| | | | The Return of Král Majáles PRAGUE’S INTERNATIONAL LITERARY RENAISSANCE 990-00 AN ANTHOLOGY | Edited by LOUIS ARMAND Copyright © Louis Armand, 2010 Copyright © of individual works remains with the authors Copyright © of images as captioned Published 1 May, 2010 by Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická Fakulta Litteraria Pragensia Books Centre for Critical & Cultural Theory, DALC Náměstí Jana Palacha 2 116 38 Praha 1, Czech Republic All rights reserved. This book is copyright under international copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the copyright holders. Requests to publish work from this book should be directed to the publish- ers. ‘Cirkus’ © 2010 by Myla Goldberg. Used by permission of Wendy Schmalz Agency. The publication of this book has been partly supported by research grant MSM0021620824 “Foundations of the Modern World as Reflected in Literature and Philosophy” awarded to the Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, Prague, by the Czech Ministry of Education. All reasonable effort has been made to contact copyright holders. | Cataloguing in Publication Data The Return of Král Majáles. Prague’s International Literary Renaissance 1990-2010 An Anthol- ogy, edited by Louis Armand.—1st ed. p. cm. ISBN 978-80-7308-302-1 (pb) 1. Literature. 2. Prague. 3. Central Europe. I. Armand, Louis. II. Title Printed in the Czech Republic by PB Tisk Cover, typeset & design © lazarus Cover image: Allen Ginsberg in Prague, 1965. Photo: ČTK. Inside pages: 1. Allen Ginsberg in Prague, 1965. Photo: ČTK. 2. Street view of the Globe bookstore, opening party, July 1993. Photo: Mark Baker. 3. Crowd outside the Globe book- store, opening party, July 1993. Photo: Mark Baker. 4. Beef Stew after-party at Paseka, 1995/6; centre Paul Martia and Alan Ward. Photo: Karl Skarstein. Opposite: Tim Rogers, post card poem, “Brilliant” (1998). | 9 Contents Introduction THE RETURN OF KRÁL MAJÁLES 1 MICHAL AJVAZ Two Compositions 61 JORN AKE Atlas Ptáků 67 Raphael 68 On Dogs & Urban Warfare 69 Great Pickup Lines of the 20th Century 70 Birdwatching at Yaxchilan 73 GWENDOLYN ALBERT Final Rewards 75 abulia 76 democracy 77 economic power 78 Jocasta 79 Letter to Eileen Myles 80 0 | HANA ANDRONIKOVÁ V. Samsara 85 LOUIS ARMAND The Vanishing Syndrome 105 Psychopathologies of the Commonplace 107 Three Testiments to Apollonius 108 Correspondences 109 Oaxaca, Oaxaca 112 Circus Days 113 JULIE ASHLEY Interlopers 117 ALEX BARBER The Last Bus 137 The Edge of the World 138 KIP ALLAN BAUERSFELD from The Superseding, A Prague Nocturne 141 KEVIN BLAHUT Sinbad 149 Alcohol’s Marionette 150 Young Hands 151 PETR BORKOVEC Sonograph 153 Pine 155 Ode 157 Snow General On 158 Two Owls 159 The Work 160 Room 161 SARAH BORUFKA Night Train 163 MICHAEL BRENNAN Apogee 167 The disaster of grace 168 No Second Chances 169 BIL BROWN from 3:15experiment 171 ISOBELLE CARMODY The Man Who Lost His Shadow 185 LOUIS CHARBONNEAU The 217 Bus to Hell (or Klamovka) 203 Věra Chase Fluidly Along the Beach 211 | Sunday Mail 212 JULIE CHIBBARO Skin 215 Fractal Swing 221 JOSHUA COHEN Cafédämmerung 233 LARA CONWAY Psychopathology of Everyday Life 243 The Cities of Madame Curie 246 The Well of Night 251 CHRISTOPHER COOK The Cyclops 277 CHRISTOPHER CRAWFORD A Whistling Sound 283 head holiday 284 Men at Sea 285 Divorcee Disco Music 286 One Two Three 288 Letter to Self from Deathbed 289 O’Hara at the Beach 290 Cellar 291 The Tablecloth Trick 292 LEWIS CROFTS And so they came 295 PIERRE DAGUIN Three Poems 299 STEPHAN DELBOS Honeymoon 303 Tiny Miracles 304 The Rusted Door 305 Advent 307 This Lighter, 308 Verdant; A Word 309 What the Poet Told Me 310 DANIKA DINSMORE a girl in prague is a temporary thing (14.7.00) 313 26.7.00 314 28.7.00 315 Mostar, Bosnia (6.8.00) 316 13.8.00 317 Dol, Croatia (11.8.00) 318 War Story (10.8.00) 319 DAVID DOUBEK | Artistic exercises 321 Then good fortune was unexpectedly worked in 322 DANIELA DRAZANOVÁ Ezra’s Bar 325 Eva 337 VÍT ERBAN A Small, Cold Sun 347 The Belly of the Centipede 349 G.S. EVANS from Bohemia 352 ROBERT EVERSZ from Gypsy Hearts 359 VINCENT FARNSWORTH dalek bird poem 367 not long 369 They Have Arrived 370 amerika’s top forty 371 Out Dying on the Vine 372 she disappeared during a trip 373 Spring 374 twenty years of No Future 375 Years of Reprieve 380 SYLVA FISCHEROVÁ Mothers 385 Inside the Description 386 The Language of the Fountains 387 This Century Blossoms Black and Green 388 Who Makes History 389 Road to Nowhere 390 The Blind 391 Draft in the Head, Draft in the World 392 DAVID FREELING Eulogy 395 Last Words, Café Colubris, Prague, November 4, 1996 397 JIM FREEMAN Thinking Me 401 Muddy Water 402 Setting Fire to my Life 403 Just Another Kid 404 Big Boats 405 RÓBERT GÁL from Agnomia 407 THOR GARCIA Dagger 413 | MYLA GOLDBERG from Cirkus 431 ELIZABETH GROSS Lines from National Geographic 443 Lines from National Geographic (2) 444 Liar to Gardener (I) 445 Liar to Gardener (II) 446 Liar to Gardener (IV) 447 Leaving Vyšehrad 448 Lines from National Geographic (June 1975) 449 Questioning room, post-Fall 450 Lines from National Geographic (date unknown) 451 Lines from National Geographic (3) 452 STUART HORWITZ Waiter Poem 455 Numbers 456 HOWARD HUNT The Ministry of Strange Affairs 459 TRAVIS JEPPESEN from The Suiciders 479 IVAN MARTIN JIROUS from Magor’s Birds 489 To Amalrik 490 […] 491 ALEXANDER JORGENSEN “La Paix” 493 The Wading Bird: Or, Gideon’s Ephod 494 Litter & Litter 495 Terminal 496 Tesla 497 RICHARD KATROVAS Love Poem for an Enemy 499 The Boxers Embrace 500 The Bridge of Intellectuals 501 George W. Bush was Very Nice to Me 502 Vít KremličKa Tynia 505 Cinema Arcadia 506 The Attempts of a Commodities Expert 507 JANE KIRWIN A Shed in Bohemia 509 Caffeine 510 Power Station, Ústí Nad Labem 511 | One Made Earlier 512 Teaching Czech to Foreigners 513 maya KVětný Promise 515 Poodle Ruff Muzzle 517 TOBY LITT Elizabeth Bishop: The Complete Poems 519 Auerbach 520 Celan 521 Schnittke 522 Great Railway Journeys of the World 523 CHRISTOPHER LORD Tres Mujeres de España 525 PAUL MARTIA Žižkov Pub 545 Godspead 546 Before the River Flooded 548 JASON MASHAK Opiate of the Masses 551 WTFWJD? 552 On Questions 553 TOM MCCARTHY from Men in Space 555 JOHN MCKEOWN Alcohol 573 Wild Poppies 574 The Day You Love Me 575 MAUREEN MCMANUS Collateral 577 Poetry Totem 578 Turf 579 Joking Apart 580 Deconstructing Eternity, A-Z 581 JOSHUA MENSCH The Marvelous Marvels Forward 583 Quick Start, Long Night 584 Art Appreciation 585 My Third Arm 586 New Continent 587 Seance 588 And so the River Passes like a Long Blue Yarn 589 The Fine Print 590 TOMáš MíKA A Castle 593 Life Delusion 594 A Dream of a Foreign Land 595 | EWALD MURRER End of the Circle 597 Temptation 599 KEN NASH Maurice Utrillo 603 The Two Lives of Edward Hopper 604 The Great Simanoa 607 Anima Husbandry 609 SCOTT JONATHAN NIXON Draža Mihailović 613 the wastebasket 615 PETER ORNER Belief 619 TONY OZUNA El Czechano 621 IVA PEKÁRKOVÁ 647 from Elephants in the Dusk Kateřina PiňosoVá Again 653 JaroslaV Pížl It’s drizzling 655 Insteps upwards 656 Night on itself choking 657 MAGDALÉNA PLATZOVÁ from Salt, Sheep, and Stone 659 PAUL POLANSKY A Child’s Job 665 My Father Told Me 667 I Thought I Had Survived 669 Z-2012 670 Disturbing the Peace 671 JUSTIN QUINN Prague Elegies 673 Musílkova 682 JAMES RAGAN The Hunger Wall 685 MARTIN REINER Catherine Deneuve’s Fate 687 […] 688 | The Same Day 689 TIM ROGERS No Thy Self (An Exercise in Diet) 691 Kateřina rudčenKoVá Rubble 699 White Shield 700 Never-Ending Conversation 701 Tower 702 Of Words 703 JAROSLAV RUDIš Splinters 705 A Grenade in the Lap 707 The Night that Michael Died 708 šIMON šAFRÁNEK Gas Station Blues 711 Jeanne d’Arc au rivière du Styx 712 Bad Day 713 REVAN SCHENDLER Night Watchman 715 Souvenir Cards 716 Mother’s Teapot 717 Harvest 718 Return 719 An Unobstructed View 721 THEODORE SCHWINKE God’s Holsteins 723 God’s Heifers 724 God’s Cow 725 So He Threw it in the Air 726 Heaven Buys Us Drinks 727 There’s No Love Like the Love of a Piano Player in a Whorehouse 730 PATRICK SEGUIN Kitten’s gone to London 733 two sheets 734 the purpose you hunt 735 BETHANY SHAFFER Happy Household 737 Geometrics 738 The Swans of the Vltava 739 JOE SHERMAN Day of the Burnt Toast 741 PHIL SHOENFELT The Train of History … Derailed 747 JENNY SMITH from Egon for Ten Voices 755 | DONNA STONECIPHER Album 761 The Reservoir 762 Cantilever 764 Silver Spoon 766 HOLLY TAVEL Ars Poetica 769 All About the Swiss 773 JERI THERIAULT Fox Heat 777 ALAN WARD THOMAS Dandelion 781 Ignoring Traffic Signs on the Genealogical Reel to Reel 784 Green Life Hydrogen Fusion 787 ANTHONY TOGNAZZINI 86 Things That Happened Between 2:35 and 2:38 This Afternoon While I Was Lying On My Bed Trying To Take a Nap 791 Teresa’s Second Dream 795 Working Out with Kafka 797 Jane and I at Home One Sunday 798 LUKáš TOMIN Kye Too 805 NICOLE TOMLINSON Untitled [Gielard] 813 Double A 815 Body Simulations 816 Again 819 JÁCHYM TOPOL About 500 Diary Pages 821 but now 822 and there is this spider and 824 Rhythm 825 Meanwhile it’s Nighttime 827 JAROMÍR TYPLT from When You 829 LAWRENCE WELLS Godzilla vs Stalin 831 ALICE WHITTENBURG The Last Elephant 845 Under a Rock 847 Hedgehog 849 CLARE WIGFALL | Norway 853 LAURA ZAM from Collaterally Damaged 867 LUCIEN ZELL Wind to Wind 877 Contributors 878 Bibliography 893 Editor’s Note The 1990s found Prague at the centre of an unprecedented cultural experiment.