Half My Kingdom

I surrender the other half of my kingdom
Eight square meters in my fairy kingdom
On an island of extinct vernaculars
Cupolas made from last year’s straw

I surrender…
Gems from the crown, two dried up eyes
Slippery tail of a ship rat
The fifth paw of a stray dog

I surrender…
Spring will punish me for my frivolity
I’ll come back to knock on the gate
Stretching out a hand, begging for snow in winter

I surrender…
No kicking, no screaming, no sound, no shame
The laboratory keys are with the guard

I get out
Sunrise breathing down my neck
Sunrise shrugs its shoulders, taking a farewell bow

I surrender the other half of my kingdom


From Great Knowledge

From great knowledge comes only sorrow
From a reckless mind, only ditches and moats
From a beautiful soul, only scabs and lice
From universal love, only mugs in blood

In the sheet on the wind, barefoot into the dew
From fruitless ideas to disembodied guests
From set tables to broken heads
From closed doors to buried beasts

On a parallel track a black satellite flies
It will calm us and save us and bring us peace
Under a rough wing, night at the round table
A red and white poster: “Hey, rev up your scooter!”

Come together everyone for the meaningless forum
At the universal congress
How to deal with our delirium?
To wedge our will into idiot land
To sit silently and tap on the table

Because from great knowledge comes only sorrow
From a reckless mind, only ditches and moats


My Sadness is Luminous

I repeat ten times and again
Nobody knows how fucking rotten I feel
And the television hangs from the ceiling
And how fucking rotten I feel, no one knows

I'm so fucking sick of all this
That I want to start all over again
This verse is sad, so sad that again I repeat
How fucking rotten I feel



Beware

I have to crawl away
From the declaration of war onto all four strings
From the narrow-minded Spring into all four walls
From burnt food behind all four misfortunes
From a generation of evil into four black numbers
Throw on the old uniform worn by somebody to holes

I will have to do without blue dusky birds
Without mismatched eyelashes
And revise in the morning what didn’t work out yesterday
Leave the dirty railroad car and continue with the haul
On the uncooled ashes, on a self-made broom
To throw open your arms in sleep, to not trip in the dark

I will have to swap the ritual
That I am sick and tired of
For a deadly missile
The squeaky chair at the table
For a child’s scream around the corner
The wreath of tangled roses
For a depressive psychosis
The psychedelic paradise
For three bolts for the shack

Everyone is crying out to me, Beware
Everyone is crying out to me, Beware


Flocks Are Flying

Carried under arm into the steppe, sermon in your ear
A low bow, flocks are flying
A kerchief to the heart, a stone around the neck
A gulp in the throat
Maybe they will forgive

A ribbon on the chest
They searched for so long
Clenched teeth, forward time
A cross under the window, tired elbows
Banner on a bayonet, fox to the chickens

A gray calm, lulled by the wheels.
Trembling veins, travelling light
Blonde and barefoot, a middle finger in your face
Running alongside on a leash

Eternal flame, florescent lights
Dark passage, eyes widen
Strong brew, cry my loved ones
Corner, candle, table, icons

Carried under arm into the steppe
Flocks are flying
Maybe they will forgive


Sold

To die in public with commercial success
To smash your photogenic face against the rocks
To ask politely, looking into the eyes of kind strangers

My death’s been sold

To decorate interiors and hang on the wall
To disrupt the geometry of square ceilings
To wedge like a naked brick into shining wallpaper
Like a homeless shadow
My shadow’s been sold
Sold

I’m walking on a tightrope, sighing as I go
The board I’m walking on will end – soon I will fall
Under foot, under the wheels, under the heavy hammer
Going, going, gone
My death’s been sold
Sold

The traffic light is blinking merrily
The song flying fast against the winds
To rejoice in the sunshine and the raincheck
Happily ever after
My death’s been sold
Sold


Up to the Knees

We are up to the knees in your voices
And you are up to the shoulders in our hair
They are up to the elbows in dark bellies
And I am up to the neck in deadly places
We are under the flow of boiling water
And you under the sound of hammer blows
They are in the newspaper page’s shadow
And I am in the moment of the iron click

We are under the aim of thousands of your phrases
And you are behind the wall that has collapsed on us
She is on a pile of hands, hearts and eyes
And I am up to the throat in them, and in you, and in us


Special Reason

It is by twisted mouths that moles
Who’ve just cleared the sleep from their eyes
Can see the error of the sprout

It is over nearsighted eyes
Not trusting dumb tears
That the conveyer of sand crawls

Until the hand remembers
The brass knuckle trembles at the temple
The slanted board is calling
I’m at the peephole, under the heel of the ceiling

At the entrance was an egg or a hard-boiled word
I turn my face
Dream jerked with nightmare
A newborn mason sings with me in unison
A winged breeze scorched the peaks of far-away rocks
And here it caresses the lawn.

For this there is a special reason
For this there is a special department
For this there is a special regime
For this there is a special reason

Through the cracks, a convoy
Will seal the windows with grass
We will be led to the slaughter
A hero will cross himself
A loose column of prisoners will step
Forward, for the Motherland, into battle!
And the evil enemies will perish
Those who didn’t put boots on
Who didn’t bid farewell to themselves,
Who didn’t kill themselves,
Will all be taken to the slaughter

For this there is a special department
For this there is a special regime
For this there is a special reason


Feet Higher Off the Ground

The meadow awaited berries
The sea awaited weather

Let bygones rot
Time stands alone
Faithful is the water in the swamp
Lenten, as a sin at dawn

The broom hopped across the hummocks
Mists floated over the river
The soap drowned in the mud
My whole bath day was ruined

So we will play games
Hup-two, feet higher off the ground
The one who made it in time will die
The one who stayed behind — a dummy

Gotcha dummy, Gotcha
Gotcha dummy, Gotcha
Hup-two, three, four
Hup-two, three, four

The truest law tied the first
Chapter in a little knot
And pulled the ends til it snapped
Dig it – don’t dig it—I can’t get it


Doomsday

As the scornful prophecy
Is borne out by the present
Everything verified, everything fits together
Even the shitty fairy tale
It served well — they listened
And nodded to the beat
And blew clear smoke at the ceiling
Only the fairy tale is shitty
And the ending is wrong
The dragon slayed and ate them all
Gotcha dummy, Gotcha
Gotcha dummy, Gotcha

The plane will come for us
To kick the rubber sun around in the dark

Hup-two, three, four
Hup-two, three, four
The spring was named by an axe
The river was calmed by December
The morning by a lonely shot

The meadow awaited berries
The sea awaited weather


For a Rainy Day

For a rainy day, a tired dance
Of drunk eyes, clumsy hands
The second fell, the fourth sat down
The eighth was taken out to the track
On to wires, from under the wheels
And to four letters from under the pavement
Into the still waters, with a wild head
A cold sweat, ripples

An iron horse, a camouflage color
Carved treads in a row
A sideshow for the novices
The horses fly in a circle
The wind-up kaleidescope
Clatters with distorted mirrors
The wheel turns faster
To the sound of the march, heads off

The moth ate a colored shawl
The cards show a three and seven
The bull chases off flies with his tail
With a heavy heart, climbs the hill
The billiard heads
Split in half and scatters to either side
To the corners of a vast land

Behind the shattered displays –
Scraps of festive costumes
Under the runners of the sled –
The life flesh of the hand dealt to other people
Behind the counter – a parrot, from a hat
Takes out tickets for the tram
To the nearby bridge,
To a helicopter without windows and doors
Into the still waters, with an wild head
The wheel turns faster