Sonic Hedgehog
The gene named for a fruit-fly larva, I read, which when mutated sprouts bristles all over it. One of those genes you better have just right or horrible things can go wrong; e.g. you wind up with … Continued
Translation
Suspensions
Translated from French by S.C. Delaney and Agnès Potier First it was two false incisors falling on his plate. In the past he might have laughed, written some pages, maybe a decent story he’d have put away with some … Continued
Look ||| Mantis
Translated from Hebrew by Tal Nitzan and Ilya Kaminsky. It’s not a green bench in the children’s room It’s a crocodile It’s not a crocodile It’s the future: here’s the slow shift of his eyes here’s … Continued
The Initial ||| The Arkansas International
Written in Polish by Jerzy Ficowski. Translated by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer. where the green snake at the bottom of a dark cellar under the mossy cover of rumbling and wood rolled around itself and unrolled … Continued
I Am Chito ||| The Poetry Foundation
Written in Japanese by Hiromi Itō. The first time I ever heard about coyotes Was in a book called (in Japanese) Setons’ Animals for Boys and Girls There I encountered Lobo the Wolf King, bighorn sheep, a … Continued
Scrittore Traditore
Translated from Spanish by Curtis Bauer I fell in love with a boy when I was seven years old. I could have fallen in love with a girl, but in my school the boys and girls were separated, so I … Continued
In a Land Strange to Us
translated from Italian by Allison Grimaldi-Donahue 3 March 2002 We saw each other in a land that was strange to you, the first time: me on the other side of that metal detector, hoping you would make it … Continued
Two Yellow Titmice
Translated from Chinese by Jennie Chia-Hui Chu My big brother Da Ge, who was the son of my father’s first wife when they were still living in the country, was much older than me. We weren’t close. He spoke … Continued
Untitled ||| The Common
Translated by Martha Cooley and Antonio Romani My father’s bookcase was divided by nationalities of the authors. “The French ones,” my mother would say with some solemnity, indicating the most considerable sector, and perhaps the one most congenial to … Continued
The Lion Tamer Remembers ||| Witness
Translated from French by Andrew S. Nicholson listen up earthen colors too late your laughter eats the sun for rabbits for chameleons grasp my body between two long lines when famine becomes light sleep sleep we feel so heavy blue … Continued