Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Maria Barnas

Midden

I listen to my body
but don’t understand it.

Maybe it is too pale.
Does it pour too hard from the head

too cold full of squashed-flat
thought braids gushing

and does it splash from the arms
tautly so as not to touch the curtain

the tiles the joints weary of
the search for lives in other

bodies. While the soap roars
a prelude in the waste pipe

the body speaks so we move
strange estranged

and I see ever more bodies
estranging themselves from me.

Midden

Midden

Ik luister naar mijn lichaam
maar versta het niet.

Misschien is het te bleek.
Stroomt het te hard uit de kop

te koud vol platgeslagen
gedachten strengen gutsend

en spat het op van de armen
strak om het gordijn niet te raken

de tegels de voegen het zoeken
van levens in andere lichamen

moe. Terwijl de zeep een aanhef
briest in het afvoerputje

spreekt het lichaam zo bewegen
wij ons vreemd vervreemd

en zie ik steeds meer lichamen
van mij vervreemden.
Close

Midden

I listen to my body
but don’t understand it.

Maybe it is too pale.
Does it pour too hard from the head

too cold full of squashed-flat
thought braids gushing

and does it splash from the arms
tautly so as not to touch the curtain

the tiles the joints weary of
the search for lives in other

bodies. While the soap roars
a prelude in the waste pipe

the body speaks so we move
strange estranged

and I see ever more bodies
estranging themselves from me.

Midden

I listen to my body
but don’t understand it.

Maybe it is too pale.
Does it pour too hard from the head

too cold full of squashed-flat
thought braids gushing

and does it splash from the arms
tautly so as not to touch the curtain

the tiles the joints weary of
the search for lives in other

bodies. While the soap roars
a prelude in the waste pipe

the body speaks so we move
strange estranged

and I see ever more bodies
estranging themselves from me.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère