I'm not like you, Pak.

When we think of translating humor, we may think in terms of capturing jokes.

What are the things that can’t be mentioned?

“I’ve lost Mom’s grave at cards.”

It hadn’t been moving as it was getting pushed out.

“Virgin eh? If you shout I’ll cut your throat.”

The Internet no longer suffices; real life beckons.

So you wouldn’t care if I crashed my car into a tree?

“You’re not likely to live a long time with something like this.”

Marino picks up the two lengths of rope on the table and ties the man’s wrists to the rings.

I said, “I love you. “Oh, my sweet,” she replied.

I work out like I swear: plenty and often.

I passed by the bed from time to time to check whether he was still alive.

“One of us, one of us,” the photos chanted.

“Did you tell him? My boyfriend is at a conference about the Holocaust.”

She said that he could at least have the politeness to let her finish.

Some stories I make up and others gnaw their way out from inside.

Actually the thought of any kind of sport filled him with violent distaste

In that town there was a room I kept circling.

On the flight from Oslo to Tromsø, two worlds: the land far below me, the map on my lap.

AriaThe woman with the pencil leaned over the table to read a pocket score of the Goldberg Variations. The pencil was made of special black wood. It had a heavy silver cap that concealed a pencil sharpener.…

She's wondering how to tell his children when an immense silence numbs her.

In previous centuries practically everybody got a regular and considerable dose of mind expansion because practically everybody ate rye bread.

The ape brought us the food, Father said and added, after a pause, and a book.

Edo was standing next to her, half a head taller, his arm wrapped firmly around her so she wouldn't blow away even though there was no wind.

Zikiya's Rwanda was a mythical, pre-colonial state with customs his ancestors had brought into the mountains along with their herds, where they'd become hopelessly outdated over the years.

Quiet, you say. /     I hardly hear you.

I saw a shop / went in and bought / something I had forgotten / I already had.

Malik Ben weighed 300 pounds on the day he decided to have his name removed from the Yellow Pages.

I come from Spite and Remorse.

I thought you wanted to share me with everyone.

My father was born in one of those villages, and my brother lies buried in the mountains.

God, what a down-at-heel hope / for a voiceless evaporation

Go on, admit it: / yesterday you also existed here,

It is one moonless evening.

it's time for a walk once again / along the brink of the beach, where all / of a sudden the woods held back

It was too late / to unbait my hook.

I might as well go to sea: /to let oneself be blown away.

Hardly had I known them. / I also hardly stayed behind.

As simple as a drop of water, / as clear as a splinter of birch,

She felt a heavy load on her shoulders. She couldn't eat, and she began to weep.

An exile's life is unstable. Ruled by fear, especially when you're so deeply involved with a language.