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lil  ·  4053 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Anti-Poesy of Vaclav Havel [pdf]

Go here and click Google Translate for a whole other experience.

--------------------------------------------------------

Dialectical synthesis

-------------------

         After millennia
         falsely claimed
         One of the others that
   VEJCESLEPICE
   it used to be earlier
   than hen eggs than
      And yet we
      who are viewed
         this question
         in terms of the histo-
         rického development
   I HEN EGGS
          We know that
   EGGS but at the same time
   was first HEN
   than hen was before
                          than eggs
   And that only the deep inner unity
   these two historical facts
   The truth about lies
   Eggs and hens
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Google translate is not too good at Czech syntax, but for the moment, I can get a taste of the meaning. Some of the poems are not translatable. Some are just the title and a few words.

Vaclav Havel has been a hero of mine for a long time. When asked whether his time in jail made him bitter, he said, "If you become bitter in a bitter place, then the place has won."