Chatterchick is scattering cackles
because my husband follows
a truth of his own again and in vain
I am looking for silence

Blacky is in the dumps
sighing that she suffocates
in the darkening darkness
where it's never silent

It won't work!
Bring nuts and bars of chocolate!
Madam settles herself
to savour it in silence

I wish it were so
easy, Chatterchick cries
Bonkers, Fatty, Layabout
they taunt; Silence, Silence, I

shout, Get out! I'm going
to think of something else
or thoughtlessly
do sports, get tired

I wish it were so
easy, Chatterchick cries
and the dumps are moaning
and the sofa is snoring

What is new is old,

because it does remember --


what has been before.

Watch out, love wants all

your attention and to go --


to bed in good time.

The golden twilight:

a beautiful last evening –


but not today, please.

The war means dying

of hunger, inside the cage --


oh, poor canary.

You did, you said: you.

As if I just have to be --


obliging to you.

Mama keeps chasing

me, I give me the advice --


she would have given.

Having a stare-down,

as if the other is wrong --


sitting on your seat.

The world does exist,

finally I know for sure:


I am dying there.

It's always the same:

there must be a better way --


So, should I do it?

I allure you, dancing
slowly around you right
through the laser rays
my eyes don't let you go

I get far enough into you
not to go with you right away
We'll meet tomorrow
and then in a week

At home, my parents are waiting
with their dreams about me
In the city, a career awaits
and in my body everything awaits

the next step
It is the art of balancing
to be myself
and to know what I want

Next to what was once

the farmyard, a kitchen chair --


in the tall wild grass.

I know father well,

he is happy to see me --


though he doesn't show it.

The grand parade is

over, and never over:


unforgettable.

Cold rain being blown

under my hood, the shelter –


of the mosquito.

I am crying out

of the depth, deeply wishing --


you love me, do you?

It is by waiting

that you can see what the world --


has to offer you.

Mass of supporters

times corruption-degree squared --


makes a dynasty.

Here too, policemen

coming to deport me to --


a death of torture.

Whoever wakes up

here, will wake the butterflies --


sleeping on his cheek.

I quiesce the storm

and welcome my enemies --


people just like me.

Kabul: enthralling

my eye to the moons shining --


on its countless roofs.

People are praying:

God, please do keep your distance --


You're getting too close!

Order in the bowl:

little fish at the bottom --


big ones at the top.

Everything changes

and suffers from it, I too --


am living that way.

I wrap myself up

in my poem, to show me --


show my open wounds.

Because I don't have time
I just like to waste the day
unwashed in a bathrobe

Being myself, at home
in my city bunker -
in front of the window
that mirrors on the outside

If you fly past it
you will see sparrows
being chased off the seed
by ducks who then flee

from the gull army
which has hardened its beaks
four times in the gastric acid
of the Duck family

I am safely offside
and what I don't like
I erase from the screen

In hindsight you see

what happened, not surprising --


but predictable.

It is nice to dream,

if only you walk with me --


starwalking with me.

The fish requests for

asylum, with a suitcase –


I open my mouth.

Even if I don't

want to, we'll stay together --


but sometimes I leave.

The hairdresser cuts

me, he is cutting up time --


to eternity.

Mama went to work
we stayed at home
could not get out
snow, no shoes

silence everywhere
fear of the police
and suppressed madness
which strangles desires

without killing them
impossible love
only the daily potatoes
hoping for a piece

of the repeated promises
for us, the children, and now
that we are no longer children
for our children

I like to see him,

he is sweet, but he wavers --


quickly shuts the door.

Nothing goes to hell

with a big bang, it always --


happens with moaning.

Dying means little

without fantasy, else it's --


about everything.

This palace of mirrors looks quite
common because it refracts everything

into googol beings and objects and even
more tissues, and so on, and so on

No one can see the whole
Only with closed eyes

it is possible to think a whole
out of loose people and see

that they do not exist separately
but live and move in all

mirror pieces, we too -
only blindly I can see

if I dare, that I can
only care well for myself by

I want his face
nicely towards me

I don't want to tear it open
because he chooses
me this weekend

I want his stubble
his fabric softener

he is so different
from the men of my friends
with their itchy *****

I want his words
his withheld love

reserved
for me under clothes
of inaccessibility

When it's the first time,

skating, dating, comforting --


Too bad! You are stiff!

She gives me a kiss

with her sweet mouth of candy


floss sticking to me.

As serfs of ourselves

we all do long to live free --


for one another.

My memories are photos
that life rushes over
from white to dark
night to day
feelings
already vanished
in black
or blanched
in the bright sun

Snapshots of the earth
frozen, still fleeting
by the rapid spinning
in the eternal sky
of time
from white to dark
night to day
to past, past
past forever

I'm getting older:

more experiences, more --


different from you.

In morning twilight,

seen from my window through yours:


the sun going down.

I am sick, foggy

and incapable I am --


slurping sips of soup.

Watching videos

I see shadows of people –


Is it Plato's cave?

She explains the world

to me, it is a stinking --


pile of waste and scrap.

The free field, the blowing
of my hair, the waving
and flowing of the grass

Only obey myself
No water surface, nothing
shines but your eyes

to make me feel beautiful
I despise seducing
in see-through clothes

I spit on being beautiful
to be counted
I disgust being beautiful

and therefore not be counted
I too walk the world!
I too do a lot of work there!

I too oversee what happens
I too know the people
and I talk wisely with you

Without falling I get

ahead of my legs, it is --


quite an exercise!

I do enjoy it

to walk in the noisy city --


and being the noise.