Ostend Poem by Erik Lindner

1.
A bone lies in the sand
of an island that doesn't stand still

the form is fixed
the history of the wind
the thrust of marrow and stone

the wind gets lost at sea
no wave has the same dimensions

sand colours red in the sun
on the race track where dust blows up
and the hooves the same rhythms pound
the hooves sand to fragments pound

across an island the wind roams
and reworks its previous prints
the marrow stone of the beach,
the race track on the coast
the rain in the sea.


2.
The sea is the size of the wind
and overflows onto the marrow stone
worked by the wind for the sea

stones are invisible to the sea

a sandpiper walks past the wind
and with its steps counts
the loose particles of sand

and the tops of the waves blown off
and the flakes of the wind flown off

rolling creeping shifting pieces
of an island still for a moment
on the edge of the sea

the sand thrusts the marrow
hooves crush the stones
the sea bears the bone to the shore
the sand cools off in the wind

flakes measure the size
of a temporary island created
beneath the steps of the sandpiper

outside the wind
above the sea

Translated by Paul Vincent