KNOT Magazine
Fall Issue 2022
Kristen D. Scott
"PABLO'S LOVER"
(After Pablo Neruda)
I want to be your mistress Pablo!
Your American whore
your lover in “grey beret.”
write for me.
Save your syllables
scrawl out my name in unripe ink.
Oh, Pablo! My Pablo!
I want to be your mistress
Your American whore
your lover in “grey beret.”
Let us make love on
warm tiles, cordova leather
chairs, * las camas of Isla Negra
smell my skin
slick from your kiss's tastes
lick the cool sea and brine,
taste our sex Ricardo!
Let your poet's hands roam
Waiting for Istanbul
(for Zafer)
waiting for him
is waiting for Istanbul
the force of a Byzantium fresco
first opening
quince
a horse-drawn caravan laden
with lokum
each, tawny, black sea honey
experiencing him is living
Istanbul
without him a history
would be lost
Sand and Stone
(for Zafer)
When you appeared on my skin
it was the season of cherries
warm tumescent grapes
and quarter- turned moon
olives gazed over
ripened rooftops,
the hillsides,
swollen with their oil;
oh, lithe, verdant
branches!
stars told narratives through
their ancient glyphs-
whispered secrets
etching them across
my breasts,
and your chest
held the cuneiform of lovers
recorded books of sages
the sands washed too many
away with every recurring tide,
but you and I,
are together stone
Author´s note: "Pablo´s lover," previously published in the San Diego Poetry Annual (2015). All translated poems appeared in the September issue of Nacional (Albanian Newspaper) (2015).
Dashnorja e Pablos
(Sipas Pablo Nerudës)
Dua të jem bashkëjetuesja jote, Pablo,
zuska jote amerikane,
dashnorja jote te “bereta gri”.
Shkruaj për mua.
Ruaji rrokjet e tua,
shkarravit emrin tim me bojën e pabërë.
Oh Pablo! Pabloja im!
Dua të jem bashkëjetuesja jote, Pablo,
zuska jote amerikane,
dashnorja jote te “bereta gri”.
Le të bëjmë dashuri mbi
pllakat e ngrohta, karriget prej
lëkure Kordove, shtratin e Isla Negra-s
merri erë lëkurës sime,
lëmoje duke nisur nga shija e puthjes tënde,
lëpije detin e ftohtë dhe ujin e kripur,
shijoje epshin tonë për dashuri, Rikardo!
Leri duart e tua prej poeti të enden
nëpër “kofshët e bardha”
“trupit të një gruaje.”
Dëshirë e papërfytyruar,
kërkesë e përhershme,
digju për mua, Pablo! Pabloja im!
Dua të jem bashkëjetuesja jote, Pablo,
zuska jote amerikane,
dashnorja jote te “bereta gri”.
Duke pritur Stambollin
Pritja për të
është pritja për Stambollin,
fuqia e një afresku bizantin
çasti i përurimit,
pjekja e ftoit,
pajtoni tërhequr nga një kalë, ngarkuar
plot me llokume
secila, e kuqërremtë, mjaltë nga Deti i Zi,
të përjetosh atë është gjallëri
e përhershme Stambolli
pa të një histori
do të humbiste.
Rëra dhe guri
Kur ti u shfaqe mbi lëkurën time
ishte stina e qershive
e rrushit të ngrohtë dhe të mbufatur
dhe e gjysmëhënës ndriçuar përgjysmë
ullinjtë vështronin ngultas mbi
kulmet e çative të pjekura,
shpatet e kodrinave,
të ënjtur me vajin e tyre;
oh, të zhdërvjellëtat, të blertat
degë!
Yjet treguan rrëfenja me anë
të hieroglifëve të tyre të lashtë
pëshpëritën të fshehta
duke i gdhendur ato tejpërtej
sisëve të mia
dhe gjoksit tënd
me shkrimin në formë pyke të dashnorëve,
regjistruar me zë në librat e të urtëve
Rëra kapërdiu shumë gjëra dhe i
nxori në breg me baticat e përsëritura
por unë dhe ti
së bashku jemi një gur.
Kristen D. Scott is a nominee of the Pushcart Prize in poetry for five works from her 2014 collection OPIATE. She is an award-winning essayist for her work on Federico Garcia Lorca and his books the Divan del Tamarit, Poet of the Deep Song, and essay, "The Duende."
She has published in several anthologies, newspapers, and ezines, including the San Diego Poetry Annuals, Nomos Review, Perigee, Alesbuyia, and published two poetry collection from Garden Oak Press; LIAISONS (2012) and OPIATE (2014). She has been translated into Arabic, Albanian, Türçe and Bengali. Recently, her work appeared in Nacional an Albanian newspaper (translated by Laureta Peshoti), and she was featured poet in MeArteka (May, 2015) where she had several poems translated into Albanian as well. Her new and selected poems are forthcoming from Garden Oak Press in 2016.
Scott is currently the Editor-In-Chief, founder, and web designer of KNOT Magazine, holds an MFA in Creative Writing, MA in English Literature, and is progressing with her Ph.D in Global Education and Comparative Literature.
Originally from Colorado, Scott has resides on the Riviera in Türkiye, where she has lived for several years.
Laureta Petoshati is an Albanian poet, prose writer and translator. She attended Faculty of Engineering in University of Tirana for about five years and received a Master Degree in Civil Engineering in 1987. Then she frequented postgraduate courses in foreign languages and worked in Vlora court as official translator. Nowadays she is committed to translations, literature and journalism. She published her poetry collection Goddess of Heaven in 1996 and her historical novel Return to Ventotene in 2012. She continues to publish her poetry cycles in many national and international newspapers such Albanian American newspaper - "Illyria" in New York, or Knot Magazine, recently has published in WritingRow Assorted the essay Some Reflections about the Poem "Visit" of Zvika Szternfeld.
As a poet she is a winner of one competition which took place in her hometown Vlora and as a translator she has won two national competitions and some of poems written by Alisa Velaj and translated by Laureta Petoshati are published in Section & Magazine, The Dallas Review and Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine. Other translations of Velaj’s poems will appear in the forthcoming issues of Of/with Journal, Harbinger Asylum ,The Seventh Quarry and Poetry Scotland (UK).