Translated from the German by Stuart Friebert
Too soon the night’s
gobbled up the evening
its light smothered
wildly propelling winds
and dark fingers of clouds
to catch the hope
of those fleeing
on the rotting wood
of the footbridge over the gorge
Ute von Funcke, who wrote plays for children before turning to poetry in 2004, has published three collections of poems, most recently “frau auf der flucht” (scaneg Verlag/Munich). Two earlier collections appeared from Deutsche Nationalbibliothek/poesia vol. 1&2. A fourth collection is now in progress.
Stuart Friebert’s recent books include DECANTING: Selected & New Poems (Lost Horse); FIRST & LAST WORDS: Stories & Memoir Pieces (Pinyon Publishing); VOTIVES: Selected Poems of Kuno Raeber (Lost Horse); SCANT HOURS: Selected Poems of Elisabeth Schmeidel (Pinyon Publishing); and an essay, “Lost in Translation,” in a recent Antioch Quarterly