Five Poems by Friederike Mayröcker
PN Review 159, September - October 2004
Translated by Richard Dove
like Giacometti: shadow of evening (wie Giacometti : Schatten des Abends)
statuette
of spring: Etruscan
hermaphrodite naked, cool bronze
figure between the panes, a
little obscured by the flaking rose in
purple, I comprehend the long-drawn-out
body, the greenish pelvis, the deep
cleft between its girlish breasts -
long narrow moon of the navel, between
the ribs as happened to me when
the seeing hand of the doctor glided
along my breastbone, candid
locality cardiac congestion nearly
not to be localised, nearly not aware
it possesses a male organ,
the legs decamped, into the tender
twin foot, I cover its head
with a fist, I veil the childish skull
of this hybrid form with my fist, to
make it complete, incessantly
twilight's scissors,
for Otto Breicha
auxiliary romanticism, etc. (Hilfsromantik, etc.)
and see you in advance bidding farewell
and me who's breaking down in my ocular deluge
your train's not leaving till tomorrow yet
I can already feel our pulses grieving
for Ernst Jandl
my blood-brother the blackbird (mein Blutsbruder die Amsel)
my blood-brother the blackbird
is singing once again
in the poplar skeleton as though
there'd been no winter as though
the winter had been forgotten but it's
the twenty-fourth of January -
balmy early evening pale purple -
it surely must know
a picture falls apart (ein Bild fallt auseinander)
crazy espadrillos: Mr Jesus Christ
on the little wall in the morning sun
with his hat between his knees behind him
the signboard I'm hungry
later he leaves the square I
run after him clutching my alms,
call his name he turns round to me
this guest on earth smiles
in the final field (im letzten Feld)
the water lapping the feet of the wild rose-trees
these are hanging down into the wave-child
beside the brook the ivy-girded trunk of the birch
the farewell waltz of the swifts sailing round the walls
a hand's breadth above the ground
fields of waving ox-eye daisies reflect the slow sun
the crumbling bench someone crafted beneath the weeping-willow
is vacant
while the gale rages in the coppice
forced apart in their snow-white coats
young ducks with glaring yellow beaks
in a blue headscarf the farmer's wife's driving
her animals towards the slope -
such a sailing around walking waving
the green side-kick (the knight)
on the rim of my glass
in the final field
for Georg Kierdorf-Traut
Friederike Mayröcker (1924 – 2021) was an Austrian writer of poetry, prose, children's books and dramatic texts. She is considered one of the most important Austrian poets of the 20th and 21st centuries, publishing over eighty works and being honoured with numerous awards.
Richard Dove is a poet, editor and translator. He was born in Bath and lectured in German and English at the Universities of Exeter, Regensburg and Wales before moving to Munich in 1987. He has published poetry in both German and English, and has worked extensively as a translator of modern German poetry.
Subscribe to PN Review magazine at pnreview.co.uk.