Mayakovsky ll

YOU

You came –
determined,
because I was large,
because I was roaring,
but on close inspection
you saw a mere boy.
You seized
and snatched away my heart
and began
to play with it –
like a girl with a bouncing ball.
And before this miracle
every woman
was either a lady astounded
or a maiden inquiring:
“Love such a fellow?
Why, he'll pounce on you!
She must be a lion tamer,
a girl from the zoo!”
But I was triumphant.
I didn’t feel it –
the yoke!
Oblivious with joy,
I jumped
and leapt about, a bride-happy redskin,
I felt so elated
and light.

© Vladimir Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky

Lilichka.

Tobacco smoke has consumed the air.
The room
is a chapter in Kruchenykh’s inferno.
Remember -
beyond that window
in a frenzy
I first stroked your hands.
You sit here today
with an iron-clad heart.
One more day
you’ll toss me out,
perhaps, cursing.
In the dim front hall my arm,
broken by trembling won’t fit right away in my sleeve.
I’ll run out,
throw my body into the street.
I’ll rave,
wild,
lashed by despair.
Don’t let it happen
my dear,
my darling,
let us part now.
After all
my love
is a heavy weight
hanging on you
no matter where you go.
Let me bellow a final cry
of bitter, wounded grievance.
If you drive a bull to exhaustion
he will run away,
lay himself down in the cold waters.
Besides your love
I have
no ocean
and your love won’t grant even a tearful plea for rest.
When a tired elephant wants peace
he lies down regally in the firebound sand.
Besides your love
I have
no sun,
but I don’t even know where you are and with whom.
If you tortured a poet like this,
he
would berate his beloved for money and fame,
but for me
no sound is joyous
but the sound of your beloved name.
I won’t throw myself downstairs
or drink poison
nor can I put a gun to my head.
No blade
holds me transfixed
but your glance.
Tomorrow you’ll forget
that I have crowned you,
that I burned my flowering soul with love,
and the whirling carnival of trivial days
will ruffle the pages of my books…
Would the dry leaves of my words
force you to a stop
gasping for air?

At least let me
pave with a parting endearment
your retreating path.

© Vladimir Mayakovsky

People in GIRLS FROM OMSK/Gemini Kim

Gemini is a Korean artist based in London.
He loves Tsoy and this t-shirt suits him well.
http://www.geminikim.com/

Writing or the making of Vladimir Vissotzky

Sometimes you just’ve got an idea immediately and you can finish a review or whatever in 10 minutes, but sometimes it take a long time and even fingers don’t wanna listen to you. This is a strange thing about writing.
I’ve never thought I could write or something, especially in English. It was always a pleasure to have a best result in essay in Russian literature and the worst result in Russian grammar.
But now the times they are a-changin’ and instead of being magazine designer I’m going to be something like a ‘journalist’ soon.
Writing it's easy thing to do. You need nothing except a computer with a Word program and a gmail, everybody can do it, and you have always something to tell people.
Writing became popular. In glossy magazines you're finding huge features about YOUR OWN BOOK PUBLISHING, lots of people just writing their own scripts or just... something... or whatever.
It’s probably the same like with a digital camera in early 2000-s. One day we woke up and realized that now everyone can shoot, create pictures, make films.
But even with all these brilliant facilities quality staying in the same level. No genius. No new talents. We still look back for the inspiration.
But hope its gonna change somehow.

Here is our ‘long and winding road’ of making Vissotzky t-shirt.
That’s right being creative not’s that easy.

First we've chosen the picture.
Then the design.

I was thinking about literature aspect, cause its very important for Russian music and Vissotzky as well.
Hamlet dialog, why not ?!
Picture was not the best resolution so i even try some illustration with a scriptographer.
But we happy with a result.

More about Vissotzky in our blog
More about Vissotzky on wikipedia
His music on last fm
Buy a t-shirt online
Truly yours,
Irina