This poem is taken from PN Review 273, Volume 50 Number 1, September - October 2023.
Siracusa and other new poems
Translated by Richard Dove
from Joachim Sartorius, Wohin mit den Augen. Gedichte, Cologne 2021
Waking in Ortigia (‘Aufwachen in Ortigia’)
Night washes the sea.
The water new by dawn.
On the retina light
paid for with white spume.
I brush salt from the table.
I kiss the lizard’s eyes.
I cut the bread.
The day’s now uncommonly bright.
Later the ocean
relieves you of the coins
and carves
a nymph’s name into each
for the long delight
...
from Joachim Sartorius, Wohin mit den Augen. Gedichte, Cologne 2021
Waking in Ortigia (‘Aufwachen in Ortigia’)
Night washes the sea.
The water new by dawn.
On the retina light
paid for with white spume.
I brush salt from the table.
I kiss the lizard’s eyes.
I cut the bread.
The day’s now uncommonly bright.
Later the ocean
relieves you of the coins
and carves
a nymph’s name into each
for the long delight
...
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