For two months
I have not written
a word.

My voice, a low
grumble, disturbs
our quarter

like the rumble
of the millstone
which having nothing to grin
grinds itself.

~ Gevorg Emin, The Block, 1974

~ Image by Alice Dunseath, a filmmaker, animator and Lecturer in Animation and Digital Image Making at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has a BA in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths and a MA in Animation from The Royal College of Art.

Well let’s assume it’s yes, but this is not a conversation
for the telephone, you know, our ears
have vigilant listeners, so let’s just prepare it in
a language foreign to them and us, and don’t say “yes”
before you translate it;

well let’s admit it’s yes, but this is not
convenient for the moment, you know, our
walls have sensitive ears, so let’s just preserve it
for later, keep it and don’t say
“yes” before you wait it out;

well let’s agree it’s yes, but this is not
a condition forever, you know,
our souls have thin walls, so let’s just presume
it for today, for awhile, and don’t
say “yes” before you delete it;

well it must be no, but this
is not a conclusion for real,
you know, our listeners have sensitive souls, so let’s
pretend for now that we protest, and
don’t say “no” before you apologize.

~ Stanisław Barańczak, This is Not a Conversation for the Telephone—translated from the Polish by Valeria Wasilewski