"we are rumpling our legitimacy/
like a blanket "
More Perihelion:
Bob Sward's Writer's Friendship Series
translated by Nedra Eileen Bickham
blutopia
the country
from this country
firemen burst in
i escaped from this country
that nobody traveled to
no one took
a single photograph
hardly any news penetrates
the border
where too many old trees
surround us in a storm
look, there's a limb breaking off
firedrake and sand thorn
kiss each other's sex
to put out the initial flames
i was cast out of this country
_______________________________________________________________ we are lying in the light
we are lying in the light _______________________________________________________________ dissertation of an early god
dissertation of an early god _______________________________________________________________ his life
his life _______________________________________________________________ read hegel
read hegel
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
have devoted ourselves
fully to the language
and to the method
we are rumpling our legitimacy
like a blanket
black and white keys
his freshly-salved legacy
posed
between
solar wind
and
moon shadows
the outlines
winter proof
the wood used up
on milder days
he
intoxicated by her pictures
digs a tunnel
to get closer to the flames
that sentence recurring
almost as if
one could inhale
scent and life
simultaneously
she carried a leaf inside
she carries a leaf away
(I/IX/96)
lived out to the end
exactly like
when you clean your plate
even though you are already full
just to not leave anything behind
really sick
in the guts
go the last mile
by foot
once again
the old tunes in your head
whose dismal fields
will no longer be cultivated
leaf through your own novel
sneer at the characters
become a dad
empty fortress under an empty sky
the apocalypse, ltd
presents sisyphus with his analysis
should and have
meaning of life
freedom reigns in the wild garden of childhood
experts at the construction site
on escape routes
endless nuances from hellish shadows
an appetite for black
what is really left of aristotle
alphabetical coincidence
warped universe
wrong-way driver between mars and stardust?
Nedra Eileen Bickham is a literary translator and divides her time between translating, teaching music and German, and exploring the unique coexistence of music and language. Nedra is presently working on a translation of Julia Franck's short story collection, Bauchlandung: Geschichten zum Anfassen as well as a translation of the selected poems by the contemporary German poet Andreas Randow. Nedra resides in Boston with her husband and son.