new from above/ground press: Fragments of a Mirrored-Voice For a Friend, by Alexander Hammond Benedict

Fragments of a Mirrored-Voice For a Friend
Alexander Hammond Benedict
$5

 Ich habe Tote, und ich ließ sie hin
 und war erstaunt, sie so getrost zu sehn,
 so rasch zuhaus im Totsein, so gerecht,
 so anders als ihr Ruf. Nur du, du kehrst
 zurück; du streifst mich, du gehst um, du willst
 an etwas stoßen, daß es klingt von dir
 und dich verrӓt. O nimm mir nicht, was ich
 langsam erlern. Ich habe recht; du irrst
 wenn du gerührt zu irgendeinem Ding
 ein Heimweh hast. Wir wandeln dieses um;
 aus unserm Sein, sobald wir es erkennen.

 I carry the dead, and I let them go
 and was surprised to see them so confident,
 so soon at home in death, so satisfied,
 so unlike their reputation. Only you, you turn
 back; you brush me, you skirt by, you want
 to bump against something, so that it sounds of yourself
 and betrays you. Oh, don’t take from me what I
 am slowly learning. I am sure; you wander
 when you are moved toward any one thing
 out of homesickness. We transform this;
 from within our being as soon as we recognize it.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
October 2024
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Raised in the Cuyahoga Valley, alex nested in the Cleveland area and cleans ink off the massive cylinders of offset printers for a living. He runs betweenthehighway press (betweenthehighway.org) and is currently writing a biography on d.a. levy.

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