solar eclipse
Bradley Schmidt translating the German of Ulrike Almut Sandig
Excerpted from streumen, Anomalous Press Chapbook Contest Notable
click here for the German text
click here to read about the full project
‘
it’s possible that i missed something, that i looked up
instead of at the quiet ground where crescents might have flown
one always moving toward the other, their move into the darkness, head over
heels into the twilight, where did this piece of night tarry for seven minutes,
high above the cold broke in from one moment to the next.
above me the one i didn't see turned dark: i
had gazed at this lead engraving,
judging from my view half
way to the universe,
really, but still
concealed.
„
it’s unclear if nocturnal creatures flew
to touch the blind, ordered objects, if a god
was present and if anyone heard him, if at all.
what can be proven is nothing more than the scraping of soles,
the alternating movement of hedges and of small trees,
some made others stop, still others laughed aloud
without any apparent cause! nothing remains
unclear, recordable as evidence of stains,
darkness, missing witnesses.
Bradley Schmidt grew up in rural Kansas, completed a B.A. in German Studies at a small liberal arts college there, studied German Literature and Theology in Marburg, and started a doctoral project on Schleiermacher in Halle before completing a masters in translation studies in Leipzig. He lives and works in Leipzig as a translator and lecturer. His translations of contemporary German prose and poetry have appeared widely online and in print.
Ulrike Almut Sandig was born in Großenhain (GDR) in 1979 and now lives in Leipzig and Berlin. She started publishing her poetry by pasting poems onto construction fences and spreading them on flyers and free post cards. After completing her Magister in Religious Studies and Modern Indology, she subsequently graduated from the German Creative Writing Program Leipzig. Three volumes of her poetry have been published to date. Previous publications include radio plays and audio-books of poetry and pop music.
