APRILIA ZANK, GERMANY

Dr. Aprilia Zank is a German poet, translator, editor and lecturer in Creative Writing. She writes  verse in English and German and has won various prizes. Recent poetry collections are BAREFOOT TO ARCADIA, also translated in Telugu, and READING THE SIGNS, launched in USA. Aprilia has received wide recognition for her achievements. In 2018, she was awarded the title “Dr. Aprilia Zank – Germany Beat Poet Laureate – Lifetime”, by the National Beat Poetry Foundation.

 

IT'S GONNA BE A GOOD DAY

at the breakfast table

words jump back and forth

we weave them into newspaper verbiage

and TV journal syntagmas

about the war never seeming to come to an end

and salad getting outrageously expensive

we gossip about the neighbour

how he dusts off his coat every morning

and fret over the garbage

that hasn't been collected for days

 

you ask me if I slept well

I say yes, I keep silent about

having waked up at 3 o'clock at night

haunted by memories of how my father died

after fighting in vain

the ravishers of his brains

nor do I in any way intimate

your personal delivery parcel

or that I know you watch pay TV

after I fall asleep

 

outside the clouds dissolve into elusive patches

tiny birds praise the clement sun

yes, it's gonna be a good day

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Solitude of Soul 2023 :: Setu, March 2023