“On First Encountering Osip E. Mandelstam ”[Reflections on: Berger, John and Mohr, Jean, with help from Nicholas Philbert, Another Way of Telling, NY: Pantheon Books, 1982, 308p. - Quote in intro p. 131)

It started as an opening quote (of two)
In book of photos – Jean and John construed
To put a Euro-spin on photo-thought,
In section three – long time before I’d bought.

I had not heard of this poetic man
From Russia – ticked off Lenin, as one can
If one does not comply with party tricks
(Called him a “Peasant Killer” – got him ticked).

An interview on YouTube caught my eye –
Translator’s view – unique – “Not how he died,
Or lived, but rather, poem’s sub-text part
Is what explodes for Russians in his art”.

It seems a linguist back in Osip’s day,
Saw assonance ’neath language as a way
To harness language like the surf ’neath waves
In Polynesian navigator’s ways.

So Pasternak hid assonance in text;
But Man-del-shtam was overt, like the rest;
For it was “in” for poets of his day,
And poets liked this assonantal play.

Translators miss the point if all they see
In Man-del-shtam is his biography –
For poetry, and photos, like this book,
Augment each other, bidding second look.

Osip apparently would Dante bear
In all his walks, ’case being arrested there,
So he would have an inspiration-tome
To read in exile, far away from home.

For impulse, aim, and oscillation hold
Out structures for each poem folks find bold;
As it projects itself into their hearts,
For Spirit to elicit there it’s art.

Thanks Holy Spirit for this.

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