Horror Tuesday

By Nicolas Born
Translated by Marty Hiatt.

The dormant

tram tracks rapidly paved over –

waiting for the olden days again

like a return to handwriting 

Sudden rain, it’s afternoon

just a little light gathered in faces

drizzly greys, the fields near

dark canals, trees low 

Wet collars wet lips

Old man led by child with wet braids 

Cement silos by the siding

Bird flocks banners drop

Saleswoman waves through glass wall

New suburbs flare up around six

I think of the remote exposed “island of the mind”

Tower cranes, bright concrete wasteland

A glance at the ascending world

that didn’t even survive

Click here to listen to Nicolas Born reading this poem in German on Lyrikline.org.