like hanging out at a New Orleans bar
Peg Duthie
Parrot on a Motorcycle
Vítězslav Nezval
Translated by Jennifer Rogers
December 2010
Poets of the past indulged in philosophy. Thought. Its unexpected ascent. Deduction, induction, elaborate on a subject, conclusion. Dressing logic of concepts into celebration robe. Oh, what work! Mildewed unpleasantness of offices. Thinkers!
Parrot on a Motorcycle (Papoušek na Motocyklu) was written in 1924 as a prose-poem like manifesto. In this work, Nezval demonstrates the means of fast association and free ideas, which he advocated in his descriptions of Poetism, through an unusual style and layout. The piece was originally published in the collection, Pantomima, a book in which many of Nezval central themes of the mythic, the absurd, and the hallucinatory can be found both in the texts and in the margins. Eastern European Poets Series #25.
Design by Amy Mees and Mark Wagner of X-ing Books.
About the Author
Vítězslav Nezval (1900-1958) was a poet, playwright, translator, and novelist. He was one of the most prolific Czech avant-garde writers in the first half of the twentieth century. He was a member of the Devětsil group, which urged artists to look deeper into ordinary objects for poetic quality. In 1923 he became a founding member of the Poetist Movement and an avid writer of manifestoes for what art could become. Later, after translating Breton’s Second Manifesto and meeting with the leading Surrealist in Paris, he founded the Czech Surrealist Movement.
About the Translator
Jennifer Rogers is a poet, translator, and publishers of Hot Whiskey Press. She holds an M.F.A. from Naropa University and a M.A. from University of Chicago. She currently resides in Prague. Her chapbook, Periplum maps our starless shores, is available from Livestock Press.
In the News
Publication Details
Hand-bound. 24 pp, Publication Date: December 17 2010
Series: Eastern European Poets Series #25