Kathrin Schmidt

Kathrin Schmidt Poems

nobody can stand here anymore with a gun where the
borderlines fall together
and there is no in-between, and no word is tinted by another
...

a sisterly kiss as we crossed the threshold: real names
were left at the door in a linen gym bag and forgotten
between Phys Ed and lunch.
leathered necks, girlish natures - someone welded
...

The guards lolled in silence at the entrance
while inside, a fan chopped up the displays' rank and serial numbers
and green uniforms melted through their glass cabinets
and stepped - blinding like a swarm -
...

we wanted to escape our stranded dolphin parents
but were wary of strangers
butterflies still sat
on our shoulders when we drew under the table
...

the firedoor shuts its singing metal behind you
you don't know if it can keep your flat
or your keyed-up kids
latched
...

We raced along jiggling like a bright bag of sweets
our eyes following the hills that slipped into focus
our fingers on the lens split the image automatically
...

Kathrin Schmidt Biography

Kathrin Schmidt (born 12 March 1958 in Gotha), is a German writer. She is known both for her poetry and prose. Kathrin Schmidt grew up in Gotha and from 1964 in Waltershausen . After her Abitur she studied psychology at the University of Jena from 1976 to 1981 . After completing her studies ( diploma ), she worked as a research assistant at the University of Leipzig from 1981 to 1982 , then as a child psychologist at the Kreiskrankenhaus Rüdersdorf and at the Kinder-und-Jugend-Gesundheitschutz Berlin-Marzahn .)

The Best Poem Of Kathrin Schmidt

Nobody can stand here anymore

nobody can stand here anymore with a gun where the
borderlines fall together
and there is no in-between, and no word is tinted by another

but he has to stand there colouring words
and open up a space between the lines for a watchtower,
a night vision device, a long sigh, with a gun

that isn't his, that he can't practise unsupervised,
with no one to take him between the legs, between the arms, between
the lines - they'd just have to do without him for a while

and his flowering badge and his wiped rags until he wouldn't even know
where his gun ends but the shot he lets fire
covers up his breach of the rule that here in the place where two lines meet

there can be no space

translated by Gig Ryan

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