Moira Walsh and Wilfried Schubert
Im Rüttelflug / Hovering
AUTHORS’ NOTE
Our collaboration took place in December 2020, via e-mail and text message. Wilfried sent 42 “orphan lines” to Moira, who chose 12 and riffed on them in English. The (lightly) edited result is published here, with Wilfried’s original “orphan lines” set in bold. Translation is provided at the end.
Ein Windstoß und die Tür fiel ins Schloss
Hand of the many-fingered wind
knotted my hair
watered my eyes
Erst muss ich den Kältemantel um mich schmelzen
Where to get
enough human heat
to melt this glacier
round my ribcage
three miles thick?
Last I heard the fat man / has sung his mushroom tune
Hope heaven never sees that cloud
or hears that heavy chord
Als Nicht-Maus kann ich mich am Falkenrütteln freuen
The beauty of attack:
all skill sans malice
Murine death, avian life
Den Wunden tut es gut, das Lufttrocknen
Your wound calls out
to breathe our daylight air
be warmed by
eye and sun
Wer endlich dolmetscht mir die Sprache der Taten?
Speaking loudly doesn’t cut it
if the tongue is strange
Wenigstens diese Verse sind noch frei
Let us defend
each other’s solitude
Separation
our bond
Die sich mir ins Ohr legte, weil ich sie tiefer nicht ließ
That persistent would-be lover
kept my earbones humming
eardrum thrumming
since my pesky heart was sure
ensconced in sky-blue glacier
Der Punkt, das Öhr, durch das alles hindurch muss
Pinhole —
at which point
the picture reverses
Soweit es Möwen gibt, reicht das Meer
We are
inside
the body of the sun
Fruits of despair will ripen among us
Will they be sweet or bitter?
Noxious, nourishing?
Here’s one —
and here —
and on the next
page, too
Wie unbeschreiblich, ohne Gepäck zu reisen
No luggage, not even
a mask
No wallet or keys,
no task
I travel
from love
to love
Translation of the German lines
Ein Windstoß und die Tür fiel ins Schloss
A gust [literally: push] of wind and the door fell shut
Erst muss ich den Kältemantel um mich schmelzen
First I must melt the cloak-of-cold around me
Als Nicht-Maus kann ich mich am Falkenrütteln freuen
As non-mouse, I can enjoy the falcon’s hover
Den Wunden tut es gut, das Lufttrocknen
It does the wounds good, this air-drying
Wer endlich dolmetscht mir die Sprache der Taten?
Who will, at long last, interpret the language of deeds for me?
Wenigstens diese Verse sind noch frei
At least these verses are still free
Die sich mir ins Ohr legte, weil ich sie tiefer nicht ließ
She who lay down in my ear [verbally harassed me], because I did not let her go deeper
Der Punkt, das Öhr, durch das alles hindurch muss
The point, the eye [literally: ear], through which everything must pass
Soweit es Möwen gibt, reicht das Meer
As far as there are seagulls: the sea’s reach
Wie unbeschreiblich, ohne Gepäck zu reisen
How indescribable to travel without baggage
Moira Walsh, born and raised in Michigan, is a freelance translator and poet based in southern Germany. Her literary work has been published in five countries. Moira was the 2021 Anne-Marie Oomen Fellow at Poetry Forge and a Thomas Lux Scholar at the 2021 Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Her favorite animal is the endangered saimaannorppa. Find more information at linktr.ee/moira_walsh and follow @poetbynecessity on Instagram and Twitter.
Wilfried Schubert has been working as a doctor in Germany for over 40 years. During this long period, he has written hundreds of poems, the first of which appeared in print in 2020. Since then, a burgeoning number of his works can be read on both sides of the Atlantic. Find more information at linktr.ee/wilfried_schubert and follow @wilfried_schubert on Instagram.