Marsyas, Encircled 1 / Shaded - Clasping Poem by Anja Utler

marsyas, it is: strung up on the tree trunk
soon: skinned, the branch clawed - pelt -
is: stretched, so shadows flee from the
axilla, being split by the blade
- breath banished - seeing: it opens up the dark
thoughts: streaming air and beaming light




-

so: groping, the fingers, they want to: scratch at the bark it: gnashes
the nails
it: breaks as though: loosened by light - [llh] - cracked, to the cambium,
the blankness below
- [ssp] - wood sprouting springing up still deepening - in silence -
the darkening heart

Translation: Tony Frazer