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hopes on the frost
shortage of potato
shortage of coal
rationed goods from one particular shop
the tomcat has all the meat
the Party arranges the tenant for the house
the moving out of the house a death sentence
hypotheses about Russia Finland Sweden
everything remains in the dark
English renaissance planes entering Germany from Holland
the waiting gets harder each day
meat and foodstuffs coupons taken away
more work on the Curriculum
the war makes no progress before spring
the heavy frost
inactivity in the West
everything unchanged
every day
prison sentences for listening to enemy broadcasts
the Führer speaks combatively
subversive poison
of lies
the frost abated
food shortage more serious
all the world curses and complains
the riddle: the mood of the people
whom do I see
whom do I listen to
fewer coupons than Comrades of the People
fearful help from women and men
apart from cooking little reading aloud
all day every day the pressure: what is going to happen?
Volunteer Metal Donation
decree: no crime against the Great German War of Liberation
pious speech from Hitler
new belief in Providence
compulsively
house rent out from June the first
compulsively
new house still unsettled
dismal situation:
meeting with emigration adviser of the Jewish Community
result less than zero: must get out - no possibility
American-Jewish committees support only observant Jews
occupation of Denmark and Norway
small Winter Aid
English newspaper headline: Israel arise!
new start perhaps on the Baltic
the house rented out for two years
arranged through NSDAP headquarters
extortion and instrument of future harassment
extortion
overcome by fear
utter uncertainty
constant trips to the Jewish Community
two rooms settled after rage after rage
helpless and without rights
German victories over the English in Norway
latest cutback in foodstuffs: cake will be provided against bread coupons
question marks on big German victory
the new landlord likes animals
and no objection to Muschel
a teller at a bank to a messenger:
we’ll put the Jews where we can make use of them
out and about for hours
bank and Community then moving company
tomorrow to Land Registry
no one will help no one could help
a great deal of reading aloud
no word from Georg since April 1939
message in a bottle
internal crisis looming
protest attacks
harmless bombs at the TU Dresden: broken windowpanes
a new group a new motto:
Everything for Germany, Nothing for Hitler
the decisive Blitzkrieg the latest catchphrase
gobbling up of Europe
illegal deals going on everywhere
is it sustainable in the long term
Montesquieu philosophy on history:
the republic would have fallen, even if Caesar had not crossed the Rubicon
fearful invincible
halo of the Führer
gloomy wedding anniversary
initial successes of Liege, Northern Holland
lightning victory and counterattack
language tertii imperii
every day the French collapse
the chaos of the move
ravaging the past
only Uhu left: a freer time and spirit of Eighteenth Century
paper from the time of war and revolution
incomprehensible course of events
future destroyed
principle activity of the day: burning and then burning
and burning for hours on end
heaps of letters and manuscripts
French defeat a catastrophe
latest propaganda tenet: the true military genius is our Führer
will miracle happen
will deliverance come
modern villa stuffed full
of people of the same fate
meadows and fields behind strips of trees and gardens
an abundance of lilac chestnut blossom
spring in all its forms
Dresden at its best
proper wash for the last time
after that day and night in the same sweaty shirt
teeth not brushed or shaved once in città
Jews now allowed out until nine
which way will the war go
alternating hope and hopelessness
Zionism equated with Hitlerism
since the move heavy sultry heat
amid chaos and dreary standing around
a little bit of strength
the cat its box its imprisonment
again and again hopes and rumors
and secret news
a few gaps in the chaos
a few boxes in the cellar
still a wasteland
restless
every day a torment
superior concentration camp
Italy in the war since yesterday
coup-de-grâce for England-France
sancta simplicitas everywhere
American intervention appears probable
nowhere in the house to shave
reading aloud impossible
on language: the ruthless lightning fast change of tone
a flower box for the balcony a couple flowerpots
the expression Bolshevism no longer exits
in the paper:
the war criminals – liberated Europe—the young nations—France ruined by England
comrades of the people comrades of the people
new prohibition of Jews:
no entry to the Great Garden and other parks
every animal is more free and has more protection from the law
eight-year sentence for moral traitors who listen to foreign broadcasting stations
whole families in prison
the J will be the alibi
short walks after evening meal
use of the minutes until nine on the dot
the cat is still alive still alive
skeptical of big ideas
fatherland national honor heroism
general feature of growing old
her birthday flowers and wine
a trip on the Elbe
the truth—completely collapsed
before a corpse is cold the Jewish Community already has hands on things
Jewish clothing in the Third Reich
headlines: England throws itself into the abyss
final expulsion from the house in Dölzschen
poor poor food
many eggs from Denmark
East Prussia crowed with troops
tomorrow or the day after
a new beginning to writing
changing moods in the house
fraying nerves in ghastly situations
new notice: no telephones for Jews
latest Slogan: our Führer -“Creator of a New Europe”
Polish Jews wear Zion armbands and are forced to labor
the Jews are to blame for the war
the Jews are to blame for the war
mixed race soldiers no longer at the front
mixed children no longer admitted to secondary schools
everything points to a constant worsening of the situation for Jews
air raid shelter every night
destruction and dead everywhere
for weeks autumn weather with wind and rain and cold
everything an undifferentiated viscous endlessness
first air raid warning in Dresden
she smokes a cigarette before going out to the street
the never-ending rain
the already poor harvest the endangered potatoes
the insoluble riddle: the mood of the populace
after years of gardening her foot improves
the long walk
always nearby to the southwest
always a village nucleus with handsome farmhouses old manor and porches
limited shopping hours
no support no hope around
absolutely alone
everyday the rumors and the new torments
confiscation of Jewish sewing machines and typewriters
yellow armbands for the Jews
no thinking beyond tomorrow
bombings in Berlin
triumph and fear alternating in the Jews House
the mood and the conversations the same every day
the nuances change by night
days getting shorter
irritating early darkness
house arrest after eight again
long walks in the afternoon
the only thing she has the only thing she has
terrible isolation
who wishes whom freedom
walks in the Lockwitzgrund
the brilliant autumn colors
depreciation of the superlatives
new coercive measures in judaeos: no use of lending libraries
no contact between the populace and the critical minds
fourth air raid warning in Dresden
six hundred thousand people have got no sleep
no real coffee for a full year
the German roof has to be built
last reserve melting away
two days of snowfall
front muck awful roads
cold with shortage of coal
brutal evacuation of Jews from Württemberg
expelled naked and empty handed at two hours notice
possible move to Berlin where there is more freedom
best not to tempt fate
destruction threatens everywhere
more air raid warnings in Dresden
the bad weather the early dark
the shivering in the unheated apartment
the terribly meager food
her declining power of resistance
not a note played in the house
hardly a book and no newspaper opened
the whole world wants to move to Berlin
the whole Jewish world wants to move to Berlin
pubic Jew-baiting on the rise
film propaganda Jud Süss and the Eternal Jew
along the promenade of Teplitzer Strasse
the Romantic: the darkness, the lights, the moon, the open fields
lingua tertii imperii: the Jew, the Englishman
nothing but collectives no individual counts
hanging details of everyday life
severe frost for days
chilblains on the fingers chapped hands and feet
when the moon shines they eat out shriving through the evening
new intensification of Jewish harassment:
after eight confined in the apartment no visit with other residents of the house
no lingering in the entrance hall or on the stairs
will the day come
Language of the Third Reich
superman and subhuman
language tertii imperii:
Hilter New Year Order of the Day: Victories of Unparalleled Dimensions
American superlatives:
the year of 1941 will see the accomplishment of the greatest victory in our history
the year of summer rambles
hearing the stars he walks out of the new apartment that they share with a friendly old lady whose mouth cannot stop spitting loneliness in their faces until everything becomes a cauliflower in the ear now the night is falling now the curfew at eight is on the walk before total nightfall becomes the only joy in a day full of worry for a future in a fog he stares into the night sky as it brightens in winter a streak of translucent blue seeps on the black canvas of the sky which almost feels like hope he is staring at the sky waiting for the moon dust to gather when the dust gathers into a full moon he would collect his courage to strut out past eight now he sneaks by fences of the Great Garden where stiff branches jar on northern winds he thinks about his childhood Berlin and how his brothers and their achievements hung on him so he went breathless away to the provinces to the far lands where another language was spoken where he could walk into another century which fit his sensibility better the freshness of the eighteenth century France so close the weight of the fatherland so distant now he has no means to move away now he thinks how he should stick until the brittle and bitter end what is the worst to come before this thick shield of untouchable blackness a sheen of translucent air slowly gathers on the heated blackness of the sky a fog seems to rise like hands around the blackness he feels for the neck his own the neck longing bends and the head reaches forward before the whole body falls into the enveloping black air he wonders what happens after the trains unload and the people gone like flowers like flowers long gone in winter that no one notices in the house it is cold no heat she sleeps with her back to the world no note strikes the old piano which now holds a sheen of gray dust from afar it almost looks like a puddle of gray hair that whitens in the pooling of days where everything goes under where air strikes so frequent there is nowhere to hide nowhere to eat a warm meal nowhere to warm the shuddering hearts he has not looked into her eyes since they moved to this new apartment the night glitters in the wind as the moon dust gathers near and reluctantly to a circle he blows breath onto his palms and the palms rub back and forth as he blows breath into the chill air as the breath fogs a puff of black air excerpt for breath there is no curved forms in winter unlike spring when willows wave on the slender branches and tease their reflections in the water in winter all the images are sharpened to an edge to a point like the point of a knife shining like bayonets ready to pierce flesh and bone like his hand out in the darkness pointing to the dust faintly forming into a moon shape out of the blue comes a flying curve in the low sky branches hit on each other a tremolo of wind as a sound falls through he sees a cat he calls out Muschel Muschel Muschel though Muschel is home and cannot leave the apartment he runs after the cat a rivulet of white breath piercing the cloak of darkness he hears his breath a halo of fog radiates before his face and disperses as his face goes into the eye of the fog and his hands are swimming forward a paw on the solid ground another paw in the grass the cat in the swishing blackness breathlessly a shudder in his heart as if a heavy note falls on her piano keyboard as if she brawls from the bed as if something plunges into the abyss of a gloomy winter that takes them out of house and then out of the precious heart he trespasses into the Great Garden and under the brittle canopy of evergreens he hums the first note of a Schubert lied then the note gathers heart then the note rips out of the suffocating grave of dust and the enveloping blackness gives away to a full moon dusting as he looks through the brittle canopy as he looks forward to the quiet rising of the moon and his hands stretch out toward its brilliance as his fingers curve the moon shape before his eyes specks of dust are still gathering toward the moon and he smoothes his hands on the night face specks of chill sucks a swoon of heat in his face as he closes his eyes whose lids ashen like stars that his hands are about to touch
Dong Li was born and raised in P.R. China. His honors include fellowships from German Chancellery-Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Akademie Schloss Solitude, PEN/Heim Translation Fund, Yaddo and elsewhere. He has poems in Kenyon Review, Conjunctions, Cincinnati Review and others. His work has been translated into German and appeared in manuskripte (Austria) and Neue Rundschau (Germany).
This originally appeared on November 5, 2017