Annette C. Boehm

Translator’s Note

The nature of this piece—a poem constructed from language found in an outdated school book—was both a challenge and a pleasure to try to translate from one language to another. The formal register is at odds with the increasing sense of puzzlement. While in German, compound nouns (Zahnvögel, Steigenlassen, Sonnenwärme) are perfectly natural-sounding, a literal translation would have introduced an exaggerated strangeness to the poem in English, distracting from the subtle tension between tone and content.

(Toothed Birds).

They form
sounds that one cannot
call song,
short, mostly monosyllabic and faint.
not always easy to identify
in their own, consistent way.

Why
carry to height
(cf. the flying of paper kites!).
such an understanding
To capture the actual
warmth of the sun
above hot sand plains, etc.)

(Zahnvögel).

Sie bilden
Laute, die man nicht als
Gesang bezeichnen kann,
kurz, meist einsilbig, und klangarm.
nicht immer sicher zu erkennen
auf ihre eigene, stets gleiche Weise.

Warum
in die Höhe tragen
(vgl. das Steigenlassen von Papierdrachen!).
solche Verständigung
Um die eigentliche
Sonnenwärme einzufangen,
über heißen Sandflächen usw.)