Portal:Poetry/Quotes archive/Week 47 2006

The Parasite's Defense

In 1964 Soviet authorities charged Joseph Brodsky with "тунеядство" &mdash; parasitism. From the transcript of his trial smuggled to the West:


 * Judge: And what is your profession in general?
 * Brodsky: Poet translator.
 * Judge: Who recognized you as a poet? Who enrolled you in the ranks of poets?
 * Brodsky: No one. And who enrolled me in the ranks of humanity?
 * Judge: Did you study this?
 * Brodsky: This?
 * Judge: To become a poet. You did not try to finish high school where they prepare, where they teach?
 * Brodsky: I didn’t think you could get this from school.
 * Judge: How then?
 * Brodsky: I think that it ... comes from God.