Translations by Richard Dove, Robert Gray, Michael Hamburger, Michael Hulse, Christopher Middleton, Sibylle Schlesier, Andrew Shields, Nathaniel Tarn and Rosmarie Waldorp

Ice Memory is the first book of poems by the German poet Joachim Sartorius to be published in English. A traveller between continents, cultures and eras, Sartorius is a poet of global reach, whose poems, full of sound and light, documenting the wealth and exhaustion of the world, are magnificently brought into English by translators from Australia, Britain and the United States. In memories and ruins, Joachim Sartorius shows how bridges can be built in a fragmented world.

Table of Contents

from Sage ich zu wem / To someone I say (1988)



Umarmung, con affeto / Embrace, con affeto (Richard Dove)

Umarmung erinnert / Remembered embrace (Richard Dove)

Umarmung der Vögel / Embrace of the birds (Robert Gray)

Memento Mori / Memento mori (Richard Dove)

Das liebste Spiel / A favourite game (Richard Dove)

Liebe und Arbeit / Love and work (Richard Dove)

Das Schweigen von Zypern / The Cyprus silence (Michael Hamburger)

Der Kultstein von Kouklia / The cultic stone of Kouklia (Richard Dove)

Die Nekropole von Nizza / The necropolis of Nice (Robert Gray)

100 Bleecker Street / 100 Bleecker Street (Richard Dove)

Am Arno bei Arezzo / By the Arno near Arezzo (Richard Dove)

Porträt des Künstlers als alter Mann / Portrait of the artist as an old man (Michael Hamburger)

Der Tod von Manhattan / The death of Manhattan (Richard Dove)

Hellblau, mit Mond / Light blue, with moon (Christopher Middleton)





from Der Tisch wird kalt / The table grows cold (1992)





Eine Feige für den Heimweg / A fig for the way home (Sibylle Schlesier)

Auf Annas Schreibtisch / On Anna's writing table (Richard Dove)

Einem Delphin in Batumi / To a dolphin in Batumi (Rosmarie Waldrop)

Stambul / Stamboul (Christopher Middleton)

Venedig / Venice (Richard Dove)

Abermärchen glauben / Believing in make-believe tales (Michael Hamburger)

Monate / The months (Robert Gray)

(die Liebe) / (love) (Sibylle Schlesier)

Der Sphinx / The Sphinx (Andrew Shields)

Vorgespräch über Fragment / Preliminary conversation about fragments (Rosmarie Waldrop)

Abdo Rimbo / Abdo Rimbo (Michael Hulse)

Aus dem Glossar der Prostitution in Algier / From the glossary of prostitution in Algiers (Maccaronic Montage)

Kleine Königin der schönen Huren / Little queen of the beautiful whores (Rosmarie Waldrop)

Ratschlag zum Verzehr der Auster / Advice on how to eat oysters (Robert Gray)

Rauhreifuhr / Hoarfrostwatch (Rosmarie Waldrop)

In dieser schwarzen Ruhe / In this black stillness (Sibylle Schlesier and Nathaniel Tarn)





from Keiner gefriert anders / No one freezes differently (1996)





La cigarette obligatoire / La cigarette obligatoire (Michael Hulse)

Gräber / Graves (Andrew Shields)

Eine Fotografie von J.P. (1964) / A photograph of J.P. (1964) (Richard Dove)

Im Vernichtungsbuch / In the book of annihilation (Richard Dove)

Alexandria: Ein Zyklus / Alexandria: A cycle

Hinter der alexandrinischen Bibliothek / Behind the Alexandrian Library (Rosmarie Waldrop)

Alexandria / Alexandria (Rosmarie Waldrop)

Zerstoben in heißem Dampf / Gone up in hot steam (Michael Hulse)

Alexandrie, Boulevard de Ramleh, 1903 / Alexandrie: Boulevard de Ramleh, 1903 (Christopher Middleton)

Haken & Augen / Hooks and eyes (Andrew Shields)

Das Zimmer über dem Café / The room above the café (Richard Dove)

Kavafis widerspricht Seneca / Cavafy contradicts Seneca (Richard Dove)

Wer aus mir trinkt / Whoever drinks from me (Robert Gray)

Litanei / Litany (Robert Gray)

Alexandria (2) / Alexandria (2) (Robert Gray)

Bericht von Rika / Rika's report (Richard Dove)

Was übrig blieb / What was left (Christopher Middleton)

Alexandria (3) / Alexandria (3) (Michael Hulse)

Konstantin K. / Constantine C. (Andrew Shields)

Drei unveröffentlichte Gedichte aus dem Nachlaß von Konstantin Kavafis / Three unpublished poems from the estate of Constantine Cavafy

Der Kai / The quay (Robert Gray)

Auf dem Spiegel / On the mirror (Christopher Middleton)

Poetik / Poetics (Andrew Shields)





from Ich habe die Nacht / Mine is the night (2003)





Auf dem Weg zum Grabmal des Kleoboulos / On the way to the tomb of Kleoboulos (Christopher Middleton)

Intarsien / Inlays (Michael Hulse)

Diana / Diana (Richard Dove)

Ayios Kassianos / Ayios Kassianos (Richard Dove)

In den ägyptischen Filmen / In those Egyptian films (Richard Dove)

Über die Bedeutung von Schlaf in Diyarbakir / On the meaning of sleep in Diyarbakir (Richard Dove)

In der Art des Abu Nawas / In the manner of Abu Nawas (Christopher Middleton)

Elfenbein-Georgette / Ivory georgette (Christopher Middleton)

In Tunis lügen die Palmen / The palm-trees tell lies in Tunis (Richard Dove)

Abdullah Frères, Constantinople / Abdullah Frères, Constantinople (Andrew Shields)

Salz am Hals / Salt from my neck (Richard Dove)

Die erste Nacht / The first night (Robert Gray)

Auf Salina / On Salina (Andrew Shields)

Bei Wiepersdorf, August / Near Wiepersdorf, August (Richard Dove)

Freundschaft der Dichter / Friendship between poets (Christopher Middleton)

Erholung in Lagos / Recuperating in Lagos (Richard Dove)





Ice Memory / Ice memory (Robert Gray)

Lilia Brik mit Majakovskij in Samarkand / Lilia Brik with Majakovsky in Samarkand (Robert Gray)

Antlitz / Countenance (Andrew Shields)

Alterskunde / Gerontological (Michael Hamburger)

Weg ins Ende / Path to the end (Richard Dove)

Die Schatten unter den Wellen / The shadows under the waves (Andrew Shields)

Im Paradies / In paradise (Richard Dove)





Notes

Instead of a Postscript: Five Observations Christopher Middleton