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Poetic Profile

Anne Parian (Cole Swensen, translator)

Extracts from The Third by Anne Parian

Translated by Cole Swensen

Fixed Character

who’s not linked to his. not known for this. doesn’t know why but wants escape. parched to cut. began to think he counted too. and this was the day that seemed. he’s the one who’ll do it. said cooperate.

about-face on the past. in this animal

kind he said here I am. from ours among he’s the voilà. although from ours he be

already what he knew (he’s the one I see) if he believed assured. arrived third.

This that after two the third he hunted such as he already was. shrill blur and if he raised his arms. opened wide. turned. taken for the prototype and varied cares

took. would he have known if not. of patience seemed. though he answered he didn’t quite understand. other. sphere that he.

as if he’d come. though he’d thought no. though yes but still. understood to use it. work site project and power. like going hunting. thrown up. diffracted.

so everywhere he appeared he named a thousand things. small no doubt. so brilliant too

how they shimmered into examples. so he learned them. or he fled them. like so many others. that he would calm. although he too however. there if he unfolded. would unfold.

butterfly. light night. though against them shut.

against those who’d fold. maddening. closed. kept frame. would carefully hold what he wanted to hide. to deploy and yet. boxed in. rather not.

almost as much.

it’s nothing.

just as well renounce it. thought fatal. white cat. blue cloth. taken off. and yet he hopes still and strains to get it back. facing off. face to earth would find it worked. to please and to be pleased.

that which passion lacks. could not. for a few more meters. he went forward.

A little more was long.

that between two. just after. her after. that he come hairy Merlin. as if out of the blue. recast to be right before being cast on farther. line single or several.

if he followed. grasped the law that. no. but the thread of what he continued. pursued. as in vigil. no. then. but pursued went.

stirring up force and fear. to whom

defended from. what provided for. against constrained. if he could would taken be.  would hold if he believed. which is to say understood. posed within the nets.  would know to fly.

to count. for nil is he pursued. if he pursued (I believe)how do you say alas. do not. to believe not. repeat. finally can. could he have. chosen animal. white cat of the second. hidden.

where trail if he was nil. the first awaited.

much less. like too confused. mother less mad. smiled to laugh no matter what he thought of it. if he had. lived as he said pushing open.

So all knew.

objects bring up stories. scraps too. seem the same.

stolen objects maybe weighty. objects hidden away. sliding under that what hand. under that to carry them away. had them he. who them had still. to keep till wanted. does no harm. were both heavy and light seen. to steal who did it. does he already know who saw him. why if so many others did.

Him too by chance too. yes. carried away at times. leave it. go on. if he saw. no. don’t know oh no this harm oh. why did she know. if he said yes. such ways they made him laugh. or no he said he saw.

and that it’s easy to learn.

Something easy to do.

like it pleased him to believe. that he wants ease. to play. enriched to trickery. suspicioned. followed too carried away. critical despite himself and victory free.

if he scatters what he’s hidden. turned several times away. if several times he’d rather it displayed. as if interposed to murmur. things said low and well dispersed. several times moves diffuse. features of erased terrain. easy scattered mute.

if he attacks would he know who. attacks. finds. if he cats light things mute. and shared. this time if he said why. took older forms.

revived.

if he wanted to counter. his effects detailed to see. and easily opposed. grass. sly. animal fruits. he waits the finish. that wound what he said. to want. this suspicious classification. that he’d like

that he knew to reign

If he’d also started.

repeated once outside. overturned in the inside fray. of land almost fixed in its ripples. round

of the fig tree. and the yellow bench. bucket green and green watering can. blue basin and make it raise it. but to have that could he often.

assure it so he’ll do it. though used to it surveyed. gather by facility. all the bits and pieces in pictures. all the flowerings and forests light for ages. thought dark then guarded.

How if he takes him self for. at least he saw the conniving. silently encumber. gravel in the garden. grace he had to stay. what heat and shadow share. how much was there that focused in the land

probable reasons to remain. against. exalted. rule and dispersion that he ran.

Was he remembered.

when much more alone too. among. of what kind. taken for company. ideal animal. leaving the frame as well. the bet even more. and even more the effects.

bestial instance he thought he saw himself there. the pretext was patience. honesty. corrected tradition. order. if not the same old cults. still reigned ideal. reclaimed the old rationale. long. and kept on going for a long time though he could have given in. searched for it outside. how many captains and animals too. mixed up in what that they were taken like that.

rasp.

as efficacious. actor miming hairy. spit. nothing was more equal. thief to the one who found him though he’s already escaped. utter mental block to find himself there. though also the frame. vast if it was. that he held back held it back. black cloth too.

He played suspicious. wild actor of his positions. malleable mobile. the supplest he wanted his ways multiple. so that he. as he bows. kept why. in motion.

cool. rather in the moved. active instead. and unique in intention. fix. slipped. graze seemed for the animals. for whom he did what he. when called to play. for which he gave a few clean reasons. short useless leash. white cat cachet. when on edge cat stayed. white cachet scale for example he could. and even though so wild he played the fauna. mime if he took to it. though just waiting for the others. or if not. therein got lost. shimmered. whatever may be. so much held miming such animal between. to silence and by duty. curves. precision. adept or almost nothing. like what’s between them. each. what he wants. ahead as if for self. awkward or fatal.

bet on holding it back.

fixed in its essentials.

although all mixed together. or maybe the lines are melded. unknown exchange of  sources. scrambled if he searched all. to prolong each sound. to start it all again even though at least a thousand times.

without each time nothing if not ongoing. that he go. act. or else.

So he’s sleeping yes.

to take back unknown promised himself hell. though he drew himself. saved. did he know that in the future to design that which for. between them full of effects. so diverse. corrected. shimmering white concept. nursery rhymes equally. if he chose the small ones. only deaf words. and similar as well. grass and leaves. sang for that. and turned so many times to play like he knew. chasing reflections alone. no one wanted to warn him. found again. so it was. from the frame so left. gaudy who gone. who searched alone above all a novel effect. pretext he had to imitate this between them. he waited his turn. just as much the unappeared. for as much he’d lose. happy with what he. when he cheated like that.

Some contrary effects.

model or specialist. not knowing for or what. that which he attributed. that that seems this. still having turned to face. and already compromised. though he thinks he knows how to hold his tongue. holding like he makes arms symbols tools. dominated engaged even when he hesitates. trapped. dispersed. some intention he’d had. taken for the first actor menacing unknown. he thought changed. animal easy to take.

and it’s what he laughed about.

that he took sides for. against what he dealt with. coming back. and it’s what. carried off across grasses or finding himself alone. who ordered said he. a flock. a mute. wild to imitate running on the talus. growling. if he needed it more dangerously.

Where he could see and take into account.

such that he’d up front satisfied the rumor. by tremors. pride. but if he wasn’t forewarned. of which he. pride to be taken for. is making of it. he finds himself ready and why nonetheless this that.

Made good on it like the deal was his. wished it. saw his own self taken there. running crossed is all. he wanted although straw

leaf or arrow that he wished. was for nothing but to get to here. since he. spoke. that he’d wanted for them and snapped back to it like a trap. undone for cat undone white. could have made him for that.

to turn around. like bait first seized supplely. unreleased.

like white changed. livingly. and how a lot of the invented realized exteriorly. lost from sight for that. for equal preference. lost when he spoke of it. if he could have would have he. he’d owed it. to show it. himself so seen it recognized him crossed. had him so so he said it.