from eines jeden einziges leben (1986)
Departure
The guard swings the door shut in the silence
The signal stays at black
Further and further away the hand with the handkerchief,
the bird with only one wing
Reiner Kunze, born in 1933, became well known as one of the voices trying to maintain poetic and human freedom in the restraints of life in the then DDR, from which he moved to the then BRD in 1977. His poems have been translated into over thirty languages and honoured by many major prizes.
Robin Fulton, born in Scotland in 1937, has lived in Norway since 1973. He has published poems and essays, and edited Robert Garioch’s Complete Poetical Works (1983). His latest translations include Tomas Tranströmer, New Collected Poems (Bloodaxe, 1997) and Five Swedish Poets (Norvik Press, 1997). A revised and expanded selection from the Norwegian of Olav Hauge is forthcoming from Anvil Press Poetry. His translations of Werner Aspenström, Lennart Sjögren and Rose Ausländer appeared in MPT 5.
Robin Fulton writes: ‘ . . . no doubt he’ll go down in history as The
Poet behind the Wall, but it would be a shame if people forgot him. His poems haven’t crumbled like the wall.’
Robin Fulton, born in Scotland in 1937, has lived in Norway since 1973. He has published poems and essays, and edited Robert Garioch’s Complete Poetical Works (1983). His latest translations include Tomas Tranströmer, New Collected Poems (Bloodaxe, 1997) and Five Swedish Poets (Norvik Press, 1997). A revised and expanded selection from the Norwegian of Olav Hauge is forthcoming from Anvil Press Poetry. His translations of Werner Aspenström, Lennart Sjögren and Rose Ausländer appeared in MPT 5.
Robin Fulton writes: ‘ . . . no doubt he’ll go down in history as The
Poet behind the Wall, but it would be a shame if people forgot him. His poems haven’t crumbled like the wall.’
Translated by Robin Fulton
Page(s) 77
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