Friday 5 May 2023

4 Poems by Eduard Schmidt-Zorner

No Name

Something, which has no name,

something uncertain, unknown,

something dark,

burdens my heart,

puts a weight on it

like heavy rain on the fruits of wine yards

bending the vines to the ground.

Leaves shed tears.


Something, which has a name,

something certain, known,

something bright

lifts my heart,

frees me from a burden.

It relieves me

like warm rays of sunshine on grapes

making them translucent.

I hold my hand against the sun:

see my wine-red blood.


Snail Mail

One should start

to write letters

to the dead

before it is too late.


To send thoughts or

mention missed opportunities,

neglected feelings,

refused empathy or

a lack of understanding.


Do not wait for an answer,

leaves will be blown to our doors,

multi-coloured, varied,

cryptic thoughts, metaphors

written on by an invisible hand,

trusting that have the ability

to decipher them.


Leave the mail to the snails,

who have time,

and are on the road for years

to convey a message.


I look at their trails

and suddenly comprehend

what has been written to me.


Exhibitions

Frames not only frame,

they limit, suffocate,

strangle the picture,

press it into a rectangle,

punch it out of context,

entangle interpretations.


Exhibitions are prisons,

where inmates seem to be free

and communicate with you

through steel bars

fixed on wooden strips,

nailed to the walls.

A crucifixion scene

like on the Appian Way.


A Thought

A thought

hewn in stone

to prevent it

to fly away

with the birds

in autumn.


That it might become

a keystone

of my inner self,

as base

for a new poem.


Bionote

Eduard Schmidt-Zorner is a translator and writer of poetry, haibun, haiku, and short stories.

He writes in four languages: English, French, Spanish, and German and holds workshops on Japanese and Chinese style poetry and prose and experimental poetry.

Member of four writer groups in Ireland. Lives in County Kerry, Ireland, for more than 25 years and is a proud Irish citizen, born in Germany.

Published in over 180 anthologies, literary journals, and broadsheets in USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Bangladesh, India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, and Nigeria.

Some of his poems, and haibun have been published in French (own translation), Romanian, and Russian language.

He writes also under his penname Eadbhard McGowan.

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