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Vladimir Mayakovsky — Fifteen Poems (1913–1914)
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Vladimir Mayakovsky — Fifteen Poems (1913–1914)
A twenty-year-old futurist takes the city apart and puts himself back together out of its pieces. The windows smash the great city into tiny sucking hells, the motorcars rear like red-haired devils, and Noise is crowned king of the bazaars; a poet in a yellow jacket sewn from three yards of sunset saunters down the Nevsky of the world, rolling his r's on the smooth asphalt; and in the middle of the roar a quiet voice insists that if the stars are lit, it means somebody needs them — that every evening, above the rooftops, at least one star must catch fire. Then the guns of August arrive: war is declared in the evening papers, a wounded evening is dragged through the streets of Warsaw, and at the end a violin weeps in an indifferent orchestra, and the poet alone understands her, because he too shouts — and cannot prove a thing.
From Weariness (От усталости), Love (Любовь), We (Мы), Little Noises, Noises and Big Noises (Шумики, шумы и шумищи), The Great Big Hell of a City (Адище города), Take That! (Нате!), They Don't Understand a Thing (Ничего не понимают), In a Motorcar (В авто), The Dandy's Jacket (Кофта фата), Listen! (Послушайте!), And Yet (А все-таки), Petersburg Again (Ещё Петербург), War Is Declared (Война объявлена), Mama and the Evening Killed by the Germans (Мама и убитый немцами вечер), and The Violin and a Little Bit Nervous (Скрипка и немножко нервно) — fifteen early poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, in new English verse translations made for this show, read aloud over a gentle instrumental bed.
От усталости · Любовь · Мы · Шумики, шумы и шумищи · Адище города · Нате! · Ничего не понимают · В авто · Кофта фата · Послушайте! · А все-таки · Ещё Петербург · Война объявлена · Мама и убитый немцами вечер · Скрипка и немножко нервно
Mayakovsky.
Intermission: "The River's Dying Vision" — instrumental.
KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.