by Moikom Zeqo
Translated by Wayne Miller
A Lannan Translation Series Selection
The poems in I Don't Believe in Ghosts come from Meduza, a collection Zeqo wrote roughly between 1970-1974, that challenged some of the core tenets of Albanian Socialist Realism. After Zeqo had published a few cycles of poems from the book-in-progress, his work was denounced as "hermetic, with modern influences, dangerous, [and] foreign" at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Albanian Communist Party, and the book was suppressed until 1995, after the collapse of the Albanian communist system. Today, Zeqo lives with his wife, the prominent archaeologist Lida Miraj, in Tirana and works as a freelance writer and journalist. In 2001, he was awarded one of Albania's highest honors--the order "Mjeshtër i Madh i Punës," which roughly translates, "Important Master of His Field."
The Miracle of Death
The miracle of death is precise like the law.
Our bodies will decompose in their natural elements.
Perhaps we'll meet as underground streams,
as humus and salt at the roots of a plant
that will flourish and open its petals,
astounding everything with its anonymous beauty.
Our bones will blossom . . . .
But the souls?
poor aerial creatures, they'll wander the clouds,
forever separate and never whole.
Copyright © 2007 BOA Editions
Available editions:
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Cloth
ISBN: 978-1-934414-00-2
Price: $26.95
Publishing Date: November 2007
Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-934414-01-9
Price: $21.95
Publishing Date: November 2007
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