Attention Readers!
In contrast
to conventional poetry
this poem
contains no preservatives
In the fridge
you can keep it
up to three days
in the ice compartment
up to one week
and in the deep freezer
for up to a year
But it’s best
to read it right away
Then you already have
one worry off your mind
How it Goes
Poems are doing considerably better and worse these days. They are clearly read by more or fewer people. Most passers-by don’t care about poems; teachers, editors and booksellers care even less. Publishers don’t care at all. Those who write poetry are allowed, but not obliged, although this is strongly recommended, to call themselves poets without being laughed at, as was common in the past, and are showered with prizes of all kinds, unless they are not. The young are old, the old are young, the dead are the most alive. Everything rhymes with Berlin. What doesn't rhyme with Berlin doesn't rhyme. Quite a bit rhymes that doesn't rhyme.
Iowa City, October '84
to conventional poetry
this poem
contains no preservatives
In the fridge
you can keep it
up to three days
in the ice compartment
up to one week
and in the deep freezer
for up to a year
But it’s best
to read it right away
Then you already have
one worry off your mind
How it Goes
Poems are doing considerably better and worse these days. They are clearly read by more or fewer people. Most passers-by don’t care about poems; teachers, editors and booksellers care even less. Publishers don’t care at all. Those who write poetry are allowed, but not obliged, although this is strongly recommended, to call themselves poets without being laughed at, as was common in the past, and are showered with prizes of all kinds, unless they are not. The young are old, the old are young, the dead are the most alive. Everything rhymes with Berlin. What doesn't rhyme with Berlin doesn't rhyme. Quite a bit rhymes that doesn't rhyme.
Iowa City, October '84
The Amelia Earhart Deli
was our favourite café
We sat there every afternoon
drank tea
wrote poetry and read the paper
Richard Brautigan is dead
you said
apparently he shot himself
they write here
You only sipped
on the drink
I ordered right away
That's bitter
you said
and you meant the whiskey
That's right
I said
and meant death
Later we shared
pancakes with maple syrup
I thought
my dental fillings would fly out
so sweet it was
The Sea Fog Poem
This is
where the poem begins
And this is
where the sea fog begins
in which the poem begins
to disappear
This is
definitely the most beautiful
part of the poem
(Too bad one cannot read it
for that damned sea fog!)
This is
where the poem reappears
And this is
where it ends
(Translated by Sujata Bhatt and the author)
(From “How It Goes“, The Bodily Press, Amherst, Massachusetts 2026)
Author’s Bionote:
*Michael Augustin was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1953. He studied in Dublin and Kiel and lives in Bremen. He writes poems and miniatures, has published several artists books with visual poetry and also poetry for children. For many years he worked as a broadcaster and author for “Radio Bremen”, specialising in the presentation of poetry from around the world. Until 2019 he co-directed the international festival “Poetry on the Road”. Augustin's books have been translated into numerous languages. He has been honoured with the “Friedrich Hebbel Prize” and, most recently, the “Premio Casa Bukowski Internacional de Poesía”. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Iowa and Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and was writer in residence at the University of Bath in England and at the Heinrich Böll Cottage in Ireland. He’s a member of PEN Germany. A number of single poems were printed and published by Robert Hansen in San Diego as part of his unforgettable series “Poems-For-All”. More info: https://www.literaturport.de/lexikon/michael-augustin/
(Photo by Sujata Bhatt)