Crg Hill's poetry scorecard

Frühlingstag by Herman Hesse Draft Translation

Frühlingstag

Wind im Gesträuch und Vogelpfiff
Und hoch im höchsten süßen Blau
Ein stilles, stolzes Wolkenschiff. . .
Ich träume von einer blonden Frau,
Ich träume von meiner Jugendzeit,
Der hohe Himmel blau und weit
Ist meiner Sehnsucht Wiege,
Darin ich stillgesinnt
Und selig warm
Mit leisem Summen liege,
So wie in seiner Mutter Arm
Ein Kind.

• Herman Hesse

Spring day

Wind in the bushes and bird whistle

and high in the highest blue

a silence, proud cloud ship…

I dream of a blond woman

I dream of my youth

The sky high blue and wide

is my cradle of longing

in which I remain silent

and blissfully warm

with a quiet hum

just like in his mother’s arms

a child

Draft translation

Was bin ich?

 

a b c

h

i   i

n

s

w

Wasser Dana Ranga Draft Translation

Wasser

Sie atmen mich ein, ihre Lieder durchziehen mich; ihn, den Einsamsten, trage ich.

Das Messer wählt nicht zwischen hell oder dunkel, ein Versteck bleibt mir verwehrt. Hinter dem

Spiegel und auf dem Grund, was bin ich? Sie sagen, ich sei nur ein Teil

von allem, nur ein Aspekt

• Dana Ranga

 

Water

They breath me in, their songs run through me; I carry him, the loneliest.

The knife does not choose between light or dark, I am not allowed to remain hidden. Behind the

mirror and on the ground, what am I? They say I am only a part

of everything, only an aspect.

 

- Draft translation

Out of the Fog, A Double Shovel

 

Sure, I’ve cheated more than once. The

creative writing teacher, maybe in his own fog

did not flag my plagiarism. What comes

after I’m still astonished by, based on

that incident, that poetry, little by little

saved me, possessing no nine lives of a cat,

no passing interest in anything but baseball, my feet

 

digging in at the plate. Or getting high. It

was what days were made of, the shit sits

always within reach, in mind, looking

for something better, some future over

the rainbow. Light lit then on the harbor

in my dreams, now about writing and

poetry, about getting out of that city.

I may have been one of the least likely on

any terms to succeed, my goals silent,

out of public view, but there, poised on their haunches,

gathering strength and knowledge and

a lifelong quest for experiences to then

enact into language that which moves

me past that cheating, that which moves me on.

 

Double shovel based on Carl Sandburg’s “Fog,” which I plagiarized in a creative writing class senior year, a class I took because I needed the credit to graduate on time with my peers.

call of a cardinal

 

bbbrrreeeaaattthhhiiinnnggg

call of a cardinal

bbrreeaatthhiinngg

call of a cardinal

breathing

call of a cardinal

breathing

Nor Endergetic, Amen

 

Not as thimble as I used to be

So and so what, thread bare

I crawled out of mourning this bed

drumming up, dreaming, cessations

 

I thought were sensations

that up on a stage of lying

down, down-sizing, impending dormancy

why the words are missing

 

How the names once knew

When I forget I forgot

That creek in my back

trickled backward as if time

 

were a park in the walk

as if space were a dunce in the sun

Waiting for Storms

 

State of the state

that waits and doesn’t wait

for unstable air to spin

dryline crashing cold front

wedged up by warm, wet gulf

air, to rotate and roar

 

All day today I a transplant

stayed weather aware and waited

cat carriers ready, passport

close-toed shoes, phone and computer

charged, monitoring tv, local

and national, while trying to work

 

PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation)

tornado watch, wind sheer

mezzo-cyclone, scud, upflow

long-track, large event

storm-tracker, golf-ball-

baseball-, softball- sized hail

 

Seek shelter below ground

or with as many walls you can put

between you, the storm, and the waiting

From 62-80

   

- "I hate saying my age."

 

The earliest age

at which a person may begin

receiving retirement benefits

 

The year of JFK’s assassination

minus 1900

 

The square root is 8

 

Common speed limit

on expressways in many US states

 

Ray Nitschke’s number

 

The nineteenth prime number

 

MLK’s assassination

minus 1900

 

Oh you do on me

what I do on you

 

West to east

Cove Fort, UT

to Woodlawn, MD

 

“It is a general principle

of human nature

that a man will be interested

in whatever he possesses”

 

The upper end of room temperature

 

1940 NFL Championship Game

Bears beat Redskins

 

The atomic number of tungsten

 

The year I graduated high school

minus 1900

 

“God is renowned in Judah”

 

Talking Heads debut album

 

The total number of gifts

in “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

 

A sexy prime

 

Around the world

Prepare to be Handcuffed

 

So this was my Sunday:

take a room on floors 3-5,

too high for intruders,

low enough for first responders.

 

Make certain the door’s solid,

no scratches at the lock,

and make sure the room’s

not near the emergency exit.

 

Crouch because ricocheting bullets

hug the floor, but lay down

in explosions, feet toward the blast,

because shrapnel rises.

 

Don’t enter packed subway cars,

but also avoid empty cars.

Remain calm and maintain dignity

in hostage situations.

 

Eat the food no matter

how poor the quality.

Establish a daily routine,

exercise and sleep and engage

 

in dialogue with your captors.

In an active shooter event

don’t offer to help first responders.

Always keep your hands visible.

How 'bout this sound poem by Michael Lenzt, "vielleicht ist es so, vielleicht ist es aber auch nicht so"

https://www.lyrikline.org/en/poems/vielleicht-ist-es-so-vielleicht-ist-es-aber-auch-nicht-so-801