Yes, it is the second version of the title, but I think I was wrong to
suggest it was necessarily the Celan that Rich had picked up on, there are
flotillas of German poems in response to Brecht, here a list of some:
- leaf, treeless / Paul Celan
- garden of Theophrastus / Peter Huchel
- About trees / Rose Auslander
- Interim appraisal for unfortunate trees / Gunter Eich
- L'autornne prussien (The Buckow cantatas) / Hanns Eisler
- I went to fetch you a leaf / Ruth Berlau
- Two mistakes / Hans Magnus Enzensberger
- Trees / Walter Helmut Fritz
- felony / Michael Kruger
- Nature poem 7 / Gregor Laschen
- Procession of swallows that is / Friederike Mayrocker
- What times are these / Michael Kruger
On 22 December 2011 07:25, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Soory, i think it's 'A leaf, treeless'. I could be off on this.
>
>
> On 22 December 2011 07:23, David Bircumshaw <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> It could be Celan's poem, which I think is translated as 'A tree,
>> leafless' (for Bertolt Brecht) - I'm quoting from memory - come in between,
>> or at least that the Rich piece is strongly suggested by the Celan. I don't
>> know, though, the date of the Rich poem ,and of course it might precede the
>> Celan, which was about '66 or '67.
>>
>>
>> On 22 December 2011 00:50, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> The Adrienne Rich poem is quoted in a psychotherapy conference paper my
>>> wife
>>> has been reading, and the paper-giver connects it with the earlier
>>> Brecht poem.
>>> I hope it's a good translation of the Brecht - I haven't even got a name
>>> for the
>>> translator.
>>>
>>>
>>> To Those Born After
>>> by Bertolt Brecht
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I
>>>
>>> To the cities I came in a time of disorder
>>> That was ruled by hunger.
>>> I sheltered with the people in a time of uproar
>>> And then I joined in their rebellion.
>>> That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.
>>>
>>> I ate my dinners between the battles,
>>> I lay down to sleep among the murderers,
>>> I didn't care for much for love
>>> And for nature's beauties I had little patience.
>>> That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.
>>>
>>> The city streets all led to foul swamps in my time,
>>> My speech betrayed me to the butchers.
>>> I could do only little
>>> But without me those that ruled could not sleep so easily:
>>> That's what I hoped.
>>> That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.
>>>
>>> Our forces were slight and small,
>>> Our goal lay in the far distance
>>> Clearly in our sights,
>>> If for me myself beyond my reaching.
>>> That's how I passed my time that was given to me on this Earth.
>>>
>>> II
>>>
>>> You who will come to the surface
>>> From the flood that's overwhelmed us and drowned us all
>>> Must think, when you speak of our weakness in times of darkness
>>> That you've not had to face:
>>>
>>> Days when we were used to changing countries
>>> More often than shoes,
>>> Through the war of the classes despairing
>>> That there was only injustice and no outrage.
>>>
>>> Even so we realised
>>> Hatred of oppression still distorts the features,
>>> Anger at injustice still makes voices raised and ugly.
>>> Oh we, who wished to lay for the foundations for peace and friendliness,
>>> Could never be friendly ourselves.
>>>
>>> And in the future when no longer
>>> Do human beings still treat themselves as animals,
>>> Look back on us with indulgence.
>>>
>>>
>>> What Kind of Times Are These
>>> by ADRIENNE RICH
>>>
>>> There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
>>> and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
>>> near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
>>> who disappeared into those shadows.
>>>
>>> I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be
>>> fooled
>>> this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
>>> our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
>>> its own ways of making people disappear.
>>>
>>> I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
>>> meeting the unmarked strip of light—
>>> ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
>>> I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.
>>>
>>> And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you
>>> anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these
>>> to have you listen at all, it's necessary
>>> to talk about trees.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> This email was sent from Netspace Webmail: http://www.netspace.net.au
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> David Joseph Bircumshaw
>> "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe
>> is that none of it has tried to contact us."
>> - Calvin & Hobbes
>> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
>> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
>> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
>> twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
>> blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> David Joseph Bircumshaw
> "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
> that none of it has tried to contact us."
> - Calvin & Hobbes
> Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
> twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
> blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
>
--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is
that none of it has tried to contact us."
- Calvin & Hobbes
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
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