We Who Stand on the Front Line

Nicolae Popescu
Pricop and Panfil are pushing their shopping carts. Hey, Panfil, aren't you sick of this life? Everything is the same every damn day. Don't you wish you were on a beach, just staring at the turquoise water without having a care in the world, not giving a damn about job, bosses, market, children, ill parents and problems? As for our women, we'll figure it out with them, I go up to Gilda, you go down to Vera. But they've got the same soft flesh, the same smell of food. You're quiet, huh? Well, we'll think about it. For now, I'll take this pork knuckle and Vera will cook it with beans for a first-rate dinner.
 
 Dorin Vasile
I stayed here for days in a row, slept directly on the ground, drank from glasses which were too small. I chose him. Or he was chosen for us. It's quiet now. When they appear, some still linger on the steps.They always come, pushing the same green dumpsters, dragging wide brooms behind. They collect scraps, pick up empty wrappers, wipe down the cardboard sky on which someone once wrote things that mattered. They perform miracles without even realising it. Water jets clear the paving stones, a truck rumbles away, and there is only the smell of detergent that remains behind. The Saint watches over us.
 
 Cecilia Fofiu
In the moonlight, seven shadows draw near with quiet steps to the old mine entrance, sealed with boulders. Old Cornea, the goldsmith, who struggles to keep up with the lanky lads, sees them off. With a hearty heave, they manage to move a rock aside -just enough to crawl through on their bellies. As agreed, the youngest go in first, and have to change shifts every three hours. Shortly after, the mountain gives a muffled groan. Dazed, the young men follow Vâlva Băii^[1], her bluish locks trailing, as she lures the miners deeper into the earth's hollow, beckoning them with her small, bare, golden breasts.

 

(Translated by Mara Scoroșanu / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)