Dr. Aprilia Zank is a German poet, translator, editor and lecturer in Creative Writing and Translation Theory. She writes verse in English and German, and has won various prizes. Her recent poetry collections are BAREFOOT TO ARCADIA (2018) also translated in Telugu, and READING THE SIGNS, launched in 2019 in USA, where she was awarded the title “Dr. Aprilia Zank – Germany Beat Poet Laureate – Lifetime”, by the National Beat Poetry Foundation.
READING THE SIGNS
I levitate above my bed
with all those dogs clinging to my feet
eyeless, toothless, headless
the blue flowers on my white
bed sheets burst red
the fishermen around the fire
read the future in dingy scales
I walk these bare streets
dragging words behind me
heavy like carcasses
crying, listen! listen!
but I hear no echo
just a flattering of wings
behind barred windows
I climb the walls of my bunker
pull at roots, filaments and fur
choke with the smell of burning flesh
cover my eyes with barbed wire
aghast at seeing the signs
branded on the festering cortex
of an army of mutants
© Aprilia Zank