José F. A. Oliver

the epilogue pasts passed

at a ver(s)ified place. Eyes

sapphireblue, all oceaness. Eros

presence: Kavafis

in the uncovered bed

grated geography

of the streets. He

dared to take the quiet

that follows pure sentences

and the wounded delight. Then

he took the ear:ly mirrors

from the words and crafted

time. Lightopal,

nightjasmine

afternoon. At the room

the city outside his window

as unflinching. On the brink

of sense

a skinmemory. So

he borrowed death

into his alphabet and wrote:

“Hold on, afterglow!”

and left like you

 Translated by Marc James Mueller

at the syntax of the commercial metropolis SIDEWALK

footwashing before the prayer

& waterglow of the last things

silent presence

of the alms hand 1 blind man

who did not hear “Allah”-

collected blue

of the taxi metaphor : pro visions

of money & rosary jingle of mintage

1 cigarette seller

the bread smithy

woodpecking of the shoeblack

& windcompass of the poplar / branch squatting green

= dustgreen / loudish the contemp(e)lation

of voices. Orientation & timemedina

word traders around neighboring clocks

colorguarantee of delight

& secret languages of footstep and handritual

1 genitive & not to posses

the giant eyes of the street

Translated by Marc James Mueller

Berlin, count

ed down city

(next round) hear

after the kaiser:ian

section wall flesh

in the courtyards groaning on

drawingtablefevervictorycolumns

embryorot

(PRESERVINGGLASNOSTALGIA)

Translated by Marc James Mueller

mushroom loud-silently from archives

metastases buttercups

-Döblin's murderingcovered

and renovated

“the Melancholy Geraniums”

you birth giving eyes-

aged woman mother

courage: street-

walker, young in labor and woe

on the preserved villages

world surrounding navel: people

who from bombed squares

descended dry drinking throughs

breed faces readily brute

in sterile chrome barnyards

N.Y. & fall & stand & driving metal hair

beggars stumps me(a)te out

cut: at eye to eye scope to explore oneself

from falling time falling noise flicker

patchy cited light fall flickering

the glasreflextraverse &

long lines of sight shafts in

streamed distorted angles

while edging onwards rolling at the navel spinner

urnhours all around times

garbagebang voids and the traffic lights cycle setting

ways of life swaying graves elsewise conduct

sketches paused & brought into running [SILHOUETTE-

SKINS] laughter curiosity

: 1 gaze glossed over covert though & un

cluttered the eye after all

uncluttered the eye. “Humility” - Brodsky said -

to the glaringly spanned to lines current(ly) crossed over under

& geometrically to the squaresky to

front & back shaft guided &

to the masses' drip (re)covered in the ear &

downtowntumble soft

is what is to un-listen to

herd's silence soon. Alwayshere & Alwaysgone

until herd's silence visuallypale parallel

& always somebody

maybe 1 self-portrait brought along

[RUNPORTRAIT] of escape

in the displaced / displacing manIfold

of the streets' grids &

SOULTREMBLING go & go

Translated by Marc James Mueller

from outside

I search for understanding

for the other

without

remembering

the other

inside me

Translated by Marc James Mueller

on soundless feet I go up to you

I spell almost with shame

your name: f e d e r i c o

and your verses: verde que te quiero verde

at night

in my room

by day

behind closed blinds

I breathe

a world

of yesteryear and today

almost with shame

like a mangey villain

a criminal on the run

with your name

your verses

tomorrow

federico

tomorrow

when the day breaks

I will storm out onto the street

shamelessly

and shout

before the first shot

federico

verde que te quiero verde

Translated by Marc James Mueller

There is the east far behind my brow. There

is the west a pawn gaze homelan(d)

guid. There is the south dice

box for the hunger. There is the NORTH. No

pierdas el norte. There is eastwest

course of the sun. There is the moon

on his search for the twi-gender. There is

SPEECH TIME LESS light

branching of the birds disquiet. There is dew

bread-warmth in the displaced wor(l)d

is silence still. There is the day

so reachable close

Translated by Marc James Mueller

hearthour you say the hearthour

runs slower. We

could not recover

time anymore. There was

no speaking anymore no

arriving. Only

this stillness that weighed

our eyes. You

had given me the mouth

the hands that spoke to us. I

return word for word

and trust in the end.

Translated by Marc James Mueller

[april quatrain]

in the herimitage jacket chocolate

from the Cross drips marzipan

& snowblend.

Outside the window

nests Ostara

on early cherry blossoms

their freshwhite oldclotted

the leaves are young. They gamble phrases / blo-

-omy green / a

handmade sunny fourth of [april-

spun / april-

summery shine] forces

the blooms bloom out / rivals

the zest

of may altars. Here someone

screams himself into a cheeryhome / : cheery. The clouds are

cabin doors. There

corpses sail into the blue / all of

them coming from the sea & are

all black. The life-

gamblers at the bunny table

haggle zealously over the bud's woe

: 1 player bets on africa, still wanting to

score. [Too late]. The precious

woods are bargained / the casual-

ties numbers contingents

exil

is used paper. The word

like easter eggs

redyed the language / toadwords, ju-

mping up onto life. Jumping

off from life.

& being

rotten for ages. Somebody

reshuffles “human & dignity”. Like cards

: [ 1 subjunctive by chance]. The water

spits displeasure / languidness

& even Heaven

: fallow land. Children

hunt for easter eggs. The world

is no hideout / from the bunny table

later falls a stone. From the stone

stares an angel's eye

with a s:word. The grave / the graves

remain in the off. The day, 1 put

hydrangea balls burning up

naked. They are also

kept in the picture / surreal

“how lovely to swim in the mediterranean”

Translated by Marc James Mueller

Zona Rosa, colorplace-

tiles peopleflickering

combed into the mix of lights, like

images are combed to the eye

a beggar (with cane)

[amulet  „muleta“], the

coughing up crone, aged

dabble dame of plinth walls

GodBlessYou – 5

pesos for this sentence

l:overs hustlers hookers

everywhere uniforms

and hand-at-heart, skew national /

sirens cafés ambulatory

a girl lops with doleful mien

chewing in her eyemouth bread, the

hand thrusted out world openly

to the dollargringo

Translated by Marc James Mueller