5-minute Poem: Schlachtensee

Schlachtensee

shh-lack-ten-zee/sch-lach-ten-see/ˈʃˈlækˈtɛnˈziː

there were peaceful moments there when you felt the whole city had melted away - sun shining constant - and the trip had made it all the better - travelling by train makes the pace rattle and soothe -
"your head has time to adjust to the new location"
- and this, a place only a few miles outside of the capital city of one of the industrial powerhouses of the world, whether or not the industry is decayed block techno squats
- and this a place where the midges stand in a halo, the nonstop sun is reflected and refracted through pines and that water
- you sink into sediment -
space is granted to you alone, even as you pass other bathers,
even as you know you'll return to the sausage and chips/the bar benches and beer
even though the train station waits at the end of the swim-reading-nude day
ach du scheiße: Guernsey discovers nudism in Germany
- on this point a moment, forgive me: a statuesque woman, who looks like she's hiked halfway across the country, small dog in tow, stops just short of the path and strips off completely before plunging into the cold water - is this why I remember Schlachtensee?

I Want to Move Everywhere

I want to move everywhere and when I see a job post advertising a position in Nanjing, that is suddenly my next destination. When I get an inkling that there could be a life for me in Central Africa, I have an uncontrollable urge to go there. This is a ridiculous urge. I want to tear across the sky at great speed, I want to move over the Earth like a plague of locusts. I will rip up the ground with my beating feet and seep into the cracked earth.
I will flood out whole riverbeds
I will be a rolling drop of water on a leaf washed down a waterfall
I will be a moment that cannot be captured
I will be dead for a thousand million years
Let me live first

148 - Biking in Berlin

You ride through the whole city like a bird, but pushing, so a fish maybe. The odd scare is easily handled. The bike stays under you like a friend you're so comfortable with that you never bump, you never disagree beyond some playful or sincere interaction, you just glide together. Round corners you swoop. There's always room to manoeuvre. The occasional incursion onto the cycle-path by a pedestrian who's looking the other way, or a man loading his lorry from a trailer, these you can factor in. You can move round, you can flow with the flow.

You ride across the city, burning your mouth and burning your back and burning your legs. You are burned when you arrive, but this is a satisfying burn. Warmth is yours.

The many streets and the many footpaths all happen all the time. They never cease. A million foot-passengers embark on a million journeys. They go in every direction. You see this and take part in this. You are on the wind, even as it picks up leaves to take past you, or lifts your shirt in time with the rising and falling of the pavements and bridges.

You are everywhere. Always in motion. Many more like you ride all over. You began at your desk, in front of the computer. You end again, having flown across the city and back, back at your desk, in front of your computer.

142 - At the Lake

You can dip your toes in
And the world of water accepts your toe
A moving dreamland spreads out under you
The entwining plates of dark and light waters
Are poor for the pocket
If you are rich, you are only rich in the water
Naked, passing through the underworld
Take slow strokes
So you don't disturb the depth of darkness

138 - Even by Ostkreuz

Even here, a hundred thousand thoughts hold me siege
I take pleasure from cooking while you sleep
You seem to need more than the average amount
Perhaps this is the key
I cannot rest
Even as ideas back up round my ears
Tied tight round the temples, this summer lets no escape
Though this is the happiest of all possible worlds
Food satisfies, activity brings peace
Distraction surrounds your attempts to climb
We're lucky round here
You can see the moon, even in the city

91 - You Dressed Me

In the morning you dressed me
So I raised my arms and imitated a child
You were in your birthday suit

There’s only so close you can get
Your room is an Eden beloved for its impurity
I linger before leaving to breathe beside you


Someone mentioned that Google Documents is to be retired at the beginning of July. This reminded me that I used to use it all the time, when I needed to scribble something down, or when I was doing a job for someone. Looking back through old documents on there for the first time in ages, I found dozens of pieces of writing that I'd forgotten about, such as the one above, a scrap of poetry that I wrote after leaving my then girlfriend's house on a happy morning.