His Story

when there were no secret parts
writing was devised on a woman's body
no part left undescribed
men and their dirty fingers
mixed up one character with the other
until the letters couldn't be read
they had never gotten around to reading
they became doubters of script
looking for the lost language
burned all books short of their own body
out of the ashes fashioned their dream dame
veiled it deep black
are illiterates still

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Poetry From the September 2005 issue: A Freckle On The Nose: Poetry Over Prose

Zafer SenocakZafer Senocak

Zafer Senocak is one of the most innovative German intellectuals and writers (The Encyclopedia of German Literature, 2000). The poem "Woman Babylon" appears in his 1994 book Fernwehanstalten (Babel Verlag). A volume of his essays, Atlas of a Tropical Germany, translated by Leslie Adelson, was published by the University of Nebraska in 2000. A volume of selected poems, Übergang: Ausgewählte Gedichte 1980-2005 is forthcoming from Babel Verlag.

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Translated from GermanGerman by Elizabeth Oehlkers WrightElizabeth Oehlkers Wright

Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright is a literary translator in the Boston area. She has been translating Zafer Senocak for years.

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