Poems by Márton Simon 

(Translated by Timea Balogh)

​Polaroids
(extracts)


001 A butterfly with its wings open next to the door
that leads to the yard, black on the white stones.
Been there for some three weeks.


146 I’m not looking for anything that exists. 


068 An albatross with a stomach full of lighters.


421 Not that nothing, 
the other one. 


352 It’s winter on the line.


354 Hi, I’m the black box. 


351 Actually, I’ve been waiting 
since I was 11 years old 
to get cancer. 


229 I want to bear a resemblance. 


377 Like a lost diver. 


391 All dreaming is 
is being present someplace 
that isn’t. 


016 It’s just starting to get beautiful.  


202 By I love you, I mostly mean
I miss you 
even when you’re here. 


337 Life’s most important sentences are spoken lying down. 


081 Uncovered summer sky. 


043 A spring forest on a one-hundred-year-old photo. 


328 You can get coffee out of pants, 
but not puke.


106 I’m breathing too loudly.


046 When I talk about my dreams,
I’m usually lying.


024 To sleep like a deep freezer. 


314 To die in an airport. 


371 If you know of another solution, tell me. 


515 And like on a worn keyboard,
I don’t know 
what’s going to happen.


524 Let’s make up a lie. 
Anything is better than this. 


425 The person finally nods.


141 You left me in this garden,
which is as about as big as a cat’s forehead.


012 I just ripped her letters in half. 
If someone were to find them, they could still read them. 


044 To bite into a tube of lipstick.


303 To move into the zoo.


062 The sound of snow falling. 


039 In the early morning, I remember. 

Márton Simon (1984) is a poet, translator and slam poetry performer. He publishes poems since 2004; he has two poetry collections. He translates from English and Japanese. He participates in poetry slams since 2011; won a 3rd and a 2nd place at the Hungarian National Championship (2016, 2012). Performed (outside of Hungary) in Warsaw, Krakow, Prague and Brussels. His texts are translated to English, Polish, German, Czech, Romanian and Bulgarian.

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