Dish poetry editor Alice Quinn writes:
The Hudson Review is one of America’s most distinguished literary quarterlies, founded in 1948 and still one of our liveliest and best. A new book has just been published by Syracuse University Press celebrating the great poetry in translation which has appeared in the review since its inception, when the founding editors were deeply influenced by Ezra Pound.
The contents of this splendid book range from translations of Homer, Sophocles, anonymous Old and Middle English masterpieces, and Chinese Court poetry from the 8th century to work by 20th-century masters such as Anna Akhmatova, Antonio Machado, Zbigniew Herbert, and Lars Gustaffson. Today and in the days ahead, we’ll hold aloft some gems from the collection, edited by Paula Deitz and introduced by the poet Mark Jarman.
“Maids on Saturday” by Christian Morgenstern (1871-1914):
They hang them over the ledge,
The carpets large and small;
In their minds they start to beat
Up masters, one and all.Wild with satisfaction,
In rage and berserk,
They cool their souls off for
One week full of hard work.They beat an infernal rhythm
Until their canes split;
Ears at the front of the house
Take no account of itBut in the back are wailing,
Torn by punch and by thump,
The runners, the Persian pillows,
The eiderdown, German and plump.
(Translated, from the German, by Lore Segal and W.D. Snodgrass. From Poets Translate Poets: A Hudson Review Anthology, edited by Paula Deitz, with an introduction by Mark Jarman. © 2013 by Syracuse University. Reprinted by permission of Syracuse University Press. Photo: “Montmartre” by Contant Puyo. Published in Camera Work 16, 1906, via Wikimedia Commons)
The Dish 
