Martin SOLOTRUK (Slovakia), born in Bratislava, obtained his Ph.D. in American poetry from Comenius University, Bratislava, where he currently teaches. Solotruk’s first book of poetry Silent Wars (1997) won the Slovak Literary Fund Best Debut Award. It was followed by Grinding (2001), Plankton of Gravity (2006) and Lovestory: Agent and Patient (2007). Solotruk has also translated the works of Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Charles Simic, John Ashbery, Ted Hughes and David Antin. He is also a Director of Ars Poetica International, a poetry festival and publishing house.
Improbable Balance of Roots
waiting for a bit of emptiness
in the pool to swim in creates
the lapse in time of push and pull
that we have happily tried avoiding by rooting
for the balance of roots
that have been waiting
for our immersion by deepening choirs
which have offered us the shade
of the improbable deep to the soil
of the unknown
(Poem written by the author in English)
馬丁．索羅楚克（斯洛伐克），生於布拉第斯拉瓦，在斯洛伐克柯美紐斯大學研究美國詩歌而取得博士學位，目前在此任教。首部詩集《沉默的戰爭》（1997）獲得斯洛伐克文化基金首發獎，隨後著有《磨》（2001）、《萬有引力的浮游生物》（2006）及《愛情故事：代理人與病人》（2007）。索羅楚克譯作等身，翻譯了泰德．休斯、謝默斯．希尼、查爾斯．西米奇、約翰．阿什貝利與大衛．安提的作品。索羅楚克現為Ars Poetica International詩歌節和出版社的總監。
根之間不大可能的平衡
等待一點池中空
以便泳游其間，創造了
在推拉時光中的時間流逝
我們愉快地植根於為了保持根之間的平衡
而試圖躲開的時間流逝
我們一直以來通過沉鬱唱詩班的聲調
想要等來的浸禮其中
提供給我們下到未知
之國土那不大可能的深處
之蔭蔽
（翻譯﹕趙四）