a world in a world, for now it’s summer,
and warped mirrors ring between the foamy banks;
twice the devotion, sandy spite,
silty, as quickly the castles are
built again friends find each other, anew.
crab and kid, cone and agony
fully alight: the memory thereof an eternal
nettle. the wave’s repulsion at the break
is the child’s expectant preparedness,
imaging an endless summer.
swarms of cosmic locusts
emerge from the skies. the train routes
have been interrupted by the demise
of the world. ultimately, the fog, disintegrating the ho
rizon, triumphs; everything will be alright.
a bit late
the mist has long since
lifted the rain from the ground,
the fish in the pond
have grown limbs
and the nereids
have decided
to remain non-human.
opening up to the sea
and fearing the worst.
crepusculum. from below the stars do shine; the strand
a crescent moon. in the overview: a sleeping city,
a dead-straight double-barrier in the twilight.
borderdogs barking, the night is alive. today,
memory is simply inhaling the salt in the air. the blood
has faded, warily.
and nevertheless, the fishermen know:
today there’ll be cabbage and potatoes,
for the wind’s blowing sideways.
but soon, they say, and you
believe it, there’ll be a catch again.
the wind, however, is just as it was before.
giant amber pastry
the child’s arms are too short;
the history of the sea, too long,
you can only see it in episodes.
saison onze: sunburnheat,
feverish sandcastlehansa.
from THE BEAUTY OF WATER
Crauss.
translated from the German by Mark Kanak
Listen to "crepusculum" read in the original German by the poet:
Crauss is a critically acclaimed German poet based in Siegen. His publisher, Johannes Frank, recently said of him: “With an acute eye for modern life and a unique structural depth, Crauss’s poetry manages to re-create in the best sense of the word: Crauss captures dynamics in such a manner as to reveal not only the flipside of a well-worn coin, his poetry lets us imagine the possibility that coin may have a third side. His poetry modulates with ease between humor and delicacy, between irony and tenderness, intimacy and proclamation. Crauss’s readings blur the lines between poetic performance and performing poetics, and in this, he has been and continues to be one of the most influential contemporary German-language poets.” Crauss’s books include: Crausstrophobie. Texte & Remixes (2000, 2001); Alles über Ruth (2000, 2004); campari & jazz (CD, 2006); Motorradheld (2009); LAKRITZVERGIFTUNG. juicy transversions (2011); SCHÖNHEIT DES WASSERS. 66 pseudoromantische kalligraphien (2013); and BUNTE SOCKEN TRAGEN (2015). Most recently, he has been shortlisted for the German e-book of the year award 2017 for DIESER JUNGE. His website is located here.
Mark Kanak is a Berlin-based poet and translator. His work and translations have appeared in anthologies and journals such as Best European Fiction, Absinthe, Prague Literary Journal, and many others. Translations include the German-language translation of Jeff Tweedy’s Adult Head (Lautsprecher Verlag, 2005) as well as the English-language translations of Peter Pessl’s Blumarin (Twisted Spoon Press, 2008) and Otto Dix’sLetters, Vol. 1 (Contra Mundum Press, 2016). His original books of poetry in German are abstürze (dfw, 2006) and folterlyrik (EAS, 2013). 2018 will see the publication of the first complete English-language translation of Walter Serner’s Letzte Lockerung (Last Loosening) by Twisted Spoon Press and, in German, original prose entitled Tractatus illogico-insanus (Ritter Verlag). He has also translated a wide variety of contemporary poets in journals and anthologies, including Crauss, Florian Neuner, Stefan Schmitzer, Max Höfler, Clemens Schittko, Ralf B. Korte, and many others. The poems translated here are from a wide selection that will be part of a series of readings in the fall on the art of translation as a collaboration with Crauss.
