Flight Notes about translation

A wonderful moment happened during the translation of Wavelengths of Your Song when Knut Birkholz was working on the poem “Blindness” and looked up “flight note.” He sent me the following screen shot and said, “This is almost a poem.”

Red Knot and Flight note

Excerpt from “Blindness”

Instead we guessed

at redpoll and sparrow numbers:

the rhythm

of flight notes on north

south flyways.

***

Von “Blindheit”

Stattdessen rieten wir

bei Birkenzeisig und Sperling

Zahlen:

der Rhythmus

von Flugtönen auf Nord-

südflugrouten.

***

Wellenlängen deines Liedes (translated by Knut Birkholz) is available from parasitenpresse. A description of the book in German can be read here.

***

See also the poem Upside-Down Dante/Umgekehrter Dante for my description of hot air ballooning.

I took the photos for this blog while floating in a hot air balloon.