Poetry Magazine
What’s Bad
Not reading English,
and hearing about a new English thriller
that hasn’t been translated.
Seeing a cold beer when it’s hot out,
and not being able to afford it.
Having an idea
that you can’t encapsulate in a line of Hölderlin,
the way the professors do.
Hearing the waves beat against the shore on holiday at night,
and telling yourself it’s what they always do.
Very bad: being invited out,
when your own room at home is quieter,
the coffee is better,
and you don’t have to make small talk.
And worst of all:
not to die in summer,
when the days are long
and the earth yields easily to the spade.
Source: Poetry (November 2009).
Biography
Gottfried Benn (1886-1956) served in the German army’s medical corps during WWI and used his clinical experiences as inspiration for his first collections of poetry, Morgue und andere Gedichte (1912) and Fleisch (1917).
Poems by Gottfried Benn
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Living, Disappointment & Failure, Death, Activities
POET’S REGION Germany
Poetic Terms Free Verse
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