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Sport 40: 2012

[Untitled]

[Untitled]

this is the spot where luck trickles away. only that
will be saved that is written in the index of the sea,
in the strata of woods silted in sand: to find hag stones brings
luck!! not finding hags, not finding dead old birds, finding holes
perhaps, not the search for new GODS. just finding hags,
stones and amber, the bloodletting of ancient trees, only
inclusions of our whispering dreams are never to be found.
no more crowns in the silt, no lizards, and no inkling of wind.

Translator’s note: The German ‘Hühnergott’ refers to what are called hag stones, witch stones, serpent’s eggs, or snake’s eggs in England, adderstanes in the south of Scotland and Gloine nan Druidh (‘Druids’ glass’ in Scottish Gaelic) in the north: that is a stone with a natural hole right through. The German, literally ‘hen god’, bears the trace of when such stones were thought of as talismans to keep the domestic poultry safe from spirits.
From Streumen © Connewitzer Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2011. English translations © Karen Leeder,2012.