AMERICAN HORIZONS: JOHN TISCHER (MEXICO-UNITED STATES)

POEM TO MY TEACHER
All of your students. no matter
How much time we spent with you,
If we only met you once,
If we worked with you for years,
If we lived with you,
Wanted more time with you.

I said it once: “I want to spend
more time with you.”
You answered: “We’ll make time.”

I knew, from the way you said it,
I shouldn’t bother to call your secretary.

From the way you said it, I knew
We would “make” time.

The longing never ends.
Your clear message always echos
In my mind like a bell

POEM PENTRU PROFESORUL MEU
Toţi elevii tăi, nu contează
Cât timp ne-am petrecut cu tine,
Dacă ne-am întâlnit doar o dată,
Dacă am lucrat cu tine mulţi ani,
Dacă am trăit cu tine,
Am vrut să stăm cu tine mai mult.

Am spus odată: “Vreau să petrec
mai mult timp cu tine.”
Tu ai răspuns: “Ne vom face timp”.

Am ştiut, după felul cum ai spus-o,
N-ar fi trebuit să te deranjez s-o chemi pe secretară.

Din felul cum ai spus-o, am ştiut
Că ar trebui să “ne facem” timp.

Dorul nu se termină niciodată.
Mesajul tău clar răsună mereu
În mintea mea ca un clopot.
     Traducere de Daniel Dragomirescu

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

     "Thank you for sending to me the selection of poems by John Tischer. I read these with great interest. He is, in my opinion, a poet writing in the tradition of the so-called “beat poets” – poets such as Alan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Gregory Corso, etc.  These poets were very influential in the sixties and many of their poems have gained an almost iconic status as commentaries on the age in which they lived, especially Ginsberg’s long poem called “Howl”.  Tischer’s style is similar to that of the “beats” – it is very conversational, very casual, making use of everyday speech and expression. The poems are largely concerned with city life, and are in touch with life at street level.  Beneath the surface there are some disturbing images – for example, I noticed in his “blog” two poems about the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in Japan.  Some of the poems in your selection work better than others. For instance, I did not understand “Brownian Life” at all and some of the Haiku were hard to comprehend...but I really liked the others.  The best one for me was “Poem for My Teacher” which I thought was very good indeed.  The other poems held my interest as well."

     April 28, 2012 

                                                                       Neil Leadbeater- Edinburgh, Scotland, UK