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Issue 5 Cover
 
Issue 5
Sample Poem
Names with asterisks link to bios.
 

Sanne
Sannes wichtigste, alles tragende Substanz besteht aus lauter kleinen
Wesen, alle gleich geformt wie Bonbons. Wenn man eines dieser
Bonbons in eine Nährlösung täte, könnte aus ihm durchaus eine kleine
neue Sanne wachsen, und so wartet Sanne auf die Wissenschaft. Denn
die Wissenschaft wird Nährlösung bereitstellen und Sanne unsterblich
machen. Die Vorstellung von vielen Sannes, die nebeneinander
existieren würden, erschreckt Sanne nicht: Wie ihre Bonbons sich
miteinander verstehen, so verstehen sich auch die vielen Sannes und
könnten zusammen noch mehr Sanne ergeben, und alles ausprobieren,
was einer Sanne offensteht.


written 2002
*Veronika Reichl

Veronika Reichl was born in 1973 in Baltimore. She grew up in Munich and studied graphic design and media arts in Stuttgart. She is currently completing her dissertation, "Meaning Matches Meaning: Trick Film as Metaphor for Philosophical Texts," in Berlin. An earlier version of the series "33 Functioning Machines," in which the poems in this issue first appeard, was part of her MA thesis, "I Am Function," which also included short animated films and a theoretical essay about the construction of self-image.
 




Sanne

Sanne's most important, versatile substance is made up of thousands of
little creatures, all formed exactly alike, like bonbons. If one of these
bonbons were placed in a nutrient solution, a new little Sanne could grow
out of it, and therefore Sanne is waiting for science. For science will
prepare this nutrient solution and make Sanne immortal. The idea of
many Sannes, existing side by side, doesn't frighten Sanne. Just as her
bonbons get along, so will the many Sannes, who could together
produce still more Sanne, who could try out all the things that stand open
to one Sanne

Translated from German by
*Donna Stonecipher
Donna Stonecipher is the author of The Reservoir (Georgia, 2002) and Souvenir de Constantinople (Instance, forthcoming). She translates from French and German.



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