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Poems from gorgos portfolio (2014), by Katharina Schultens

Author
  • Silke-Maria Weineck

How to Cite:

Weineck, S., (2017) “Poems from gorgos portfolio (2014), by Katharina Schultens”, Absinthe: World Literature in Translation 21. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/absinthe.9534

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Published on
2017-03-01

Peer Reviewed

© 2014 kookbooks, Berlin

massive attack

the taxi driver dismissed me
he drove off the steps of the stairs
i fell asleep with wet hair
he rang the bell when I was not dreaming
he had converted his a/c
it now served to dry my hair in the morning
i put my make-up on in the elevator to the 12th floor 
we had a cold storage room there
hallways lined in leather
the office walls pure screens
and nothing was being forgotten

i remained and every evening sent him 
my reflection in floor deep window glass
the weather varied but not my expression
i had perfected this cinematic dramaturgy

in the mornings at dawn i usually went dancing
there was this club its staircases changed
i danced with a colleague dressed as a bear
i wore the boots from the office
wenn i twirled each time i ground my heel
precisely between the toes of his paws 
i was almost sure he was barefoot unintentionally
then when the twirl was completed i opened
my lids after all i was still an intern
they had granted me two snakes
i raised my arms pushed all my fingers deep into my hair
and activated as a test this one gaze
the tongues flashed: brilliant-
reflex. For that was enough

gorgo

for now i can still visit the colleagues
as the night shift’s nursing assistant
they lie on white tables
their biers for casual friday
they are breathing no worries

i extinguish the night light
my reflection in the mirror vanishes
i shut down the computers
charging stations hum through the room
should one of them wear his headset in his sleep
the cables will drag him to the snake pit.

project management today had the women’s
heads shaved per perseus just in case
that does not change the interim feedback one bit 
on the roof terrace my marble garden grows

at dawn i come carrying a display
my bronzen hands collect each stir
now my transition into illness is not far
perseus says a pegasus sleeps in my flesh
i think what lies dormant within is the relapse i crave

perseus

how to begin: go to the things and grab them by the hair
do they carry snakes? a problem but not without a solution.
you always need a display polished to a shine
you always need a ballpoint pen
that can be extended into a sword
to kill would be putting it harshly
i prefer to speak of outsourcing
the model’s underachievers. ok?
you: i can formulate such letters
only I cannot sign them at this time
my ballpoint pen does not support the format
privately: certainly another box
sure i transmitted office methods
but what you are accusing me of was an oversight:
it was never about any head for me
it was not about victory either
i solved a difference