The Ofi Press Magazine

Poem by Natalia Litvinova (Argentina/ Belarus)

Translation by Arturo Desimone (Argentina)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 42 

Argentinean poet Natalia Litvinova was born in the village of Gomel in Belarus, not far from Brobiusk and Chernobyl. She moved with her mother to Argentina because of the Chernobyl catastrophe. Her translations of 20th Russian poets into Spanish have appeared in Argentina and in Spain. These poems are from her book Esteparia, or Steppiary, a poem-bestiary of her childhood in the Steppes. Natalia gave permission to me to translate her, and can be contacted at litvinova25@hotmail.com

Arturo Desimone was born and raised on the Caribbean island Aruba, to parents of immigrant origins (an Argentinian father and a Russian-Polish mother). He is currently based between the Netherlands and Buenos Aires and is working on a long fiction project. Themes that he often treats in his work are exile, migration,  and religion. His poetry and short fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in the reviews The New Orleans Review , Hamilton Stone, Acentos Review and Hinchas de Poesía! A Spanish version of his book of verse, About a Lover From Tunisia, is forthcoming with the Argentinian new press for poetry, criticism and translations, Audisea Libros. 

Image: "Droplets" by Crunchy Lens.