Poetry: Aprilia Zank - Gjermani

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Dr. Aprilia Zank is a freelance lecturer in the Department of Languages and Communication at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, where she teaches Creative Writing and Translation Theory.

She was born in Romania and studied English and French at the University of Bucharest. She then moved to Germany where she received her PhD degree in Literature and Psycholinguistics from the Ludwig Maximilian University for her thesis THE WORD IN THE WORD Literary Text Reception and Linguistic Relativity. The research for her PhD thesis was done in collaboration with six universities from Europe, and as a visiting lecturer at Alberta University of Edmonton, Canada.

Aprilia is also a poet and a translator and the editor of two anthologies: the English–German anthology poetry tREnD Eine englisch-deutsche Anthologie zeitgenössischer Lyrik, LIT Verlag, Berlin, 2010, and the anthology POETS IN PERSON at the Glassblower (Indigo Dream Publishing, April, 2014).

She writes verse in English and German and was awarded a distinction at the “Vera Piller” Poetry Contest in Zurich. Her poetry collection, TERMINUS ARCADIA, was 2nd Place Winner at the Twowolvz Press Poetry Chapbook Contest 2013.

Her poetry has been widely published in anthologies and periodicals in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Romania, India, the USA, Canada, Argentina, South-Africa and New Zealand. Her own volume of poetry TERMINUS ARCADIA is due to come out soon.

As a translator, she translates from and into German, English, French and Romanian in collaborative projects with various artists all over the world. In this respect, she organised the W-ORTE Literary Festival 2010 in Munich, the events POETS IN PERSON in London in 2012 and 2014, and the event IMAGINE THE BEATS in Munich, in 2015. These events brought together poets, writers, scholars and artists from many countries.

Aprilia is also a passionate photographer. To her, photography means the attempt to get a new insight into the essence of things. She has organised several photo exhibitions at the Ludwig Maximilian University and other cultural centres in Munich, and several of her images are prize winners and have been selected for poetry book covers.

digging for springs

I had to dig deeper for springs

this year

the ground dry

rocks and roots

barring my way

dairies

bound in buckskin

train tickets

for cancelled journeys

family vows

treasured

in creaky drawers

cobwebs

growing to ropes

around my ankles

blinded by dust at dusk

and haze at dawn

weary to carry

all those registers

with fading names

and missing addresses

while stray dogs

snarled in mating games

and the owl dived

and tore its prey

on the velvet moss

of the holy stone

I had to dig deeper

this year

beyond layers of soil

and layers of skin

to catch a glance

of the lily

shimmering on waters

thousand years deep.

his name is prophet

inspired by a fellow poet’s verse

I see you

drifting above the clouds

as there is no abode for you

beneath their desultory patterns

you with the patch on your right eye

and the knife in your bowels

you with your rice-paper heart

and the tongue of a hundred tongues

you have reached for the holy light

but it blurred to haze

when you touched it

with your trembling hands

you have walked on soot

and begged for shelter

at celestial gates

but nobody washed your feet

or called you prophet

and when you’re gone

your words will linger about

homeless

restless

waiting for translation.

  

no pictures please

we have our pride after all

the day flickers away

dragging along the last beams

of a weary New York sun

the cold grabs at you

from behind numbered walls

empty-eyed dummies

prophecies of uncertain futures

we may have nothing

but we have

our pride

at dawn

New York snatches its pray

sucks it

chews it

spits its shell

at the close of day

they may have nothing

but they have

their pride

New York is cold

it shuts its doors

behind registered family names

it closes its eyes

upon

homeless

hopeless

desiccating identities

but they have

their pride

New York is mute

it has no answers

to those who go to bed

without prayers

having no bed

and no one to pray to

but, no,

no pictures please

we have our pride

after all;

Setu, April 2018