Unstitched threads
I’d like to show you the seeds
of jasmine in their husk
lying in the minimum space
folded one on top of the other
indistinguishable silent life
peel them from their pod!
word by word
isolated voices in form of a parachute
seeking their landing site
Freedom!
a nice word, right?
a sweater word
pulled over the head
hundreds of times with a sure hand
suddenly it’s the wrong way around
unstitched threads dangle
round the utopia
of an open society.
Unvernähte Fäden
Schau mal die Samen
des Jasmins in ihrer Schote
auf engstem Raum einer neben den
anderen gefaltet
ununterscheidbar stummes Leben
nimm sie aus der Schale!
Wort für Wort
einzelne Stimmen in Form eines Fallschirms
suchen ihren Landeplatz
Freiheit!
ein schönes Wort
ein Pulloverwort
hunderte male mit sicherer Hand
über den Kopf gezogen
plötzlich falsch herum
unvernähte Fäden baumeln
um die Utopie
einer offenen Gesellschaft
Earthworms
No algorithmic machine controls
who works in the underground
slowly, steadily
inside the earth, little considered
with passages made of continuous dejections
and boredom canceled out by dopamine shots
the brain a kind of Olympus with infinite divinities
continuous building of identity
vulnerability developed over millions of years
a predictive model
What do you like, how much you like and what you will like,
the earthworm already knows.
Lombrichi
Nessuna macchina algoritmica controlla
chi lavora nel sottosuolo
lentamente con costanza
dentro la terra, poco considerato
con passaggi fatti di continue deiezioni
e la noia annullata a colpi di dopamina
il cervello una specie di Olimpo con infinite divinità
in cerca d’ identità
La vulnerabilità sviluppata in milioni di anni
un modello predittivo
Cosa ti piace, quanto ti piace e cosa ti piacerà
il lombrico lo sa già.
Changing
Derailed on the tracks of biology
overheated by media fever
fears stink like
burnt brake pads
imperceptibly gliding
down the respiratory tract
in the void
inside a house
insane scrawny loneliness
gesticulates
notches fall
through buttoned shutters
like silverfish from books
past life
carefully folded
is squatting
on the floor
Umsteigen
Entgleist auf den Schienen
der Biologie
medial überhitzt
Angst stinkend
wie verbrannte Bremsbeläge
unmerklich kriecht es die Atemwege
hinunter
und wieder eine Leerstelle
In irgendeiner Wohnung
gestikuliert abgezerrt
der Irrsinn der Einsamkeit
Kerben fallen durch
zugeknöpfte Fensterläden
wie Silberfischlein aus Büchern
vergangenes Leben
säuberlich gefaltet
hockt am Boden
Antje Stehn (Germany) resides in Italy. Poet, visual artist, video producer, art curator. Since 1990 she has been showing her work in a number of international exhibitions around Europe and the U.S.A. Later she started integrating her poems into the art installations and organizing poetic-artistic performances. Her work is part of the Saatchi-Saatchi Collection of Milan (Italy) and of the Museum of Salò (Italy). She is part of the international Collective "Poetry is my Passion" which is operating in Milan and organizes transcultural events for the promotion of language and cultural diversity in the cosmopolitan community. She is editing the international poetry voice “Milano, una città mille lingue” (Milan one voice, thousands of languages) for the poetry magazine TamTamBumBum. She is member of the scientific committee of the Piccolo Museo della Poesia of Piacenza, Chiesa San Cristoforo, Italy. Her poems are translated into Italian, English, Polish and Spanish.