V

Păşind spre mine ai căzut;
Eram pe ceruri diferite.
(Nu ştiam, a fost vina mea.)

Tăcerea
S-a spart în aşchii ascuţite
Şi te-ai întors
(Nu meritam.)

Mai târziu am aflat
Că un da fără ecou
Doare mai mult decât un nu.

Şi aşa am rămas
Îngeri în ceruri paralele,
Comunicând prin nori,
Ne vom atinge niciodată.

Fără titlu

Pe cer plutesc vise ca frunze albastre.
În aer dansează, se împletesc,
Devin prea grele şi cad.
Curg pe ferestre ca tăceri sărate,
Dau de pământ şi fac rădăcini
Care foşnesc cu frustrări verzi abia ascunse,
Reflectate în două scântei care au uitat să doară,
Şi au durut să se uite
Cum de pe cer cad visele ca frunzele.

Perspectives

Today I saw a crow on a white birch. The tree had no leaves, and the sun fell on its top branches. I wondered if crows can see colors and if they feel the warmth of the sun.

Today I felt cold and I digged in my closet for a sweater. I looked at the thermometer and saw summer pack its things and leave. I dreamed about living in a place where it is always warm and cloudy.

Today I saw a high school couple kissing. They held each other like they were the most precious, fragile thing. I smiled and turned away and hoped they were happy.

Today I watched a maple samara dance in the wind. It soared and swirled for minutes, as if the life it carried inside had somehow found a way to express its joy.

Today I saw a black crow on a white birch. The tree was dead, bereft of leaves. The sun fell on its top branches, suspending the morning up high where I couldn’t reach it. I wondered if crows ever have nightmares in which they are falling and they can’t  move their wings.

Today I felt cold and I remembered fear. I looked at the thermometer and saw summer betray me. I told myself that when the sun is tired, it lets the cold burn us instead.

Today I saw a high school couple kissing. Checkered tights and a buzz cut were imitating what they thought they should be feeling. I smirked and turned away and wondered why some people even bother.

Today I watched a maple samara swirl madly in the wind, and I wondered if the seed inside felt nausea.

Moldavian President Voronin to Opposition Party Leader: “Go Fuck Yourself.”

Today, in Parliament.

Go fuck yourself. What, you’re threatening us, boy? We’ll find some other ways to deal with you.

Moldova’s Parliament convened today in its first session following the July 2009 elections. These words were uttered by Moldova’s president in reaction to a speech by one of the opposition leaders.  The incident was obscured from the place the cameras were located, but multiple sound recordings are available.

Find below two videos of Vlad Filat’s speech and Mr. Voronin’s reactions. Vlad Filat is the president of the Liberal-Democratic Party, which gained 18 out of the 101 seats in Moldova’s newly elected Parliament. The LDP is one of  four member parties in the Alliance for European Integration, a coalition of forces controlling 53 seats in Parliament, and forming a majority over the 48 seats controlled by the pro-Russian Communist Party.

Here is a translated transcript of the clip above:

Filat: I would like to make an announcement. Honored colleagues — I am referring especially to the parliamentary group of the Communist Party. Do not try, and we ask you, do not attempt to boycott today’s session. The people…

Voronin: Go fuck yourself.

Filat: That’s his upbringing, and what this man [Voronin] is able to do. In case…

Voronin: Don’t you dare threaten us, boy. He’s thinking that…

Filat: That’s what we all wanted to hear. In case… [he makes a third attempt to continue his speech]

Voronin: We will find other ways to deal with you.

Filat: … we will continue the parliamentary session with the Alliance [for European Integration].

Speaker of the Parliament: Thank you. Please convey to the secretary…

[Alliance members of the Parliament applaud.]

[The Communist group leaves the room.]

Filat tells the journalists, “Today’s outburst [the president's vulgar remarks] goes beyond any limit.”

Here is another video of the incident:

The Communist Party and its president Vladimir Voronin have been in power in Moldova for the last eight years, during which Moldova has sunk to being Europe’s poorest country, and has seen its neighbor Romania accede to the European Union. After the Communists’ possibly fraudulent win in April 2009’s parliamentary elections, street protests in the capital city of Chişinău turned violent and led to the destruction of the buildings of Parliament and Presidency. Evidence surfaced afterwards that the protesters were provoked by agents loyal to the party in power. After the parliament failed to elect a President (the Communists lacking a single vote), repeated elections were held in July.

Moldova has been separated from  Romania by the 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov pact between Nazi Germany and the USSR. To this day, there is Russian military presence in a breakaway region near Moldova’s eastern border. With state-controlled media and a quarter of its working population employed abroad, Moldova is struggling between those nostalgic for the days of Stalin’s glory, and those who seek the promise of a better future inside the European Union.

Feathers and Supermodels

Pictures taken in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. See the full set here.

Collages made with Screenie.