[Gisèle Celan-Lestrange: Etching]
Reading these letters doubled with poems is also to delimit the space where Celan habitually deployed his language, and which he referred to – not entirely seriously – as his “Celanie”: the Rue des Ecoles, the Rue de Lota, the Rue de Montevideo, the Rue de Longchamp, the Rue d’Ulm, the Rue Cabanis (Faculty Clinic, Saint-Anne), the Rue Tournefort and Avenue Émile Zola …
– Bertrand Badiou, “Notice Editoriale”. In Paul Celan & Gisèle Celan-Lestrange. Correspondance (1951-1970). 2 vols. Librairie du XXIe siècle (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2001): 2: 10.
[Cover design: Ellen Portch / Cover image: Emma Smith]
Celanie:
Poems & Drawings after Paul Celan
by Jack Ross & Emma Smith
Afterword by Bronwyn Lloyd
[Celanie: Poems & Drawings after Paul Celan. Poems by Jack Ross & Drawings by Emma Smith. Introduction by Jack Ross. Afterword by Bronwyn Lloyd. ISBN: 978-0-473-22484-4. Pania Samplers, 3. Auckland: Pania Press, 2012. 168 pp.]
Contents:
Key:Title[date of composition][Letter number](date of translation)
-
I: STEHEN [1952-1965]:
- Maïa[7/1/52][5](9/3-11/4/10)
- The sun’s[1952][22](9/3-29/4/10)
- I heard[Autumn 1952][23](9/3-2/11/10)
- Already[30/3/54][37](9/3-11/4/10)
- Islandward[22/6/54][42](5/3-11/4/10)
- The Beach at Toulinguet[Autumn 1954][43](9/3-25/4/10)
- You[20/11/54][44](5/3-10/4/10)
- So[7/4/55][58](9/3-29/4/10)
- Matter of Britain[13/8/57][83](9/3-29/4/10)
- The word[5/3/59 – 21/11/65][106 / 302](9/3-29/4/10)
- Heart (for René Char[6/1/60][114](9/3-11/4/10)
- Hard[15/12/60][130](27/3-23/5/10)
- A Thieves’ & Beggars’ Ballad[2/61][133](27/1-7/8/11)
- The bright[10/7/61][138](5/3-9/6/10)
- The buzzard’s[21/10/62 – 19/3/63] [153 / 175](9/3/10-27/1-6/8/11)
- This[3/11/62][158](5/3/10-7/8/11)
- Thinking[24/10/63][176](27/1-9/8/11)
- Hourglass[4/6/64][184](5/3/10-27/1-9/8/11)
- Those[January 1965][212](27/1-12/8/11)
- & our son[6/5/65][221](27/1-12/8/11)
- A roar[7/5/65][222](27/1-12/8/11)
- Souvenir of D.[10/5/65][231](27/1-14/8/11)
- Give the Word[14/5/65][236](5/3/10-27/1-14/8/11)
- Bowls[9/5/65][236](9/3/10-27/1-14/8/11)
- Banners[4/8/65][253](27/1-14/8/11)
- Rest[18/8/65][264](27/1-17/8/11)
- Come[7/9/65][275](25/9/11)
- Chance[24/9/65][282](27/1-17/8/11)
- The ounce[25/10/65][296](5/3/10-27/1-17/8/11)
- Noisy[26/10/65][300](27/1-23/8/11)
- Depths[25/2-2/3/66][359](5/3/10-27/1-23/8/11)
- Molten gold[28/2/66][359](27/1-23/8/11)
- Hewed stone[17/3/66][373](5/3/10-27/1-6/10/11)
- Suffocating[20/3/66][376](27/1-24/8/11)
- Spiky[21/3/66][379](27/1-24/8/11)
- Underrun[26/3/66][382](27/1-26/8/11)
- Shame[26/3/66][383](17/1/10-27/1-26/8/11)
- Above our heads[28/3/66][386](5/3-25/4/10)
- Are[28/3/66][386](5/3-25/4/10)
- Dauntless[29/3/66][388](5/3/10-28/1-26/8/11)
- After abandoning[30/3/66][389](28/1-31/8/11)
- Irruption[31/3/66][391](28/1-31/8/11)
- True as a scar[26/3/66][396](5/3/10-28/1-31/8/11)
- Thoughtless[4/4/66][398](28/1-31/8/11)
- Rope[6/4 – 17/4/66][401 / 408](28/1-1/9/11)
- By ice fire[7/4/66][402](28/1-4/9/11)
- Forced to come down[7/4/66][403](4/5/10-28/1-4/9/11)
- & if[8/4/66][404](28/1-4/9/11)
- Torchsong[9/4/66][405](28/1-6/9/11)
- Mit uns[16/4/66][409](28/1-6/9/11)
- Wilderness[22/4/66][412](5/3/10-28/1-7/9/11)
- I'm writing down[23/4/66][415](5/3-25/4/10)
- Sacrificial troughs[27/4/66][421](28/1-9/9/11)
- Devastations?[1/5/66][424](11-3/10-28/1-9/9/11)
- Whistled up[2/5/66][428](11/3/10-28/1-10/9/11)
- My Dear[2/5/66][429](28/1-10/9/11)
- Bouts of sleep[13/6/66][455](28/1-10/9/11)
- Arrow-sister[24/5/67][508](28/1-12/9/11)
- Paired, by the Brâncuşi[4/8/67][540](28/1-12/9/11)
- Tow-barge[3/12/67][595](28/1-13/9/11)
- Lilac air[23/12/67][595](28/1-13/9/11)
- Gravediggers[25/12/67][595](28/1-13/9/11)
- Year opening[2/1/68][595](28/1-13/9/11)
- This world’s[5/1/68][595](28/1-13/9/11)
- What’s stitched[10/1/68][597](28/1-14/9/11)
- [i]Relics of hearing[9/6/67][599](27/3/10-28/1-16/9/11)
- [ii]Night rode him[9-10-11/6-10/9/67][599](27/3/10-28/1-16/9/11)
- [iii]Shoals of mussels[14/6/67][599](27/3/10-28/1-17/9/11)
- [iv]Weighed[15/6/67][599](27/3/10-28/1-17/9/11)
- [v]Studded[16/6/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
- [vi]Gone[20/6/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
- [vii]Already we lay[24/6/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
- [viii]Mines[27-28/6/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
- [ix]Who[1/7/67][599](11/3-11/4/10)
- [x]Loaded[5/7/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
- [xi]Green light[8/7/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
- [xii]Beacon-[8/7/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
- [xiii]Adjusted[17/7/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
- [xiv]That[17/7/67][599](11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
- Creeping weed[25/2/69][639](11/3/10-28/1-20/9/11)
- Hateful moons[21/3/69][642](11/3/10-1/2-20/9/11)
- In[29/3/69][643](11/3-25/4/10)
- Kew Gardens[6/4/69][648](11/3-25/4/10)
- Gold[12/4/69][649](27/3/10-28/1-20/9/11)
- The world[21/4/69][651](11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
- I see you[4-5/5/69][653](11/3-25/4/10)
- Above[9/5/69][654](11/3-25/4/10)
- There[13/12/69][670](11/3-11/4/10)
- Leave[24/6/67][676](8/2-25/4/10)
II: IMMER [1966]:
III: LE PONT DES ANNÉES [1967-1969]:
[Black Toll]:
Poser [1967]:
I
Stehen
[1952-1965]
I accept
________
I resist
________
I refuse
– Paul Celan (8/6/1961)
•
Maïa
I have the impression
coming towards you
of leaving a world behind
hearing doors slam
door after door
doors of misunderstanding
false clarity
mischance
Perhaps there are far more doors to come
perhaps I haven’t yet crossed
this field of signs
that baffle me
but I am coming
can’t you hear me?
The beat picks up
the lights go out
one after another
the lying mouths
choke on their bile
no more words
no sound
but the pad of my feet
I’ll be there soon
be there with you
in the moment that begins
all time
[7/1/52]
[5]
(9/3-11/4/10)
“Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
•
The sun's
not always
written on your forehead
wakening the rose
from the waste
ground
Sometimes you see
across the sand
the soul
who sees your sea
[Paris, 1952]
[22]
(9/3-29/4/10)
•
I heard
of a stone and a cross
in the water
and over the cross a word
binding the stone
I saw my poplar tree go down into the water
I saw how its branches gripped the bank
I saw how its roots reached up to beg for night
I did not go in after them
I collected these crumbs
like bloody eyes
I fastened these words around your neck
and set the table where the crumbs lie scattered
I did not see my tree again
[Paris, Autumn 1952]
[23]
(9/3-2/11/10)
•
Already
I have returned a little
one more long week
and I’ll be there
here I’m already
there
with you
Now say my name
out loud
and I’ll say yours
[30/3/54]
[37]
(9/3-11/4/10)
“Project Books.” Mosehouse Studio (16/4/10).
•
Islandward
among the dead
bonded to your outrigger
arms tanned black
soul turned to stone
friends and strangers
tundra-folk
row through bell buoys
skirt sharkblue surf
row row row
dead swimmers follow
piercing their threadbare nets
tomorrow the sea
will turn to dust
[22/6/54]
[42]
(5/3-11/4/10)
“Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
•
The Beach at Toulinguet
What we saw is coming now
to say goodbye to you and me
the seawhich tossed our nights together
the sandwhich blew them back
againthe rust-red heather
under us
[Autumn 1954]
[43]
(9/3-25/4/10)
•
You
would be light and a swimmer
in the dark, the drunken sea
so give him this drop to drink
the mirror of your dreams
the wine of the soul in your eyes
Darker your sea now, drunken
teeming with dolphins and sharks
Light would you be and a bird
There’s nothing above that’s not here
[Paris, 20/11/54]
[44]
(5/3-10/4/10)
•
So
I turn myself
like stone
to you above
Two creases
on my forehead
hollowed out
by driven sand
inside me
dark
criss-crossed
by blows
the place of the eye
behind
on the wall
the theatre
of memory
a voice
a drunken voice
looms up
behind us
masked by night
[7/4/55]
[58]
(9/3-29/4/10)
•
Matter of Britain
Gorselight, yellow, slopes
against the skyThorn
disinfects your woundsRing
out, it’s eveningNothing
crosses the sea to pray
The bloodred sheet sets sail for you
Arid, dried-out, bed
behind youScar-
invadedStar-
embossedmilky inlets
in the vaseDate
stones underneath, furred blue
tufts of forgetfulness
your memory
(Do you know me
hands? I went
by the forked route you showed
me, my mouth spat pebbles, I walked
through snowdrifts, shadow – do you know me?)
Hands, the thorn-
burnt wound rings out
Hands, nothing, the sea
Hands, in the gorse-light
the bloody sheet
sets sail for you
You
you teach
your teach your hands
you teach your hands, you teach
you teach your hands
to sleep
[13/8/57]
[83]
(9/3-29/4/10)
“Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
“Channeling Paul Celan.” Rabbit 5: The Rare Issue (Winter 2012): 118-31.
•
The word
goes deep
we read it
the yearswords since
still that
you knowthat space is infinite
you knowyou don’t have to fly
you knowwhat’s written in your eye
goes deep enough for me
[5/3/59]
[106]
(9/3-29/4/10)
•
Heart
(for René Char)
The times are against us
we who dare to act alive
the antihuman
shadows us
dead – living / living – dead
no sky above
the sacred earth
uncomforting
no consolation
nothing to say
our thoughts are teeth
one word alone
inscribes itself
[6/1/60]
[114]
(9/3-11/4/10)
“Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
•
Hard
heavyschwer
like your years
of being here
with me
schwer my love hard
difficult as this
then outside
in the dark
another test
three times
oncetwiceagain
three times
hard harder hardest
You
never put
on a mask
with me
[15/12/60]
written in Paris,
transcribed in Montana, 23rd December
on the “Bridge of Years”, waiting for you
& your white lilies
transcribed in Montana, 23rd December
on the “Bridge of Years”, waiting for you
& your white lilies
[130]
(27/3-23/5/10)
•
A Thieves’ & Beggars’ Ballad
sung in 1961 by Paul Celan
“If your heels are nimble and light
You can get there by candlelight”
Once when beggars grew on trees
there was a reason
to look up
the wind has torn my beard
away my yellow star
my bushy beard
crooked was the way
I went crooked
because I walked
so straight
O and
they said my nose was crooked
too
but we were off to Babylon
how many miles how many
miles to the gallows tree?
the almond tree the tree of alms
almshouse armband
the juniper the tree of bones
the Mandelstam the Mandelbaum
sleep tight tonight
by candlelight
[February 1961]
[133]
(27/1-7/8/11)
•
The bright
stones go up in the air
clear, white, light-
shards
They don’t want
to fall back, touch,
hit
They go up
blossoming
like wild flowers
then, closing, fall
on you
my light
my truth
I look at you
you take them from my hands
you put them back into
the light, which no-one needs
to own or name
[10/7/61]
[138]
(5/3-9/6/10)
•
The buzzard’s
wing at
twelve o’clock
in the Jura
at Larchstone
from the uneasiness
where we walked
the hollow
beamed its nothing
through us
[21/10/62 / 19/3/63]
[153 / 175]
(9/3/10-27/1-6/8/11)
•
This
is the moment
when the werewolves
stick to the horizon
No
gallowglasses
left
Alone and naked
Man
walks upright
among men
[3/11/62]
[158]
(5/3/10-7/8/11 )
•
Thinking
drove me out
out of the world
but you were there
discreet and open
and
you welcomed us
Who
says that it all dies for us
the moment that we close our eyes?
Wake up
Start again
Two souls
can quell
a burning sun
by standing in its way
Your lap
opened and a sigh
rose in the ether
and through the haze wasn’t that
something like a face?
wasn’t that something like
a name
for us?
[24/10/63]
For you, my love, / this poem, / which, in its own way, / still helps us / to resist
Paul
Paris, 26.4.1965
Paul
[176]
(27/1-9/8/11)
•
Hourglass
buried deep
in the shade of the peonies
when thoughts descend
like Pentecost
your kingdom falls
hope stills your spinning sands
[4/6/64]
[184]
(5/3/10-27/1-9/8/11)
•
Those
who stole most
called him the thief
those who aped him
called him the plagiarist
Those who owed him their spark
found him too passive
those whom he’d touched (and not just with words)
called him the undead
Publicity hounds
testified to their own modesty
and his hubris
Traitor assassins
called him a criminal
those who’d betrayed him
called him distrustful
those who’d insulted him
called him "too sensitive"
When he made an appeal
to solidarity
people commiserated
clapped him on the back
Those who’d orchestrated the campaign
upheld him
“as a hanged man his rope”
Those whom he’d helped climb
helped him to descend
He was cut up
and parcelled round
There were not a few friends
among the beneficiaries
One
wanted to go into bat for him –
he straddled the steps
of a certain Academy
the very same one
which gave out prizes
to those who had slandered and betrayed him
(Many others had attained
such yawning heights.)
Veterans of the Hitler Youth
helped strip him of his history
and pin it on one
who had never experienced it
and who, complacently,
acquiesced in the plans
of these old enemies.
Under their auspices she became’
the paragon of Jewishness.
They christened her Queen – whence
the red in her purple?
It’s possible, she proclaimed
That the destiny of my people
shines out from me.
Possible, yes.
But does it?
As for the light
that shone from her already
they put it out.
Who and what
drove Nelly Sachs to madness?
Who
pushed her
to such megalomaniac delusions?
In Stockholm, I heard her say
The people in Auschwitz
Didn’t suffer what I do.
Others heard that, too
(Lenke Rohmann among them).
Who was guilty of that?
What shame
must hang around that head?
…
[January 1965]
[212]
(27/1-12/8/11)
•
& our son
Eric
lives with us
happy
growing up
while we work
hardare there
for him
[6/5/65]
[221]
(27/1-12/8/11)
•
A roar
it’s
Truth itself
come among mankind
in a storm of metaphor
[7/5/65]
For you, my love,
For you Alix-Marie-Gisèle
Antschel, née de Lestrange,
For you, my noble one
For you the mother
of my only son
[222]
(27/1-12/8/11)
•
Souvenir of D.
Lichtenberg’s dozen serviettes
hand-me-down with a tablecloth – a
planetary greeting to
the speech-frieze round our
death-hushed zone
of signs
His
no heaven no
earth memory
of both wiped
from the last blue
bird of happi … his
comet-tail detected
by the city wall
A throat-vent meant
to keep him
from the All
The lost red thread-
end of
a thought
Cries crescendo
up above / down
below – whose?
so loud
So
don’t ask me where
I’m almost
can’t say where
again
[10/5/65]
[231]
(27/1-14/8/11)
•
Give the Word
Darkling, you give the skull cloven
in half? three-quarters? these passwords:
“Tartar darts”
“Art-boiled”
“Breath”
Here they all come – male and female
Siphets and Probyls and the Lord knows what
Here comes a man
World-apple-big the tears beside you
run through / cut through
with answers
answers
answers
iced through – by whom?
Pass, you say
pass
pass, friend, pass
the leprous liplock bursts from your palate
and fans your tongue with light, alight
[14/5/65]
[236]
(5/3/10-27/1-14/8/11)
•
Bowls
of madness rotten
deep
were I ash
I’d know how
to swallow
so much bitter
grey
how to re-
chalk the circle
round
such sights
[9/5/65]
[236]
(9/3/10-27/1-14/8/11)
•
Banners
of fog of stencil rise
redder than red
as the glaciers
thrust
ice-bosses south-
wards past the seal people
The trace
you witness here
was hammered in
redder than red
trepanning from your skull
buried October
minting gold
from sterile moonscapes
unfurling flags
It posts the glass-heart flyer
on the news-red bollard
spewed from the earth
by stepsons
of the pole
[4/8/65]
[253]
(27/1-14/8/11)
•
Rest
on your wounds
gulp through them
gapped with silences
small spheres of pith
from the lookniche
they descend
unstaunched
by handkerchiefs
pearl
you’ve made it
heavy –
conquering the salt-bush
the double sea
Lightless it coils, colour-
less – transfixed by your
ivory needles
Who doesn’t know,
that the tiger stone that stung
gave up the ghost to bruise you?
and so
where did it fall?
Let it run upstream in time
With ten halfmoons in tow
into the snakepit on
the yellow tide qua-
si stellar
[18/8/65]
[264]
(27/1-17/8/11)
•
Come
out Sun
Watch your children
Stay at home
Wrap up warm
[7/9/65]
[275]
(25/9/11)
•
Chance
dovetailed
blows away the sign
dovetailed by chance
windblown by signs
Love
besieged by shadesbeset by calculus
Truth
besieged by shadesbeset by calculus
Man
besieged by shadesbeset by calculus
you can be free
with a little help
from above
from truth and love
Eric you’re growing up
healthy and strong
[24/9/65]
[282]
(27/1-17/8/11)
•
The ounce
of truth deep in our craziness
that overturns
the state of things
as they babble
past each other
My son, much-hissed-at Justice
battling whole-heartedly
will always win
[25/10/65]
[296]
(5/3/10-27/1-17/8/11)
•
Noisy
like where we started
in the ravine
where you fell down
– it was a ravine –
I wind the musicbox again
you know?
the invisible
in
audible
[26/10/65]
[300]
(27/1-23/8/11)
II
Immer
[1966]
We two – now & forever
– Paul Celan, under the poem “The Word”
in Die Niemandsrose (1963)
•
Depths
in front of your face
depths grey and blue
voices singing together
more tuneful than you
the bottomless abyss
cracks itself open
at first you’re after short-cuts
at last you just run on
those vultures’ beaks that gutted you
are trying to set you free
chained up in the Caucasus
in the great monotony
[25/2-2/3/66]
[359]
(5/3/10-27/1-23/8/11)
•
Molten Gold
in the earth’s wounds
outsides and insides
swapped to stop you
coining puns and memes
the rebel too chews
up his forebears
darkling buds
of May
[28/2/66]
[359]
(27/1-23/8/11)
•
Hewed stone
grey-greenfreed
by strictnesss
unbridled ember
moonslighting up
one side of the cosmos
you do that
too
in the gaps of your memory
proud candles brand
their words of power
[17/3/66]
[373]
(5/3/10-27/1-6/10/11)
•
Suffocating
doubts
out on that meadow
by the glacier
tomorrow-man
laid bare
by his boss of stone
wells dug deep
through banks of clay
croaking after
names and voices
a hand in need
a star indeed
your gaze imperturbable
one more death than you
I’ve died
Yes
one
[20/3/66]
[376]
(27/1-24/8/11)
•
Spiky
close-
mouthed clan
spied through clear wood
crawling through
the royal dust
we don’t live here
anymore
besieged
by the unmissable
great and unsilenceable
You
Heard you must be
Seen you must be
Said you must be
[21/3/66]
[379]
(27/1-24/8/11)
•
Underrun
by conduits of sorrow
soul
bitter
listening for a word
sturdy
free
good vibrations heard
again
among us?
[26/3/66]
[382]
(27/1-26/8/11)
•
Shame
despair disgust
helps you shape-
shift
speechless comes
the unearthly
folding
back onto itself
an earthling
feathering himself
a new nest
in the elm-roots
freed from dreams
once and for all?
[26/3/66]
[383]
(17/1/10-27/1-26/8/11)
•
Above our heads
hissed off
the sign
swollen by dreams
of the place
they named
Now
make the sand-born leaf
your sign
till the sky burns
[28/3/66]
[386]
(5/3-25/4/10)
•
Are
you dropping
the tagged
anchor-stone?
Nothing holds me here
not the night of the living
nor the night of the proud
nor the night of many hands
Help me roll the doorstone
back across the empty tomb
[28/3/66]
[386]
(5/3-25/4/10)
•
Dauntless
three times
graced with gifts
clear from afar
the Elm-root
looses lovers
from the thicket
heavy-tongued sayings
old and fatal sound out
once morecome closer
dazzling
over the table
float double-handled
golden grails
None
of those who fought so wildly
ever came so close
to dauntless
[29/3/66]
[388]
(5/3/10-28/1-26/8/11)
•
After abandoning
light
the messenger-
bright day
brings louder
and louder blessings
to the bloody ear
[30/3/66]
[389]
(28/1-31/8/11)
•
Irruption
of the undivided
in your speech
night-bright
countercharm, contra-
dictory
To the alien high-
water mark scoured
clear of this
life
[31/3/66]
for you Gisele, today & always
[391]
(28/1-31/8/11)
•
True as a scar
traced on the outer
skinin-
expungeable
The dance was over
some time ago
the cash-fat
wait in the driveway
where it's all happening
again
at long-last
bloodily
[26/3/66]
[396]
(5/3/10-28/1-31/8/11)
•
Thoughtless
fearless
the lamp lets its light
fall on us
many-tongued flame
seeks out cold iron
from a hairsbreadth
hears it hiss
found
lost
So heavily
for minutes at a time
we read
the crushing
clauses
[4/4/66]
[398]
(28/1-31/8/11)
•
Rope
strung between two
highborn heads
reach with your hands
for the Ever-Outer
the rope
should singit sings
the sound
shatters the seals
you break
[6/4 – 17/4//66]
[401 / 408]
(28/1-1/9/11)
•
By ice fire
light you crash
into the moving
backdrop
brake brake – straight through
you know the sound
of crying know
that you’d be crying too
you can’t do more
the game goes on
rolls
through letter gaps
unstoppable
booms out inaudibly
winners and losers
[7/4/66]
[402]
(28/1-4/9/11)
•
Forced to come down
from the tightrope
you tot up
what can be counted on
with such rich gifts
the chalk-white face
of the ringmaster
scratches with bright nails
your name in lights
At the same time
(humanly)
mixes in darkness
you know it
even through
the mask of these
stubborn games
[7/4/66]
[403]
(4/5/10-28/1-4/9/11)
•
& if
the Turkish lilac
comes with questions
something more than scent
will be your reward
[8/4/66]
[404]
(28/1-4/9/11)
•
Torchsong
of feelings
born of pain
it doesn’t
bring up
many names
harsh
unmistakable
looming
out of the bush
to take you on
spiny
a whiff of death
with it
as well
[9/4/66]
[405]
(28/1-6/9/11)
•
Mit uns
With us
there have been certain
speedbumps
yet we’re still
intact
unstoppable
despite oncoming
roadblocks
[16/4/66]
for Eric, with a kiss
from his father
[409]
(28/1-6/9/11)
•
Wilderness
threaded through our days
again and again
scudding alone
beyond the lifeguard towers
the sturdy wing
of a black-backed
gull
[22/4/66]
[412]
(5/3/10-28/1-7/9/11)
•
I’m writing down
a few lines here from a world
our world, just ours:
Don’t lose yourself
between the worlds
trust your tears
and learn to live
[Paris: 23/4/66]
[415]
(5/3-25/4/10)
•
Sacrificial troughs
on offer to the night
from hands
deep-glazed with clay
under the strobe lights
forevermore uprisen
that scintillating
Ungod
some part of you
will bow to
in the gap
[27/4/66]
[421]
(28/1-9/9/11)
•
Devastations?
No
much less than that
much more
Some things are omitted
by the babbling pigeons
on their perches
eye and eyed soldered
together climb the vantage
point above the far
allotments of the shire
A language
gives birth to itself
by means of poems
ground out by automatons
each individual
cog
[1/5/66]
[424]
(11-3/10-28/1-9/9/11)
•
Whistled up
by courtesy
of the wind-whipped marram grass
when you spin the wheel of fortune
under heaven
I will not be there
the wheel that straddles the sky
whose hub
far-off
unthinkably
I hold on to
a loner
writing
[2/5/66]
[428]
(11/3/10-28/1-10/9/11)
•
My Dear
Four lines, here, tonight, on the lime
leaves that made me faint, keeping that.
All that, for those falling headlong upwards,
is a psalm, in a screech of metal.
One must be courageous to accept such short poems.
I kiss you
Paul
Hug our son.
Don’t forget, for Thursday: two light shirts, some summer pyjamas,
Uniprix slippers.
lime-leaved faint
for the upfallen
clattering
psalm
[2/5/66]
[429]
(28/1/11-10/9/11)
•
Bouts of sleep
corners
deep in the nowhere
we stay the same
ambient
starlight
blesses us both
[13/6/66]
[455]
(28/1-10/9/11)
III
Le Pont des Années
[1967-1969]
To Gisèle,
on the Bridge of the years
– Paul Celan, Dedication in Atemwende (1st September, 1967)
•
Arrow-sister
the barn swallow’s
at its zenith
as the clock strikes
One rushes to meet
the hour hand
the shark spits out
the Inca live
(this was in colonial times
in Human-land)
what goes around
comes around
like us
unplugged
[24/5/67]
[508]
(28/1-12/9/11)
•
Paired, by the Brâncuşi
If one of these stones could
let us know
what keeps it silent
here
near the old man’s Zimmer-frame
it would open like a wound
into which one dives
alone
far from my voice
from all our redrafts
white
[4/8/67]
[540]
(28/1-12/9/11)
•
Tow-barge
timetables
half-changelings haul
one of our worlds
lean years turned inward
speak from the bowed heads
along the bank
Dead-quit
God-quit
[3/12/67]
[595]
(28/1-13/9/11)
•
Lilac air
with flecks of yellow windows
the stars of Jacob’s staff
above the stump
of Anhalt Station
fireworks-time
still nothing
ecunemical
from the Existential bar
to the
Snow Bar
[23/12/67]
[595]
(28/1-13/9/11)
•
Gravediggers
in the wind
One’s playing the viola arms akimbo in the jug
One’s standing on his head in the word Enough
One’s hanging in the doorway by the windlass
This year’s
not galloping by
it’s switched December for November
it’s picking at scabs
it’s gaping before you
young
gravediggers
twelvemouthed
[25/12/67]
[595]
(28/1-13/9/11)
•
Year opening
with the rotten crusts
of mad-bread
Drink
from my mouth
[2/1/68]
[595]
(28/1-13/9/11)
•
This world’s
unreadable
everything double
hoarsethe almighty clock
approves the hour’s
stroke
trapped in the depths
of your voice
you rise from you
forever
[5/1/68]
[595]
(28/1-13/9/11)
•
What’s stitched
into that voice?
What’s it
sewing
this way
that way?
The precipice swears
by white alone
vomits up
the snow-needle
swallow it
you order the world
that counts as much
as reciting nine names
on your knees
Tumuli Tumuli
you
heap those mounds up
come alive
in a kiss
in the distance
a fin
lights up the bay
cast anchor
your shadow’s
lost in the undergrowth
arrival
survival
a beetle spots you
you face
each other
silk-worms
cocoon you
the great
globe
will let you pass
soon
a leaf transfuses you
sparks
piped through
before you choke
you have the right to one tree
to one day
it notes down your number
a word with all its green
burrows in to plant itself
follow it
[10/1/68]
[597]
(28/1-14/9/11)
“Interpreting Paul Celan.” brief 46: The Survival Issue (2012): #.
•
[Black Toll, 1-15]:
[i]
Relics of hearing
what’s left of sight
in Dormitory 1001
daily all night
the bears polka
they’ll school you
again you’ll become
He
[9/6/67]
[599]
(27/3/10-28/1-16/9/11)
•
[ii]
Night rode him
and he came to
the orphan’s rag his flag
no shortcuts
the nightmare straight
as if as if
caught in a thicket of oranges
hag-ridden, he had nothing on
except his
first
birthmark-mottled se-
cret-stained
skin
[9-10-11/6-10/9/67]
[599]
(27/3/10-28/1-16/9/11)
•
[iii]
Shoals of mussels
with my stone club
I break inside
casting upstream
to the homeland of the
melting ice
to him
carved
with what totem?
fire-flint
in the dwarf-birch whistle
lemmings multiply
nothing later
no
urn-cupulano
incised discno
starfoot-fibula
unappeaseduntrammelled
artless
the all-changing
come grating in
behind
[14/6/67]
[599]
(27/3/10-28/1-17/9/11)
•
[iv]
Weighed
with the ash-ladle
in the trough of being
soapy
second time round
one to each other
incomprehensibly fed
now far away from us
already – why?
raised to be divided
then (on the third
try?) blown
behind the horn
standing in front of
the sector of tears
once twicethree times
the odd number does it
from the budding
split
flagged
lung
[15/6/67]
[599]
(27/3/10-28/1-17/9/11)
•
[v]
Studded
with microliths
gift-givingtaking
hands
A conversation
shuttling from side to side
singed by shimmering
gusts of fire
One sign
crams it together
in answer to this
humped rock-art
[16/6/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
•
[vi]
Gone
into the night
helpful
star-permeable
leaf as mouth
it’s still
something to waste wildly
treefully
[20/6/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
•
[vii]
Already we lay
deep in the scrub
when you came crawling up
We couldn’t
overshadow you
due to
the limits of light
[24/6/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
•
[viii]
Mines
on your leftover moons
Saturn
sealed with shrapnel
orbiting the rings
outside
This must be the moment
for a true
birth
[27-28/6/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
•
[ix]
Who
came to be with you?
the skylark stone
in the crease
No sound
only sharp light
can help
to carry it
Heights swirl
above
sheerer
than you
[Paris, 1/7/67]
[599]
(11/3-11/4/10)
•
[x]
Loaded
with reflections
with sky beetles
in the mountain
that death
that you still owe me
I’m bringing it
up
[5/7/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-18/9/11)
•
[xi]
Green light
on yet another
start
front wheel distorts
with Coriolis force
darkness answers
to the steering-wheel
your outlined veins
knot themselves up
what you are now subsides sideways
you gain
height
[8/7/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
•
[xii]
Beacon-
collector
towards night
your sack full
beams of light
at your fingertips
for the winged
messenger
the word
herd
[8/7/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
•
[xiii]
Adjusted
to your mask
lost wax
cast
the eye-
lid opposite's
identical
in length
line and line
smudged grey at last
death-like
[17/7/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
•
[xiv]
That
which threw
us together
breaks us apart
world-stone
far from the sun
you hum
[17/7/67]
[599]
(11/3/10-28/1-19/9/11)
•
Creeping weed
convolvulus
you snare
one style of speech
the quisling Aster
buddies up with you
when he who
broke his Lyre
starts speaking to the Staff
he
everyone else
need not fear
blindness
[25/2/69]
[639]
(11/3/10-28/1-20/9/11)
•
Hateful moons
lie drooling
behind nothing
the clever hopes
half-hopes
expire
blue light now
blue light in bushels
misery flares
in cobbled gutters
a game of pitch and toss
saves face
you stow your altars
inside time
[21/3/69]
[642]
(11/3/10-1/2-20/9/11)
•
In
the time-heave
that puzzles out
our worlds
the seagulls suspends
itself
the crab transforms
the ice below us
creaks through
all our names
[Dover – London
29/3/69]
[643]
(11/3-25/4/10)
•
Kew Gardens
Here, where
you put yourself back
in my hands
at the ebb tide of the year
where the fears resolve
dissolve in blue
alone
[6/4/69]
[648]
(11/3-25/4/10)
“Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
•
Gold
which grows over
the back of the black hand
the way
the footpath towards you
over the bevelled stone
through the land of lost dream
two sand hills
gnawed away by the wind
stand by you
a bog infested with stars
spreads round the pine
the chorus
of planetree stumps
bows to the prayers
against prayer
from treering
segments
I try to build names
you stake them
by wheels of rain
locusts will swarm
out from my beard
in front of the beehive cells
there’s just one
tear
[12/4/69]
[649]
(27/3/10-28/1-20/9/11)
•
The world
fingers you
question how
rough it is
by the barbed-wire almond
can you feel sure
you’re coming to?
sense the touch of light
on your skin
[21/4/69]
[651]
(11/3/10-1/2-19/9/11)
•
I see you
in the wrinkled
forehead
of the diving whale
you see me
sky
impales itself
the starfish couches
in the foam
someone who’s seen it
all whispers aloud
a mouthful of nothing
cradling nothing
[4-5/5/69]
[653]
(11/3-25/4/10)
•
Above
and beyond you
lies your destiny
white-eyed refugee
from a song
something
sticks to it that helps
you free
your tongue
even at noon
out there
[9/5/69]
[654]
(11/3-25/4/10)
•
There
will be something later
that fills itself
with you
From my shattered
mind
I watch my hand
inscribe
around us both
a circle
[13/12/69]
[670]
(11/3-11/4/10)
Poser
[1967]
Dear Paul,
those tulips, their red, their life, this morning, at 6
a.m., after so few hours of sleep, they were still with
me.
Your poem keeps me company, too.
…
Thank you, thank you again.
Have a wonderful time in Germany.
– Gisèle Celan-Lestrange’s last letter to Paul Celan
(Paris, 20 March 1970)
•
Leave
the maid’s key on the
chest-of drawers!
Pack the big tartan suitcase
and the big brown suitcase
Leave the coffee & pastries for Harriet
in the kitchen
cigarettes
a bottle of grape juice
Fix the typewriter!
Pack a ream of paper +
1 lined notebook
1 packet of carbon-paper
1 plain notebook
_______________
My Basque beret
My summer gloves
– please return –
the list of people
who’ve telephoned
Pack:
my leather briefcase
my summer scarf
_______________
If you’re going to Moisville, could you please bring back all the
Emily Dickinson collections (especially the French translations)
and the big selection of poems by Supervielle?
Thanks
P.
[24/6/67]
[676]
(8/2-25/4/10)
“Celanie.” All Together Now: A Digital Bridge for Auckland and Sydney (March-September 2010).
- Celan, Paul. Gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden. Erster Band - Gedichte I: Mohn und Gedächtnis; Von Schwelle zu Schwelle; Sprachgitter; Die Niemandsrose. 1952, 1955, 1959, 1963. Ed. Beda Allemann & Stefan Reichert. 1983. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1986.
- Celan, Paul. Gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden. Zweiter Band - Gedichte II: Atemwende; Fadensonnen; Lichtzwang; Schneepart. 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971. Ed. Beda Allemann & Stefan Reichert. 1983. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1986.
- Celan, Paul. Gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden. Dritter Band - Gedichte III: Der Sand aus den Urnen; Zeitgehöft / Prosa /Reden. 1948, 1976. Ed. Beda Allemann & Stefan Reichert. 1983. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1986.
- Celan, Paul. Gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden. Vierter Band: Übertragungen I - Zweisprachig. Ed. Beda Allemann & Stefan Reichert. 1983. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1986.
- Celan, Paul. Gesammelte Werke in fünf Bänden. Fünfter Band: Übertragungen II - Zweisprachig. Ed. Beda Allemann & Stefan Reichert. 1983. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1986.
- Celan, Paul. Die Gedichte: Kommentierte Gesamtausgabe in einem Band. Ed. Barbara Weidemann. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2003.
- Celan, Paul, & Nelly Sachs. Correspondence. Ed. Barbara Wiedemann. 1993. Trans. Christopher Clark. Introduction by John Felstiner. Riverdale-on-Hudson, New York: The Sheep Meadow Press, 1995.
- Celan, Paul, & Gisèle Celan-Lestrange. Correspondance (1951-1970), avec un choix de letters de Paul Celan à son fils Eric. I – Lettres. Ed. Bertrand Badiou & Eric Celan. La Librairie du XXIe siècle. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2001.
- Celan, Paul, & Gisèle Celan-Lestrange. Correspondance (1951-1970), avec un choix de letters de Paul Celan à son fils Eric. II – Commentaires et Illustrations. Ed. Bertrand Badiou & Eric Celan. La Librairie du XXIe siècle. Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 2001.
- Bachmann, Ingeborg, & Paul Celan. Correspondence: With the Correspondence between Paul Celan and Max Frisch, and between Ingeborg Bachmann and Gisèle Celan-Lestrange. Ed. Bertrand Badiou, Hans Höller, Andrea Stoll & Barbara Weidemann. 2008. Trans. Wieland Hoban. The German List. London: Seagull Books, 2010.
- Gillespie, Susan H., trans. The Correspondence of Paul Celan & Ilana Shmueli. 2004. Preface by John Fesltiner. Introduction by Norman Manea. Afterword by Ilana Shmueli. Conversation between Norman Manea & Ilana Shmueli. Riverdale-on-Hudson, New York: The Sheep Meadow Press, 2010.
- Celan, Paul. Selected Poems. Trans. Michael Hamburger & Christopher Middleton. 1962 & 1967. Introduction by Michael Hamburger. Penguin Modern European Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
- Celan, Paul. Collected Prose. Trans. Rosmarie Waldrop. 1986. Fyfield Books. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 2003.
- Celan, Paul. Selected Poems. Trans. Michael Hamburger. 1988. Penguin International Poets. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990.
- Celan, Paul. Selected Poems and Prose. Trans. John Felstiner. New York & London: W. W. Norton, 2001.
- Celan, Paul. Romanian Poems. Trans. Julian Semilian & Sanda Agdidi. Green Integer, 81. København & Los Angeles: Green Integer Books, 2003.
- Celan, Paul. Selections. Ed. Pierre Joris. Poets for the Millennium, 3. Trans. Pierre Joris & Jerome Rothenberg. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press / London: University of California Press, Ltd., 2005.
- Celan, Paul. The Meridian: Final Version - Drafts - Materials. Ed. Bernhard Boschenstein & Heino Schmull. Trans. Pierre Joris. Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics Series. California: Stanford University Press, 2011.
- Celan, Paul. From Threshold to Threshold. ['Von Schwelle zu Schwelle', 1955]. Trans. David Young. Grosse Point Farms, Michigan: Marick Press, 2010.
- Celan, Paul. Breathturn. ['Atemwende', 1967]. Trans. Pierre Joris. Sun & Moon Classics, 74. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1995.
- Celan, Paul. Threadsuns. ['Fadensonnen', 1968]. Trans. Pierre Joris. Sun & Moon Classics, 122. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 2000.
- Celan, Paul. Fathomsuns / Fadensonnen and Benighted / Eingedunkelt. 1968. Trans. Ian Fairley. Manchester: Carcanet Press Limited, 2001.
- Celan, Paul. Lightduress. ['Lichtzwang', 1970]. Trans. Pierre Joris. Green Integer, 113. København & Los Angeles: Green Integer Books, 2005.
- Celan, Paul. Snow Part / Schneepart. 1971. Trans. Ian Fairley. Riverdale-on-Hudson, New York: The Sheep Meadow Press, 2007.
- (May 1, 2001) The Britney Suite, by Paul Celan, Wendy Nu & Jack Ross. Auckland: Perdrix Press, 2001. [25 copies (20 numbered)]
- [Paul Celan:] SCHNEEPART, gebäumt, bis zuletzt … (22/1/68)
- Snowpart (24/10-30/11/2000)
- [Paul Celan:] ERZFLITTER, tief im … (20/7/68)
- Orespark (24/10-30/11/2000)
- [Paul Celan:] KALK-KROKUS, im … (24/8/68)
- Chalk-Crocus (24/10-28/11/2000)
- [Paul Celan:] DAS GEDUNKELTE Splitterecho … (5/9/68)
- Dark (24/10-28/11/2000)
- [Paul Celan:] BEIDHÄNDIGE Frühe … (29/9/69)
- Both-Handed (24/10-28/11/2000)
- (September 12, 2006) “Poems from Schneepart: Translations into English.” Percutio 1 (2006): 60-62.
- Snowpart (24/10-30/11/2000)
- Orespark (24/10-30/11/2000)
- Chalk-Crocus (24/10-28/11/2000)
- Dark (24/10-28/11/2000)
- Both-Handed (24/10-28/11/2000)
- (October 4-5, 2008) The Britney Suite. (Ed.) Papyri:
- [Celan:] SCHNEEPART, gebäumt… (22/1/68)
- Snowpart (24/10-30/11/2000)
- [Celan:] ERZFLITTER, tief im … (20/7/68)
- Orespark (24/10-30/11/2000)
- [Celan:] KALK-KROKUS, im … (24/8/68)
- Chalk-Crocus (24/10-28/11/2000)
- [Celan:] DAS GEDUNKELTE Splitterecho … (5/9/68)
- Dark (24/10-28/11/2000)
- [Celan:] BEIDHÄNDIGE Frühe … (29/9/69)
- Both-Handed (24/10-28/11/2000)
- (August 17, 2006) “Coromandel.” The Imaginary Museum (after Paul Celan, 'Corona').
- (April 16, 2010) “Project Books.” Mosehouse Studio.
- Already [30/3/54] (9/3-11/4/10)
- (August 24, 2010) “Celanie.” All Together Now: A Digital Bridge for Auckland and Sydney / Kia Kotahi Rā: He Arawhata Ipurangi mō Tamaki Makau Rau me Poihākena (March-September 2010). [visited 25/8/10]
- Leave [24/6/67] (8/2-25/4/10)
- (December 31, 2010) “Celanie: 5 Versions from Paul Celan.” brief 41 (2010): 54-59.
- Maïa [7/1/52] (9/3-11/4/10)
- Islandward [22/6/54] (5/3-11/4/10)
- Matter of Britain [13/8/57] (9/3-29/4/10)
- Heart (for René Char) [6/1/60] (9/3-11/4/10)
- Kew Gardens [6/4/69] (11/3-25/4/10)
- Bruns, Gerald. “Should Poetry be Ethical or Otherwise.” SubStance, Issue 120 (Volume 38, Number 3), 2009, pp. 72-91.
- Carson, Anne. Economy of the Unlost: Reading Simonides of Ceos with Paul Celan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999..
- Chalfen, Israel. Paul Celan: A Biography of His Youth. 1979. Trans. Maximilian Bleyleben. Introduction by John Felstiner. New York: Persea Books, 1991.
- Coetzee, J. M. “Paul Celan and his Translators.” Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-2005. 2007. A Vintage Book. Sydney: Random House Australia, 2008. 114-31.
- Daive, Jean. Under the Dome: Walks With Paul Celan. 1996. Trans. Rosmarie Waldrop. Serie d'ecriture, 22. Anyart, Providence: Burning Deck Press, 2009.
- Felstiner, John. Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
- James, Clive. “Paul Celan.” Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from Culture and the Arts. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007. 101-5.
- Lyon, James K. Paul Celan and Martin Heidegger: An Unresolved Conversation, 1951-1970. Baltimore, MA: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
- Ross, Jack. “Meeting Paul Celan.” Poetics of Exile conference paper (Auckland University, July 2003). Available online at The Imaginary Museum (23/3/07).
- Ross, Jack. “The Twenty-Year Masterclass: Paul Celan’s Correspondence with Gisèle Celan-Lestrange (1951-1970).” Literature and Translation conference paper (Monash University, 12 July 2011). Available online at Projects (7/6/11).
- Ross, Jack. “Collecting Paul Celan.” The Imaginary Museum (3/9/11).
- Ross, Jack. “Channeling Paul Celan.” Rabbit 5: The Rare Issue (Winter 2012): 118-31.
- Ross, Jack. “Interpreting Paul Celan.” brief 46: The Survival Issue (2012): 85-101.
[Texts:]
[Correspondence:]
[Translations:]
Jack Ross:
[Secondary Texts:]
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2 comments:
Thank you for your great "Celanie Poems(2010-12)" translation.
Thanks for your nice comment. Much appreciated.
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