Judith Nika Pfeifer 

Translator

in the midst of eternity
        you come up to me
              offering biscuits with tea
                     i eat them unwillingly

that i haven't always known you
             crosses my mind
several lives squeezed into one
no reason to be dissatisfied
no reason to be satisfied
a leaf in the wind
and takes itself so seriously

october 2002

 for renald deppe

in the grey-brown of this winter
i think very strongly
                      of a warming morning sun
the red dutch tulips
                       that i will buy
colorful children's clothes
                         on hesitant sprouting meadows
maybe someone will say
                         LET IT BE MARCH
and maybe it'll come out of habit
                                                on its own
i firmly believe
                         that it will be april, too
even if i'm no longer here
even if we are no longer here
and again this is supposed to be a solace
at times – just when i want it to be

january 4, 2003

the poem comes
               like a cat
you can't call it
obediently obey its pace
                (who knows when it will be
                         visiting you again)
whether you call it brain magic
             or spiritual moment
an occasion to be amazed

january 5, 2003

sitting in the sun of rome
is not a solution
for this and that in vienna
and in my head
sitting on steps far away
from vienna and everything
fighting with pesky paper-loving ants
keeps me in the air hovering
over not at all unlikely crashes
like the aua- and alitalia-birds
above the so-called real abysses
from which one looks away
at small bugged letters
or whatever else

fall down in cape town
in berlin find your twin
to pamplona as a goner
be lazy in saint-benin-d'azy*
in prague rather vague
in paris embarrass**
in rome look for the stephansdom***
with gusto to abbruzzo
at peace in nice
frozen in bozen
live spunky
in the alpine country
and let go
of all your letters

*-azy as in saint-benin-d’azy
(pronounced english)

** play heiress in paris
*** fill rome with foam

add-ons:

in malibu be lazy too
in chengdu be lazy too
celebrate laziness in inverness
celebrate laziness in los angeles
be dull in hull
stay urban in durban
in malibu be idle too
be idle in heidelberg
be lazy too in chengzhou
in reading do nothing

from time to time i like to see them
the poisoned trees
the infested meadows
this lousy landscape
from the train window of my compartment
where i feel prepared
with tinctures and pills and
other ammunition
against the biting bacteria
the killer-viruses
the huge enemy army
on me and in me
should i perhaps step outside
into the contaminated green
where new enemies await
no thanks i say to my friends
the mountain- and valley climbers
i have in here
nature enough
presenting a byword
setting a sentence
dreaming a deed
confusing your mouth with mine
please, where is the station?
i'm a stranger in this city
where's your hand?
where's your mouth?
i'm not at home here anymore
the crows fly
as if in a poem
this winter landscape
is a picture behind glass
this train ride is a bad
sad film
that i have to watch
till the end