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This poem is taken from PN Review 261, Volume 48 Number 1, September - October 2021.

Can I be guessed? (translated by Vivien D. Glass) Hester Knibbe
Translated by Vivien D. Glass



Can I be guessed? Or can I be known, broken down into
more than hair and skin, the sharpness of tooth and nail?

A bird flies through the air, wings so wide that you
can count its outstretched feathers, but who decodes its call?

Someone dancing nude in ballet shoes, arms spread,
may still be hiding their soul behind a tiny tattoo. I have

rooms with curtains drawn and nothing to conceal,
...


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