recovery room I

Author: Uljana Wolf
Translator: Tony Frazer

oh if only I’d stayed in the recovery room
dream-lost drip-bound under white

sheets near others who’d also lost their way
a herd of sheep close to sleep still close to

god and comfort great sisterbeasts were there
our shepherds who bent softly over us –

and we introduced ourselves the number puzzle
man: on a scale of one to ten tell me

how much does it hurt? – and there would be
no barrier in sight that could reveal us

from the depths again out of the post-narcotic
snuffles – this time we’d stay quite close by

this self hard to tell apart from other sheep
grazing absently here in the recovery room

Originally published in German by © KOOKbooks, Berlin 2005