it is, after all, a talent. He thinks one of his shoelaces needs tying. Oh well, another important historical event is about to take place. He just can't help it. Perhaps he's taking up too large an area of history? But he has to live, hasn't he? Toast needs buttering and he can't go around with one of his shoelaces needing to be tied, can he? Certainly it's true, when the 20th century gets written in full it will be mainly about him. That's the way the cookie crumbles--ah, there's a phrase that'll be quoted for centuries to come. Self-conscious? A little; how can one help it with all those yet-to-be-born eyes of the future watching him? Uh oh, he feels another historical event coming... Ah, there it is, a cup of coffee approaching his face at the end of his arm. If only they could catch it on film, how much it would mean to the future. Oops, spilled it all over his lap. One of those historical accidents that will influence the next thousand years; unpredictable, and really rather uncomfortable... But history is never easy, he thinks... American Review | www.PaperLyon.com | McGill Live Radio | Publish

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Poems by Russell Edson Accidents Angels Antimatter Ape Ape And Coffee A Historical Breakfast A Journey Through The Moonlight A Performance At Hog Theater A Stone Is Nobodys Conjugal Counting Sheep Elephant Dormitory Erasing Amyloo Grass Hands Mr Brain One Lonely Afternoon On The Eating Of Mice Paying The Captain Sleep Soup Song The Alfresco Moment The Autopsy The Breast The Bridge The Changeling The Closet The Death Of A Fly The Fall The Family Monkey The Father Of Toads The Fight The Floor The Gentlemen In The Meadow The Having To Love Something Else The Lighted Window The Man Rock The Marionettes Of Distant Masters The Melting The Ox The Pattern The Philosophers The Pilot The Position The Road The Rats Tight Schedule The Reason Why The Closet-Man Is Nev The Sad Message The Theory The Toy-Maker The Tree The Wounded Breakfast Vomit You

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R.S. Thomas	Rainer Maria Rilke	Ralph Emerson
Randall Jarrell	Raymond Carver	Richard Brautigan
Richard Crashaw	Richard Hugo	Richard Lovelace
Richard Wilbur	Robert Browning	Robert Burns
Robert Creeley	Robert Francis	Robert Frost
Robert Graves	Robert Herrick	Robert Lowell
Robert Pinsky	Robert Service	Rudyard Kipling
Rupert Brooke	Russell Edson

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