I was walking down a wood road…

Ilya Bernstein

BROADSIDE, POETRY  | $10

November 2013
Read an excerpt

I was walking down a wood road

 

And I came to a spot, by and by,

 

Where another road merged with mine

 

Unexpectedly. And although

 

Another person passing there

 

Might not have even noticed

 

The other path coming out of the forest,

 

Coming from God knows where,

 

I did, and I stopped to look.

 

For a long time on that spot I stood

 

Where two roads converged in the wood,

 

and I thought:

 

“Someone going the other way

 

Might someday stop here for the sake

 

Of deciding which path to take.”

 

But my direction lay where it lay.

 

And walking on, I felt a sense

 

Of wonder at that difference.

“I was walking down a wood road…” by Ilya Bernstein from Attention and Man (UDP, Eastern European Poets Series #1, 2003)

Printed at UDP for the occasion of the author’s reading at Franklin & Marshall College, November 18, 2013.

About the Author

Ilya Bernstein’s collection of poetry is called Attention and Man (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2003). His poetry, prose, and translations have appeared in Ars Interpres,Circumference, Fulcrum, 6×6, Persephone, Moon City Review, and Res. He is the editor of Osip Mandelstam: New Translations (UDP, 2006). He translates for a living and lives in New York City.

Publication Details

Print/Ephemera
Special Edition Broadside. 1 pp, 8 x 10.25 in
Publication Date: November 20 2013
Distribution: Direct Only
Series: Eastern European Poets Series