The Mirror
This mirror no longer recognizes me
it laughs a laugh that’s not mine
Whenever my thirsty neck feels
the imperious necessity of a rope’s presence
another sunny day happens by
to put an end to the prospect
(each time deferred until some future day
with the smell of wet dog)
On days it drizzles softly
because I’m sadder
I sell myself more dearly
Slender and thinking like a reed
I write (for better or worse) a poem
beyond the age limit
This mirror laughs a laugh
that’s not mine
Crossing Reality
It’s Monday,
and from the kiosk on the corner
a croissant and a new poet under my arm
I start my Dublinesque odyssey
Today I leave imprints in the asphalt
This is the day when I take my face
for a walk past this city’s shop windows
(trembling they stare back at me)
The day when I and myself
go out together for a meal in town (standing)
I carry a poem with me (born in the metro)
Angels with haloes huffed from aurolac prayed for us
Careful as I usually am
I cross the street the poem on my lips
A car puts the brakes on reality
at my dreaming feet
“Hey, you, monthly poet
rapt in an illusion with a part at the back
walking in heels is like walking on water” 
Floarea Ţuţuianu (pronounced “Tsu-tsu-ya'-nu”) graduated from the Nicolae Grigorescu Institute of the Fine Arts in Bucharest and is now a member of both the Artists’ Union and the Writers’ Union of Romania. She has published four books of poetry: The Fish Woman (1996), Libresse oblige (1998), The Lion Mark (2000), and a collected volume with new poems, The Art of Seduction (2002). She was one of seven poets—and the only woman—featured in a fat anthology (almost 700 pages) published in Bucharest in 2004 and titled Manual of Literature. Ţuţuianu works as a graphic designer at the Romanian Cultural Institute Publishing House in Bucharest, where she lives. Poems of hers have been printed in The Marlboro Review, Artful Dodge, Turnrow, Tampa Review, Puerto del Sol, and 5 AM.
Adam J. Sorkin’s recent books of translation include Ruxandra Cesereanu’s Crusader-Woman, translated mainly with Cesereanu (Black Widow Press, 2008), Mariana Marin’s The Factory of the Past, translated with Daniela Hurezanu (Toad Press, 2008), and Radu Andriescu’s The Catalan Within, translated with the poet (Longleaf Press). He was awarded the 2005 Translation Prize of The Poetry Society (UK) for Marin Sorescu’s The Bridge, translated with Lidia Vianu (Bloodaxe Books, 2004).
Irma Giannetti grew up in Cluj-Napoca (to Hungarians, Kolozsvár), speaking both Hungarian and Romanian. She was a graduate student in comparative literature at Penn State and now works in technology support at the university. Her co-translations have appeared in a dozen literary magazines.
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