Two Lines 11: Power
To stand still means to be calm, to look into the face of the unknown and come to grips with it.
—from “On the Art of Standing Still” by Milena Jesenská, translated from the Czech by Andrée Collier Záleská
Two Lines, Issue 11: Power gathers writing from around the world on the theme of power. Whether it is Cho Se-hui’s story about a hunger strike in a Korean factory (tr. Don Mee Choi) or Milena Jesenská’s essay on what it means to stand still amidst the chaos of occupied Czechoslovakia (tr. Andrée Collier Záleská). Power implodes in Xue Di’s poem of rage (tr. Hil Anderson) and drives desire in Marina Tsvetaeva’s tender love poems (tr. Kristin Becker). Other contributors include Eunice Odio (tr. Keith Ekiss), Romagnolo poet Raffaello Baldini (tr. Adria Bernardi), Sumerian poet Enheduanna (tr. Betty De Shong Meador), and Moroccan author Fouad Laroi (tr. Maureen Lucier), among others.