If There is Something to Desire: One Hundred Poems

by Vera Pavlova, Steven Seymour (Translator)

I broke your heart. / Now barefoot I tread / on shards.

Such is the elegant simplicity—a whole poem in ten words, vibrating with image and emotion—of the best-selling Russian poet Vera Pavlova. The one hundred poems in this book, her first full-length volume in English, all have the same salty immediacy, as if spoken by a woman who feels that, as the title poem concludes, “If there was nothing to regret, / there was nothing to desire.”

Pavlova’s economy and directness make her delightfully accessible to us in all of the widely ranging topics she covers love, both sexual and the love that reaches beyond sex; motherhood; the memories of childhood that continue to feed us; our lives as passionate souls abroad in the world and the fullness of experience that entails. Expertly translated by her husband, Steven Seymour, Pavlova’s poems are highly disciplined miniatures, exhorting us without “Enough painkilling, heal. / Enough cajoling, command.”

It is a great pleasure to discover a new Russian poet—one who storms our hearts with pure talent and a seemingly effortless gift for shaping poems.

Genres: Poetry, Russia, Russian Literature

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 2010

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poem is a voice-mail:
the poet has stepped out, most likely
will not be back. Please leave a message
after you hear a gunshot.

There is a stark simplicity to Russian poet Vera Pavlova's poetry that manages to dredge up the highest emotive power through such slim offerings. These 100 poems are brief waltzes of life, easily relatable while still probing the darker corners of our hearth that we don't usually let see the light of day or conversation. These are not normally the type of poems I would enjoy, being bent on relationships and the still-life echoes of love long fallen into domestic routine and structure, yet there is something so utterly charming and potent to be found within her words. Pavlova's emotions ring clear and true, and give a guilty pleasure that reminds us exactly why we fall in love, and love the feeling of love and comfort, even when that comfort may dull the edges of our lives and remind us that we are merely a cog in the world around us.

When the very last grief
deadens all our pain,
I will follow you there
on the very next train,
not because I lack the strength
to ponder the end result,
but maybe you forgot to bring
pills, a necktie, razor blades...

Unlike the Tyson Knot Gregson's that plague the instagrams and poetry shelves of the modern day, capitalizing on our emotions and constantly looking up from the page to see if they have made us cry yet, Pavlova offers true, honest emotion in the 'everyday' sort. Her poems are like the simple act of covering a loved one with a blanket, or forgiving a lover and falling asleep with their hand clasped in yours after an argument. These poems are short, getting in and out while bestirring the most possible emotion, yet don't leave the reader feeling they have been duped by emotional propaganda or false pretenses merely aimed at hanging your wallet from a noose. Had this not been a translation and had a wider promotional campaign, this would be a major success as it manages to be both accessible and provoke such emotional resonance. However, Pavlova's poetry is easily forgettable, mostly because it is primarily one-liners and quick tugs of the heart-strings but light on the intellectual playing field. That said, each time you find it again on your shelf while looking for something quick to browse, you are glad that it is there to remind you again why love is one of the most important aspects of being a human being. Well worth the price of admission.
3.5/5

...if necessary, the books shall be divided as follows:
you get the odd, I get the even pages;
"the books" are understood to mean the ones we used to read aloud
together, when we would interrupt our reading for a kiss,
and get back to the book after half an hour...

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the simplicity of this book.
Pavlova, to me, felt like a fresh perspective.

Using only numbers instead of titles, these poems are concrete, precise, and surprising.

My favorite of the collection:

9

I broke your heart
Now barefoot I tread
on shards.


Closely followed by:

17
Why is the word yes so brief?
It should be
the longest,
the hardest,
so that you could not decide in an instant to say it,
so that upon reflection you could stop
in the middle of saying it.


Great translation as well.

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 3 out of 5]

"A girl sleeps as if
she were in someone's dream;
a woman sleeps as if
tomorrow a war will begin;
an old woman sleeps as if
it were enough to feign being dead
and death might pass her by
on the far outskirts of sleep."

Short collection.

Loved a few, liked a few and want to unread the rest.

[Ksenia Anske · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved these poems. Like so many stars in your pocket. Now I want to read them all in Russian, to savor them once more.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like succinct, direct, cutting poems, this is the collection for you. 100 poems and I’d say 95 of them are less than 20 lines long. Jon Sands introduced me/us to poem 18 in last round’s Emotional Historian sessions—that probably remains my favorite, with 9 and 50 as my runner’s up.
.
A lot of these poems just cut straight to the point and then leave. This is not lyrical, metaphoric, image-heavy, sweeping poetry that takes you down many paths to reach its end. This is not poetry of bliss, despite often touching on love, sex, relationships. No matter the subject, the tone never really changes. Some other themes touched in are loneliness, survival, parenting, aging specifically and the passage of time in general.
.
Some seem stiff or oddly phrased to me, and with work in translation it’s always hard to know if it was the writing or the conversion to a different language. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a native English speaker say semen the way it’s used in several poems here…but I couldn’t think of an alternate word either.

[Anna (lion_reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

If only I knew from what tongue
your I love you has been translated,
if I could find the original,
consult the dictionary
to be sure the rendition is exact:
the translator is not at fault!

The kind of spare, lightweight poetry I am surprised to find I like. Vera Pavlova explores love, sex, writing, and the kind of loneliness that exists while your partner is sleeping.

Although I did find there is quite a lot of repetition of the same images throughout the collection.

[Glire · Rating 2 out of 5]

  “Hell is where there is no way 
you can ever change.”

2015 Reading Challenge #44: A book that was originally written in a different language. (Escrito originalmente en ruso, traducido al inglés y reseñado en español :P)

No hay nada más difícil de traducir que un poema (excepto, tal vez, una antología de poemas). Muchas veces el traductor debe tomarse ciertas licencias para intentar mantener la forma de la rima o el verso, sacrificando la esencia. Convirtiendo un poema en otro totalmente distinto.

Es por eso que siempre me parece un poco injusto juzgar a un poeta por su traducción. Pero soy una neófita del ruso, así que esta versión en inglés era mi mejor opción para conocer a la popular Vera Pavlova (popular en el circulo de la poesía). Y lamento aceptar que no estoy para nada complacida.

Los poemas en su mayoría se me hacen bastante meh. Versos con poca creatividad, que fallan en el uso de imágenes poéticas, y en evocar en el lector (y con "el lector" por supuesto que me refiero a mí) algún sentimiento distinto al aburrimiento.

Sin embargo, debo admitir que en uno que otro verso pueden encontrarse, de pronto, destellos de genialidad. Así que le doy a Pavlova el beneficio de la duda; ¿tal vez es la traducción que no la favorece? Supongo que hasta que no aprenda ruso (probablemente nunca) no lo sabré.

#GliréTip: El mejor poema es el que le da el titulo a el libro: "If there is something to desire", y para leerlo ni siquiera hay que comprarlo, porque ¡está completo en la portada!

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll start off with one positive: there were peeks into decency within maybe two or three poems. The longer poems with imagery (like the people and their lives) hinted at something but fell flat, as if the poet didn’t know how to wrap everything together and took on too many perspectives in one poem. I can’t exactly refer to the poem itself as the poems (from my memory) did not have titles. If each character in the poem had gotten their own poem fleshed out, I would’ve enjoyed it more. Again, I wish I could say which poem this was, but you’d have to have read the book to know.

There were many poor word choices in many poems where the poet had a tone that was harshly changed from let’s say sentimental to brash. Also, referring to something as “childlike” within a romantic poem about physical intimacy doesn’t sit well with me. I’m all for simplicity if done well, but the poet threw in words where they did not fit.

Also:
Writing
a sentence
like
this
does not
make
something
a poem.

I didn’t feel any emotions while reading except confusion as to how this has so many good reviews.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked many of the poems, but felt that they started reading very much like each other after a while. Perhaps its the kind of collection to read in small sittings.

I borrowed this book from the library due to one of her poems in Poets.org poem-a-day, and one can find kind mentions of her work all over the internet. But I got a little bored by all that love; I have to say that when she talks about pain I don't really believe her. Is that her problem or mine? Don't quite know.

Links to some of her work:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/pr...

http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/...

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poet...

The title poem (and book cover, which is quite clever -- I wouldn't mind it as a poster) is the 2nd poem in the New Yorker.

[Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but strong little poems, sometimes complex, sometimes sweet, often sad. And funny-- there are some damn funny moments. I bought this at Faulkner's old house in New Orleans and read a poem or three while waiting for food, a drink, or while trying to figure out what to do that evening. The brevity, I thought, would be perfect for the setting, but I found myself seduced by these poems to the extent that the big easy often had to wait a damn minute while I reread some lines. Of course, the big easy is in no hurry.

[Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Should I stop loving you? Wish I could! Easier to build a house on the waves."

[Edgar Trevizo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't actually get or totally like all of the poems, but there are a few, around 10 or so, that shine so much they illuminate all the rest. Beautiful book.

[Dot Penkevich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that deserves to be read all the way through in one sitting. If you really want to come undone, I recommend reading it at 3 AM after you've drunk an entire La Marca prosecco straight from the bottle. Deceptively simple but with the sort of depth that comes from looking in one mirror and seeing another mirror behind you reflecting your image back a thousand times. Although some of the poems seemed a bit forgettable and perhaps even trite, I have found them sticking to corners of my mind like cobwebs that refuse to be swept away. This one in particular has not left me:

When the very last grief
deadens all our pain,
I will follow you there
on the very next train,
not because I lack the strength
to ponder the end result,
but maybe you forgot to bring
pills, a necktie, razor blades...

Straight for the jugular, that.

P.S. I'll report back once I get my hands on a Russian copy of this and can see how the English translation compares.

[Night City Moves]

A testament to womanhood, a cry out to the universe. This is edgy, and Pavlova is a talented poet... But you need not hear that from me; she is well-renowned. This is my first time reading her. Some poems hit me harder than others, some didn't hit me at all and I couldn't connect with them. I definitely need to read more poetry because there's an art to reading this type of style as opposed to traditional prose. I also enjoy poetry sometimes so reading more doesn't sound so bad of an idea. 💞

[Care]

DNF at 33%.

None of these poems connected with me, too short and bland to leave any impact. Nothing particularly offensive, just had absolutely no resonance, so I didn't bother to finish.

[Mefab ⋆˚✿˖° · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best ones ❤️✨

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beast in winter,
a plant in spring,
an insect in summer,
a bird in autumn.
The rest of the time I am a woman.

[Aquila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pointed, thoughtful, vivid.

[Irmak · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last you and I are one
together until the end.
Penelope’s hand came in handy
for the wedding gown,
napkins, bedsheets, hankies,
with enough left for Odysseus
to make a sail.

—

Thought’s surface: word
Word’s surface: gesture
Gesture’s surface: skin
Skin’s surface: shiver

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could technically give this somewhere between four and five stars. I love the vast majority of these poems, some more than others. I don't like some of them. I'm sure my opinion of them will also change and evolve; what resonates with me now at this point and time is bound to be different at a later point and time.

"I have brushed my teeth.
This day and I are even."
-#50 by Vera Pavlova

A lot of the poems she writes in terms of depression, sleeplessness, and nature ring strongly with me.

"Do you know what you lacked?
That dose of contempt without which
you cannot flip a woman on her back
to make her flounder like a turtle,
to make the heartless fool realize:
she cannot flip back on her own."
-#15 by Vera Pavlova

The ones that clearly refer to preparing for or wanting children, the ones about being married ("Let me wear your last name, I promise not to spoil it," [paraphrased]), the ones about growing old... I think those will mean more to me later on.

"Enough painkilling, heal." says the opening line of #22, and it's some damn tough advice.

I really love the book's vast amount of white space. As one of the other reviewers mentioned, it helps the reader focus inward on these deeply personal poems. The space invites us to speak quietly with Vera Pavlova, almost like looking into a very concise, artful diary.

However, whenever she mentions sperm, I just can't really take the poem seriously.

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought maybe I didn't like this book. I thought I would give it three stars. But was I being too hard? I didn't regret having read it. I liked the sentiment of kissing "the handle of the closing door"; I liked the line about tying "the daredevil to the woman as to a mast"; the one about the woman who had "birthed two daughters by seven men" made sense to me.

Did I have to relate to the poems for them to be worthy of my "like"? Did I have to feel I could have written them? Did the poet have to offend me (which she did), or not offend me? I related to the resentment that runs through so many of the poems, the obsession of the one who falls asleep last, the one who "begged him: do not fall asleep!", the one who wrote about the "tenant of dreams." The one who saves "for a rainy day the lullaby to mourn the one who had fallen asleep before I did." The one who is to your left.

And I really liked this one:
"I have brushed my teeth.
This day and I are even."

If you read this book, you'll be as surprised as I was to realize that the translator is the poet's husband.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's something about a really good poem. To me, it will always be worth so much more than a really good book. LOVED LOVED LOVED a good handful of these. Didn't care for all of them, but that doesn't stop me from giving this collection a 5 because the poems I did love were amazing!

Just one of my favorites, because how do you really review a poem? One must read it for himself:

A Draft of a Marriage Contract

…if necessary, the books shall be divided as follows:

you get the odd, I get the even pages;

“the books” are understood to mean the ones we used to read

aloud

together, when we would interrupt our reading for a kiss,

and would get back to the book after half an hour….

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Read as 3.5 stars)

A collection of emotional short poems - numbered rather than titled.

Many of the poems are quite sharp - little, edged daggers of poetry. They sink in quick and leave you gaping. Many are profound, beautiful little things.

I found myself pulled out of the collection too often for me to give it a higher rating. There were enough poems that gave me that "been there, done that" sort of feeling. Several poems simply felt cliché and rough compared to the rest.

Regardless, I am sure that I will find myself coming back to this collection for its high points which are often quite high indeed.

[Miriam Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite poem:

My parents were virgins.
At twenty-two, even then it was unusual.
Although around the women’s dormitory Dad was known as a skirt chaser,
he “went” to the women to get some food,
because he was living on his stipend.
At first he went to Mom also in order to eat.
And when at the school they started talking about a possible wedding,
someone slipped her a copy of
“How a Girl Becomes a Woman”.
Mom threw it out unopened.

It was scary for them to make me.
It was weird for them to make me.
It was painful for them to make me.
It was funny for them to make me.

And I absorbed:

life is scary.
Life is weird.
Life is painful.
Life is very funny.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is moving, profound short book of poems on human connection, love, and loss. Pavlova is a Russian poet fortunate in her husband: he's her translator. I'm guessing that he catches nuances others might miss in translation. In any case, take a moment, get out of the rat race, slow down, and read these beautiful poems. It will help you remember why you're on the planet.

[Vika Kareva · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Odessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow this collection underwhelmed me. I was left with this question: is this better in Russian?

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was gorgeous. I really loved it and the author’s style. I can’t wait to read her other translated work, though sadly only a few books have been translated from Russian.

[Katie Farris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intimate, sexy, honest, thoughtful, with never an extraneous word, I love Vera Pavlova's poems.

Armpits smell of linden blossom,
lilacs give a whiff of ink.
If we could only wage lovemaking
all day without end,
love so detailed and elastic
that when nightfall came,
we would exchange each other
like prisoners of war, five times, no less!

They often have an aphoristic quality that surprises and delights-- a clever turn or idea, concisely put.

Why is the word yes so brief?
It should be
the longest
the hardest,
so that you could not decide in an instant to say it,
so that upon reflection you could stop
in the middle of saying it.

They are perfectly off-kilter, touched by that little bit of strangeness that sets the whole thing beautifully alight.

Goodbye, my dear!
The bugles call.
I will kiss on the lips
the mirror in your hall.
And on the cheek. And lest I
not survive
this vicious minute, also
the handle of the closing door.

[Karla Deniss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Estaba emocionada por este libro porque 1) Vera es rusa y 2) había leído un par de poemas de ella y me parecieron bonitos. Lo malo es que, en mi opinión, justo esos poemas que se pueden encontrar en tumblr son los únicos buenos en esta colección; la mayoría se me hicieron bastante malos, lo cual me enoja porque Vera en entrevistas me cae muy bien y la forma en la que habla de sus poemas me hizo imaginar que encontraría algo totalmente diferente. No sé si sea porque a lo mejor lo mío no son los poemas cortos (creo que soy la única entre mi grupo de conocidos a la que no le gusta nada Rupi Kaur, y algunos poemas de Vera me recordaron a ella) o porque la traducción es mala (en una entrevista la misma Vera habla de cosas que se pierden en la traducción cuando sus poemas se publican en inglés), pero bueno, pues el resultado fue ése, que no me gustó y me siento más bien frustrada con este libro. Quería que me gustara, así que intentaré con algo más.