Matthias Göritz

Matthias Göritz Poems

Matthias Göritz Biography

Matthias Göritz was born in Hamburg in 1969. Today he lives in Frankfurt/Main as a writer. After his studies of philosophy and literature he spent some time in Moscow, Paris, Chicago, and New York. He published his first collection of poetry Loops in 2001. He received numerous stipends and prizes such as 'Literaturförderpreis der Stadt Hamburg' both in 1994 and 2000 and Mara Cassens Prize in 2006. From 2000 to 2002 he was Writer in Residence at Bard College, New York. In 2002 he attended the International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa.)

The Best Poem Of Matthias Göritz

From an Old Suit

My father was a suitable man
He always had things in his pockets
Chocolate for the satyrs
fat polished coins for the ferryman

You certainly couldn't impress him
with a poem
with a glum face
with nice dry socks and the promise
that all would remain as it was

He knew: nothing would remain as it was
everyone would leave him
shutting him up in loneliness
lulling him into somnolent
slumber, slumber

Even the album makes a noise: it explodes
Even the grave is a room
And even his suit, or so he imagined—
one day the worms would read it
with their tongues


Translation: Susan Bernofsky

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