Fruchtfleisch

by Joachim Sartorius

Zuerst sterben die Augen, dann die Hand

in diesem Sommerherbst, dann der übrige Körper.

An der linken Hüfte nun tiefere Muskellagen,

feinkörnige Schichten, papierähnlich.

Darüber die eingesunkene Brust,

darüber ein Zimmervoll Zähne.

Ruinös alles, Dreck und Skelett.

Aber die Haut zart noch, wie Blütenblatt von Mohn.

Nur nicht der Sonne aussetzen, den Schirm

aufspannen, plötzlich besorgt.

Dreizehn Granatäpfel rollen auf dich zu.

Warum auch nicht? Wir wollen Fruchtfleisch,

Rubine, die ganze Fülle vor dem Stoßgebet.

Fruit Pulp

by Joachim Sartorius

The eyes are the first to die in this summer-autumn,

then the hand, then the rest of the body.

At the left hip now deeper layers of muscle,

Fine-grained strata, paper-like.

Above it the chest, caved in,

above it a room full of teeth.

Everything ruinous – filth and skeleton.

But the skin delicate still, like petals of poppy.

Above all, don’t expose it to the sun: spread open

the parasol, suddenly anxious.

Thirteen pomegranates rolling towards you.

And what of it? We want fruit pulp, rubies,

abundance before the fervent, final prayer.

translated from German by Pauline Fan

Joachim Sartorius is one of the most distinguished poets of the German language. Born in Fürth, Germany, he grew up in Tunis, Congo, and Cameroon, and spent many years as a diplomat in New York, Prague, Istanbul, and Nicosia. He has served as the Secretary General of the Goethe Institute worldwide, as the head of the DAAD’s Artists-in-Berlin Programme, and was the Artistic Director of the Berliner Festspiele from 2001 to 2011. He has received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and Collegium Budapest and was elected a member of the German Academy for Language and Literature in 2002. Sartorius’ poetry has been collected in seven volumes, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He has also published a book of essays and two travelogues. Joachim Sartorius was awarded the Paul Scheerbart Prize for his translations of contemporary American poetry. He was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2011.

Pauline Fan is a writer and literary translator from Malaysia. Her writings and translations have been published in Princeton University’s Inventory, Bonn University’s Orientierungen, Zeitzug, Axon: Creative Explorations and elsewhere. She has translated works by Brecht, Kafka and Kant from German into Malay, and is currently translating the poetry of Paul Celan. She has also translated poems by Georg Trakl and Else Lasker-Schüler into English. She co-edited the special volume Malay literary journal Obscura: Merapat Renggang. She is Editor of the new English-Malay literary journal, Kisah, and is the Malaysia Editor of the Berlin-based international poetry archive and network, Lyrikline. She serves as creative director of the Malaysian cultural heritage organisation, Pusaka.