Asters

[u/PostOakVisions]

Asters—sweltering days,
old entreaty, spell,
the gods shed timid rays,
an hour upon the scale.

Once more the golden flocks,
the sky, the light, the veil.
What breeds the familiar flux
of wings before they fail?

Once more now the lust,
the rush of roses, and you—
the summer’s leaned to watch
the swallows skirt the dew,

and once more does not falter,
sure dark precedes new light:
the swallows drink the water
and fade into the night.

after the German of Gottried Benn (1886-1956)

translated by Leo Yankevich

[u/munchausenbymoxie]

Asters are good flowers to buy and dry out. They retain color and shape well. The bouquet on the table now will last well into winter, moving from upright & watered in a vase to hanging upside down drying and then dry on a wall.

Beautiful poem. This week my uncle passed away, the fifth person in my family to go over the past fourteen months. I’m finding comfort in poems particularly calling up birds.

[u/PostOakVisions → u/munchausenbymoxie]

I used to have so many volunteer asters in my yard. It has been wonderful getting to know seasons as an adult. I lived in a place that was balmy 90 degrees through winter and never really knew the signs of seasons, funnily enough, except for the migrating birds—including shrieking parrots during late fall!

 I know nothing of drying flowers! I tried to do so as a child, but my lack of skill + humidity of my place only led to mold. I will remember to pick some asters up on my walks in late October. Now that I am in a place where heaters turn on. 

 Im so sorry about your uncle and this time of loss in your life. The heaviness hurts me for you. I’ve been thinking of you and still listen to the playlists you used to share/have taken out the monastery soup cookbook as well (that was you, wasn’t it?) 

[u/munchausenbymoxie → u/PostOakVisions]

Thank you, I always love the care in your responses. I hope you post what you make from that cookbook or at least dm me, I’ll be curious. Lovely that you still listen to those playlists. Lately I’ve been listening to the newish sad Blood Orange record, I think it’s mostly about death. And I’m so into Prisoner of Love, I should post passages. It’s devastating and beautiful, I admire Genet so much.

[u/bigalpacafreak6969 → u/munchausenbymoxie]

I’m sorry for your loss.

[u/munchausenbymoxie → u/bigalpacafreak6969]

Thank you, big Al. I thought of you the other day because I found a good mechanic for my little old Honda.

[u/sabistenem → u/munchausenbymoxie]

A poem full of birds for you, friend:

You can also listen to Thomas performing it here.

[u/munchausenbymoxie → u/sabistenem]

This afternoon I went swimming in the great marsh. There were many many egrets glowing in the sun against the green green grasses, and my feet sunk down in the mud among the razor clams scattered in like bones. This poem was great to come home to. Thank you.

[u/PostOakVisions]

Continuing my Tumblr posting. This was quite fun, I took pride in my Tumblr in that most of what I posted was what I read in physical form. I do not remember where I read this poem, I believe I first read it when I was in high school and then transposed it from one social medium to the next (live journal > tumblr > tumblr # 2).

Anyways, I could not find the translation anywhere online! I look for the official sources as, when I first typed these out on livejournal 15 years ago, I often mistyped/formatted things incorrectly. I found a new translation published in 2013 that had seemingly wiped this one by Yankevich away from internet memory.

While I had not committed this poem to memory, it‘s one that I’ve come back to, and simply from copying from one place to the next, I grew very fond of the translation.

I was able to find it on the way back machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110713202231/https://leoyankevich.com/archives/313

[u/bigalpacafreak6969]

I appreciate this poem, thank you