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Given in Measurement

May 29, 2018/in Summer-Fall 2018, Translation, Translation / by Karla Reimert, translated by Patty Nash

[translated poetry]

I

Given in measurement. Play seasons.
Beneath bushes of fog, face blades,

get knotty, all the while be back, pelvis,
exchange of oxygen and photosynthesis.

Lust as shears. Slight air supply, then:
Breathe, raise arms shoulder-high,

a beelined shoot axis. Put up
defense with leaves (thorns, bugs, spiderwebs),

evaporation of the slightest.
The measurements knot in detail:

prune yourself.

II

Breed petals above petals
eye-angering colors.

Feed compound eyes.
Let snouts suck,

an agreement between sugar and scent.
How bees grapple with knotnotes.

Mechanisms of pressure and tilt, slight
explosions, here and there.

Dust on invisible hooks
seduces legs and chest.

III

Waver, carry. New fruits
spin, thin seeds

ringed with pollen dust.
Fruit flesh, fine white china.

The swarm closes in,
swirls, trembles, holds out, humming.

Spills, swept sunlight asunder
the queen’s decree.

Another cilia-haired,
self-whelped people

settling in the next knothole.
A restless black eye.

IV

A thicket spanned by hunter bees.
The world of petals falls in autumn.

When work is finished: a battle
of drones against the swarm.

Small, truncated bodies, dethorned,
enfeebled by their own power,

starved under dews, the hole of flight
only a pinch away.

V

Dance circles seek the utmost distance
between the people and feeding grounds.

The swarm prunes itself, dabs
when juice seeps in honeycombs.

Hardly self-sufficient—as if it were all
for geometrical perfection.

Freely, the stacks quiet
by worker bees’ to-and-fro.

Scooting closer in ever-shifting
positions. Warm by trembling.

To care for progeny:
exchange of secretions.

Carry, dry-out, blanket
the future with wax.

Glue the smallest gaps with resin:
dream of an equally skittering winter.

 

 

Vorhanden in Vermessung

I

In Vermessung vorhanden. Jahreszeiten spielen.
Unter Nebelbüschen sich Klingen stellen,

verästelt warden, dabei Rücken sein, Becken,
Austausch von Sauerstoff und Fotosynthese.

Lust als Schere. Leichte Luftzufuhr, dann
atmend die Arme bis zur Schulter heben,

schnurstracks Sprossachse warden. Mit Blättern
Gegenwehr leisten (Dornen, Käfern, Spinnweben),

der Verflüchtigun noch von Geringstem.
Die Vermessung binden an ein Detail,

sich beschneiden.

II

Blüten über Blüten ausbilden,
Die Augen empörende Farben.

Futterquelle warden unterm Gitterblick.
Rüssel an sich asaugen lassen,

Verständigung über Zucker und Duft.
Wie die Biene sich über Fruchtknoten hermachen.

Druck- und Klappmechanismen,
hier und da kleine Explosionen.

Staub an unsichtbaren Haken
verführt Beine und Brust.

III

Schwingen, tragen. Neue Früchte
warden gezirkelt, hauchdünne Samen,

darum Ringe aus Pollenstaub.
Fruchtfleisch, weißes und feines Porzellan.

Der Schwarm schließt dichter,
wirbelt, vibriert, verharrt summend.

Fällt, von Sonne durchweht,
ein Entscheid der Königin.

Ein weiteres, filmmerhaariges
von sich selbst verjüngtes Volk,

das die nächste Baumachsel besidelt.
Ruheloses schwarzes Auge.

IV

Dickicht, durquert von Spurbienen.
Die Welt der Blätter fällt in den Herbst.

Nach getaner Arbeit: Schlacht
der Drohnen gegen den Schwarm.

Kleine, verkürzte Körper, entstachelt,
geschwächt von der eigenen Macht,

verhungert unter Tau,
Zentimeter vor dem Flugloch.

V

Tanzkreise auf der Suche nach dem größten Abstand
zwischen Futterplatz und Volk.

Der Schwarm beschneidet sich selbst,
schabt sich aus, wenn Saft sickert in Waben.

Kaum Eigenversorgung, als geschähe all dies
zur Vervollkommnung von Geometrie.

Freiwillig stiller im Magazin
die Gänge der Arbeitsbienen.

Näherrücken in standing wechselnden
Positionen. Wärme durch Zittern.

Fürsorge für den Nachwuchs:
Austausch von Sekreten.

Umtragen, Trocknen, Zukunft
verdeckeln mit Wachs.

Verkleben kleinster Öffnungen mit Harz:
Traum von einem gleichgültig dahinjagenden Winter.

 

Patty Nash is a poet and translator from Germany and Oregon. Her poems and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in The Collagist, Inter | rupture, Prelude, the Offing, and elsewhere. She is currently completing her MFA in poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and tweets at @pattynashdj.

Karla Reimert is a German poet. Her first book, Picknick mit Schwarzen Bienen (Picknick with Black Bees), was published in 2014 and won the Berlin Literaturwerkstatt’s Prize for Best Debut. Reimert has won the Würth Poetry Prize, the Rheinsberg Author Forum Prize, and the Essay Prize for the Japanese Consulate.

https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Korilynn Kessler https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Korilynn Kessler2018-05-29 14:00:252019-06-09 17:04:42Given in Measurement

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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published the second Friday of every month.

Today’s course:

How to Kill a Cat, or How to Prepare for CATastrophe

March 10, 2023/in Blog / Meghan McGuire
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The Night I Want to Remember

December 16, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Sanaz Tamjidi
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From Paper to the Page

November 18, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Annie Bartos
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Midnight Snack

Take a bite out of these late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

Point Break & Top Gun Are More Than Homoerotic Action Movies

March 3, 2023/in Midnight Snack / Michaela Emerson
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Mending the Heart and Slowing Down: Reintroducing Myself to Mexican Cooking

October 7, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Megan Vasquez
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The Worth of a Billionaire’s Words

September 23, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Kirby Chen Mages
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Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every third Friday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

On Such a Full Sea Are We Now

March 17, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Jemma Leigh Roe
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The Russian Train

February 24, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Cammy Thomas
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Still Life

October 31, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Daniel J. Rortvedt
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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
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A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
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Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
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Our contributors are diverse and the topics they share through their art vary, but their work embodies this mission. They explore climate change, family, relationships, poverty, immigration, human rights, gun control, among others topics. Some of these works represent the mission by showing pain or hardship, other times humor or shock, but they all carry in them a vision for a brighter world.

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