translations

the hairdresser

‘I’ll manage’

she says

she cuts the hair in layers

curl, curl, auburn

goes nicely with                       

your green-grey eyes

am I her work of art

I can almost hear Brahms

as in the great dictator

with Chaplin as the hairdresser

with Chaplin as the dictator

all I look is old

compared to her

at the same time we

are together in

the mirror. ‘I’ll manage’

she says ‘but will you’

the chessboard a curious story

still I don’t know

how the other’s

little world lives

 I am distracted

 breath is important

 he was always angry when

 he had’nt won

 especially then love

 for him I

are you playing the cheat

are you playing second voice

are yoy playing matecheck

are you mean

when you don’t want to choke on

playing lovingly

there, there

a game’s a game

message

he sets to

does what he must

eyes closed

to their birthdays

and proverbs

if they’re far enough away

if it’s possible, unnoticed

they are most kind

they are most discrete

monster

pull the chain

hands to ears

and there it is again

his world collapses

translated by Willem Groenewegen