One Poem by Linda Maria Baros, translated from the French by Kathryn Kimball
Float within four walls,
where darkness takes on body,
let yourself be carried along the sides
into their aquarium infinity,
as if in amniotic fluid.
(This is the world where you let yourself be carried into emptiness,
hanging on to the open parachute of the ceiling.)
Your loved one’s hair, under her comb,
sends lightning streaks into the darkness,
towards the east, where the walls of the house knot together.
The walls and all their kind.
And there, cigarette smoke
accumulates in cumulus clouds
on the fogged plate of the window.
Shutters of vertigo whip your face.
You bang your head against the frost.
We hear thunderclaps
in the holy pulpits of the north.
And clouds descend a little lower,
obeying the violent laws of nature.
Above, perhaps, the star is shining.
A lashing wind tolls the knell for leaves.
It is raining here, there; in the west,
rivulets join streams
and the streams roll
into one dark river which, beneath the door,
— as the ancient texts tell us —
will flow into the other world.
And you, you slip gently,
down to the bottom, down to the floor. You are in you.
Linda Maria Baros was born in Romania in 1981, left to study in Paris in 1998 and received a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 2011. She has translated over twenty books into French or Romanian, directs numerous poetry festivals in Romania and France and serves on editorial boards for literary magazines. She currently lives and teaches in Paris. Her poems have been translated into twenty-five languages.
Kathryn Kimball grew up in Alabama, has a Ph.D. in English Literature and has taught writing and nineteenth-century literature. Her publications include a 2021 chapbook, a book of poetry accepted for publication in 2025, and inclusion in various journals. She has published translations of several poets writing in French, including Guy Goffette. She is a yoga practitioner and lives in New York City.
Linda Maria Baros was born in Romania in 1981, left to study in Paris in 1998 and received a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 2011. She has translated over twenty books into French or Romanian, directs numerous poetry festivals in Romania and France and serves on editorial boards for literary magazines. She currently lives and teaches in Paris. Her poems have been translated into twenty-five languages.
Kathryn Kimball grew up in Alabama, has a Ph.D. in English Literature and has taught writing and nineteenth-century literature. Her publications include a 2021 chapbook, a book of poetry accepted for publication in 2025, and inclusion in various journals. She has published translations of several poets writing in French, including Guy Goffette. She is a yoga practitioner and lives in New York City.
