Note on Jonah Poem by Hendrik Jackson

the word that does not come to pass -
and yet, we do not go into the immanence
of a big-bellied, dark, barely
discernible life, self within self
in the whale's wide ocean -
it streams, flows
over the eyes

you're always waiting for a sign
- undying stubbornness
and the whole sky was hung with
luminous creatures, thus did we trickle
the lie into Jonah's ear
go forth into the world
into the windswept void

Translated by Nicholas Grindell