Drunk from the Bitter Truth

Shirley Kumove is a translator and writer whose work has been recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts and by the Ontario Arts Council. She is the author of Words Like Arrows and More Words, More Arrows, two collections of Yiddish folk sayings. She was born, educated, and makes her home in Toronto.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionA Note on the TranslationROOTS Once I Was a YouthMother Earth, Well-Worn, Sun-Washed PortraitYearsIn the StreetsMy Ancestors SpeakA City by the Sea My HomeI YOUR CALM AND I YOUR SWORD "We Went through the Days"With Half-Closed EyesSlowly and Brightly"I Have Wandered So Much"You"Drowse On, My Beloved"ViolinsIn Copper and in Gold"All Mute Things Speak Today""With Anxious Hands"Full of Night and Weeping"Hearing Your Step and Alarmed""All This Is Already Long Gone""Perhaps This Was My Happiness"From a Letter"I Walk in the Shadow"PoemKissed My Hand"No, There’s Nothing to Say""Primeval Murderess Night""When I Walk with My Beloved""A Friend Passes Us""Don’t Think That I’ve Changed""The Road Is So Still""I Did Not Know, My Dear""Just Like My Tearful Gaze""The Golden Peacock Flew Off"SEALED LIPS Demons Whistled SadlyOut of My DarknessThis Is the NightSlender ShipsQuietly"Often I Walk as If Behind a Veil"DemonsNightWearyDear MonstersNight Came into My HouseHard HeartEpitaphBeautiful Words of Marble and GoldSUN, ASPHALT, ROADS AutumnOver Brown RoofsEveningSunAutumnRainAutumnSnowBrisk (Brest-Litovsk)OdessaDiscontentedAt the CaféGirls in Crotona Park Evening on Fifth AvenueBroadway EveningGatesThrough Coloured PanesThe Proud SongThe Masquerade Is OverReuben LudwigDead Tired from the Burden of a DreamJust One PoemTo Franz WerfelWe Will Build a WallMARY What Do You Want, Mary?Mary’s Prayer Mary and the Priest Lonely MaryMary and the GuestsMary Wants to Be a Beggar Woman Mary and DeathIMAGES A Human BeingThe MadwomanThe GangsterIn the Dark RoomThe Girl DeclaresThe Song of a GirlA Woman SaysEntre’ActeOn a BalconyMy Venus Wears Silk SlippersForgotten GodsHer SmileAmong the Chinese LanternsHe Brings SorrowSUPPLEMENT The BridgeMy Lover’s PoemDusk in the ParkMy Days Take Root in StonesDrunk from the Bitter TruthShe of the Cold Marble Breasts I Want, Angry and Tender OneBibliographyIndex to First Lines in EnglishIndex to First Lines in Yiddish

"[Margolin's] poems have a powerfully contemporary ring, dealing with spiritual identity, sensuality and depression." — Na'amat Woman"In this powerful collection, we are afforded a glimpse into a recklessly original mind, knee-deep in muck but scouting for divinity." — Boston Review"Margolin's persona poems, including those about the biblical Mary, show the range of her talent and her ability to bring the world of others to her readers; hopefully this volume will gain her an even wider audience." — Lilith"…one of Yiddish's most experimental and storied poets … This astounding bilingual edition presents Margolin complete for the first time in English, and for the first time in Yiddish in over fifty years. Translator, editor, and introducer Shirley Kumove has done Jewish letters an amazing service in her fine renditions, and wonderfully presented biographical and bibliographic material. Highly recommended." — Jewish Book World"Shirley Kumove's assiduous research, profound knowledge of Yiddish, and poetic sensibilities combine to make this a valuable and desirable contribution to the library of translated texts." — Barbara Harshav, cotranslator of American Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology"This bilingual edition makes available an important body of Yiddish poetry by a major author whose concerns remain relevant today." — Ken Frieden, editor and cotranslator of Classic Yiddish Stories of S. Y. Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and I. L. Peretz"Drunk from the Bitter Truth is a welcome addition to the growing body of Yiddish literature published bilingually. All nuances of Margolin's complex poetry are reflected in Kumove's precise, coherent, and eloquent translation." — Anna Shternshis, University of Toronto