Visitor’s Coming
I’ve laid out
in order
what I need:
a solid mantrap, pieces
of cake, beer warmer,
these favored
little things of hospitality,
especially pretty knives,
old photos, stained and damp,
a pocket pistol under the table cloth
in its proper place,
spot remover, cold
venison pie,
a pyramid of glasses,
a vigilant mantle-clock,
a striped cat
for flattering.
I’m sitting
among my belongings,
happy to be able
to make them useful.
When the doorbell rings,
I’ll blacken the coffee.
Slowly a newspaper
turns its pages
to the obituaries.
That’s due to the draft.
It comes from the door
that I open.
Besuch Kommt
Ich habe mir
zurecht gelegt,
was ich brauche:
eine gediegene Fußangel, Kuchen-
stücke, Bierwärmer,
diese beliebten
Kleinigkeiten der Gastfreundschaft,
besonders schöbn Messer,
alte Fotos, stockfleckig,
ein Terzerol unter dem Tischtuch
an geeigneter Stelle,
Fleckenreiniger, kalte
Pastete vom Wild,
eine Gläserpyramide,
eine aufmerksame Stutzuhr,
eine gestreifte Katze
zum Schmeicheln.
Ich sitze
unter meinen Habseligkeiten,
glücklich, sie dienstbar
machen zu können.
Wenn es läutet,
schwärze ich den Kaffee.
Langsam blättert
eine Zeitung
ihre Todesanzeigen auf.
Das macht die Zugluft.
Sie kommt von der Tür,
die ich öffne.
Translator: Stuart Friebert, for whose first book of German poems Krolow wrote the afterword, had the great privilege of knowing and working with Krolow on a number of occasions. Enjoying “a lifetime right to translate” Krolow, he has published two volumes of Selected Poems (On Account Of: Selected Poems of Karl Krolow and What’ll We Do With This Life?: Selected Poems by Karl Krolow, 1950-1990, and is gathering together a third volume, from among the more than 500 other Krolow poems he’s published over the years. The author of a dozen books of his own poems, and a number of stories, memoir pieces, essays, and anthologies, Friebert has published six other volumes: co-translations, from the Czech, Italian, Romanian, and Lithuanian.
