Irska, 1929
Knute Skinner je upokojeni profesor angleškega jezika na Western Washington University in živi na Irskem, kjer je njegov dom od leta 1964. Njegova zadnja zbirka Fifty Years: Poems 1957-2007 (Petdeset let, 2007), vsebuje nove pesmi in besedila, izbrana iz njegovih 13 prejšnjih knjig. Za pesniško zbriko The Other Shoe (Drugi čevelj) je v letih 2004-2005 prejela nagrado Pavement Saw Chapbook. Knjigo spominov z naslovom Getaway (Pobeg) je izšla pri založbi Salmon marca 2010. www.knuteskinner.com
Pesem o Škocjanskih jamah
In the Škocjan Caves
by Knute Skinner
A drop of water.
On what was my nose.
In time I’ll be a stalagmite.
Voices above me–
faint, loud, faint–
move up and down
slippery footpaths.
Some whisper. Some joke. Some laugh.
As I did.
Some grip the iron railings.
As I did not.
The tour guide will shut off the lights.
I’ll be left with the flowing Reka
and the small, blind movements
of salamanders.
The day that voices fail
to come back again,
I’ll forget to remember myself.
By that time–it may be–
I will cease to care.