about the future (V.Leac)
it is undoubtable that the giant wave
will wash through the dryland with an amazing speed.
it is difficult to imagine such a speed…
the flish are hidden somewhere in the wave, right on the tip of the wave, they are helpless, so they just sit there…
the wave crashes into a mountain – boom!
and the flish are thrown into the desert.
everyone thinks they are dead;
it’s just an illusion, a false illusion.
now, please, pay attention:
– look carefully at this spot.
do you notice something very very fast is moving and getting thicker?
well, gentlemen, it’s the double-jawed worm.
it is born inside the flish and then it eats it from within –
did you see? it’s very easy.
then, by scent, the kangaroo-snail comes –
you can see it in this picture;
it’s got one leg, and this leg was once a tail.
life is extremely tough in the desert.
everything happens very very fast –
and when you least expect it out comes the dragonfly-lizard
that runs/flies with over 115 km per hour.
it grabs the snail and devours it ultra-rapidly.
the dragonfly-lizard is chocked by a trapping flower.
everything happens…life is extremely tough…
now we’re entering the giant super-forest:
– see how the canopy moves?
you’re scared, aren’t you? don’t worry.
it’s just an eight-legged mammoth, it’s vegetarian.
– see this green spot on the tree?
it crawls after the mammoth
and makes it so that the mammoth steps in it;
it is highly intelligent: it has set up house inside the mammoth.
can you believe that this spot currently unknown to us
can bring the mammoth on the brink of despair?
at first we were also amazed.
it all happens very fast.
in two million years from now, life will be extremely tough…
we have showed you these images to get an idea
about how life on earth is going to be.
it all happens very very fast.
Translated from Romanian to English by Alexandra M. Păun and to German by Gabriela Fierbințeanu.
Photo: Sorin Nainer
The piece is composed by Cristian Fierbințeanu with a poem by V. Leac in the frame of POLYPHONIC ECHOES, a project organized by Jumătatea plină for SEMI SILENT. Partners: Czech Center and the National Museum of Romanian Literature. With the support of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund.
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Cristian Fierbințeanu is an independent artist, member of art-pop group Fierbinteanu, active in music, sound & video art. As part of Fierbinteanu, he has performed on European scenes, including Berlin Konzerthaus, and released records via independent labels. The works of Fierbinteanu have been presented and awarded in international festivals: RVK Fringe Fest (Reykjavik – Iceland 2021), Seasoning Spring (United Cowboys/Eindhoven 2021), Phonurgia Nova (Paris 2020), Grand Prix Nova (Bucharest 2020), Nuit de la fiction sonore à Arles (France 2019), Arts and Science days (St. Etienne/France 2019), 60 Seconds Radio (Canada 2019), Dvorak Marathon (Berlin Konzerthaus), Dvorak remix (The Czech Cultural Center/Bucharest). “Un auteur à suivre” – Phonurgia Nova; “An artistic duo that sincerely deserves total fascination” – Art7; “One of the most eccentric creatures of the independent music made in Romania” – DILEMA veche; “The oddest and most experimental duo of the Romanian electronic music” – VICE Romania.
Poet and obscure researcher of the vanished territories of the present geography, V. Leac has published several volumes of poems in various publishers (Seymour: sonată pentru cornet de hârtie, 2005, 2006, 2013; Dicționar de vine, 2006, Lucian – un experiment, 2009; Toți sunt îngrijorați, 2010; Unchiul este încântat, 2013; M o n o i d e a l, 2018; Toți sunt îngrijorați, 2024, anthology).
Coordinator of thematic poetry anthologies: Why cats don’t have tails, 2017; Hotel Cosmos – SF Romanian poetry, 2019; The Golden Generation, 2020; Ongoing Disruptions. An Anthology of the Present, 2021.
Founding member of the literary group Celebrul animal and of the Ca și Cum magazine. In 2012, together with Bianca Băilă, he founded MOI in Timișoara; co-author of events waiting has something in common with the high collar of the coat with which you go to the meeting and what you can see until you get there. Participates in the Spaces in waiting platform – 2013 with the Sugar Factory Oven project. Curator of the event W.A.D. Arad, 2014; Co-author of the feature-length eco-horror film Bodrog, 2019. Author of several short films and video-poems.
“I’ve always wanted to write poems for two or three astronauts who are slightly distracted, in which life barely flickers; they sail like that, without a precise destination. I want you to imagine the smile of the astronaut sitting there, by the porthole, at a table; sipping a drink – what would it be like to drink? After reading you should have the impression that the poem rises (from the page) on tiptoe; kisses you on the cheek; then runs away; stops; turns around and laughs in your nose, like a clever child who you feel knows the secret of happiness.”
All sounds (recorded, composed, edited) by Cristian Fierbințeanu for SEMI SILENT
Voices: Cristian Fierbințeanu and Gabriela Fierbințeanu
