Griffin Poetry Prize 2001
International Winner
Book: Glottal Stop: 101 Poems by Paul Celan
Translators: Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh
Poet: Paul Celan
Publisher: Wesleyan/University Press of New England
Nikolai Popov reads With a Changing Key
With a Changing Key, by Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh translating Paul Celan
With a Changing Key
With a changing key
you unlock the house where
the snow of what’s silenced drifts.
Just like the blood that bursts from
your eye or mouth or ear,
so your key changes.Changing your key changes the word
that may drift with the flakes.
Just like the wind that rebuffs you,
packed round your word is the snow.From Glottal Stop: 101 Poems, by Paul Celan (translated by Nikolai Popov and Heather McHugh)
© 2000 Paul Celan