Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, staged a poetry slam of sorts with writer Dmitry Bykov after he published a lyrical comment about the initiative announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu: to launch a national soccer league. This poetic exchange, however, is more about Zakharova’s verbal style than the substance of the matter.
My calm I have barely recovered, I’ve got the chills, such joy I feel: Lavrov and Shoigu have discovered Our country’s national idea! Just like Brazil’s! The noble cause is Running, playing, let’s get moving! We’ll get men out of their garages, With soccer we’ll be folks inducing. For us, there’ll be no Mundial (Not for them to say, but still…) That’s fine, no harm to our morale, There’s no one here that’s gonna’ kill. Your sanctions serve just to embolden, We see no threat from such extremes, And here at home we plan on holding, A championship of courtyard teams. The wheels of time have brought us back here: Our glamour was for show, no more. The courtyard, kids! It all belongs there: The MID spokesperson, culture, war.
Сдержать эмоций не могу И от восторга холодею: Нашел Лавров, открыл Шойгу Национальную идею! Она бразильской не хужей. Играй, народ, ногами двигай! Достанем всех из гаражей И соблазним футбольной лигой. Отнять грозятся мундиаль (Отнять не смогут, но грозятся) – А мы готовы, нам не жаль, Никто не будет угрызаться. Мы хорошо защищены От ваших санкций нездоровых И проведем внутри страны Чемпионат команд дворовых. Так повернулось колесо: Побыв гламурными для вида – Айда во двор! Дворово всё: Война, культура, спикер МИДа.”
This courtyard style you’re first to mention. “And we? We’re nothing posh or chic.” It’s just for ease of comprehension We make our points in courtyard speak. Who needs the lavish prose of Hesse? Who wants to play a glass bead game? For those who feast on nature’s messes We’ll give our case poetic frame. It’s from their blogs we’ve excavated Some trendy words, and hope to light The verbal ore we’ve ventilated With breathing life – may it ignite! These well-known words caught many eyes, All sorts, all types came in a drove, But now a swarm of angry flies Got stuck in our linguistic trove. What else is new? This lame performance Is something we see every day. Real matters are of no importance, But bring up style – they gab away. Our clever style for you’s confusion, But clever gets our message out. To you we offer courtyard fusion, So you can get what we’re about.
Дворовый стиль был задан вами. «А мы? Ничем мы не блестим». Лишь для удобства пониманья Мы на дворовом говорим. Кому нужны изыски Гессе? Ведь не с кем в бисер нам играть. Теперь для санитаров леса Мы стали вирши сочинять. Из блогов их мы почерпнули Расходных слов немало, и Мы жизнь в руду из слов вдохнули, Себе сказав заветно «жги!» Услышав слов знакомых звук, Слетелись все, кто только мог, И влипла стайка злобных мух В наш лингвистический урок. Что ж... Эту чудную картину Мы наблюдаем каждый день. Вам дела нет до сути мира, А стиль вам обсуждать не лень. Заумный стиль для вас не нужен - Им говорим с народом мы. Для вас готов дворовый фьюжн, Не напрягающий умы.
Both Bykov and Zakharova play with the word двор (courtyard) in their poems. The word has broad and layered meaning in Russian and can refer to the area outside a country home or the courtyard enclosed by most urban Soviet/Russian residential buildings, where children play, including soccer. The «дворовый футбол» Lavrov referred to in his initial proposal is neighborhood teams that have always been typical in Russia, where the kids from one courtyard would take on the kids from another.
MID is the Russian acronym for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its spokesperson is Maria Zakharova, who has a reputation for using “courtyard” language well below usual diplomatic standards.
The Russian is a line from Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin (lit. “And we? We are in no way brilliant”), although our translation would have been out of place in Pushkin’s time and is inspired by the given context and the dictates of meter and rhyme. Both Bykov’s poem and Zakharova’s response are written in the iambic tetrameter of classic “Onegin stanzas,” albeit with a slightly different rhyme scheme.
The Glass Bead Game is a 1931 novel by Herman Hesse.
The Russian «санитары леса» (lit.: hospital orderlies [who clear away dead bodies] of the forest) is an epithet often used for wolves in Russian.
Zakharova again channels Pushkin here, specifically his poem “The Prophet,” whom God commands to set people’s hearts afire with words.
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