Heir Apparent

Introduction

and crying deep in the abyss : deeply, his white sneaker still in the parlor, the dead foot, unconsoling branchlet/practice »études«

—FM

études is the first title of a three-part series by Friederike Mayröcker, Austrian writer of over 80 works, followed by cahier (Suhrkamp 2014) and fleurs (Suhrkamp 2016). It’s a dedication to the play of practice in expression and form, a demanding exercise of making one’s way by and through language, and coming to know its early spring so to speak, when in its budding potentiality it shapes itself in its core preparing for germination. In this work, a journalistic documenting of inner life, plant matter, art matter, emotional matter, branchlets that grasp and weave from one entry to the next, dated as 28.4.11 (April 28), 3.5.11 (March 5), etc. Mayröcker’s work is at once singularly concentrated and meticulously hewn following in the poetics of a Francis Ponge and also her late partner, the poet Ernst Jandl, while simultaneously resisting the opacity of their works in its expansiveness, its polyvalence, in its celebrating the ever ongoing unfinished work of the poet. Damals (that time, or, there time) figures as the chorus, also childhood memories of traveling to Halifax, thoughts in the privy (Abtritt—the toilet, the aside) dancing with Peter Handke and then being described by the latter as unread, phone conversations about depression with friends, and of reading in Genet, a fluid center of memory from which these poems orbit out and around, exploding into vastness.

And Genet returns again and again as Mayröcker in thieves’ cant, 1 moonsmuggled messages (1 Mondkassiber), language that is turned inside out and disguised to pass under the noses of the imperial forces bent on flattening the language. Mayröcker writes as a poet whose own language is one’s own life, a life that breaks the bounds of a first person subjectivity, as she often writes in the third person subjunctive but leaves out the subject to give the sensation of an Entichungswillen (the will to de-I, a denial of the first person) explored by Hölderlin in the tower poems. This makes for a challenge, if not an impossibility to render in English. So as possible, I have tried to use the subjunctive, and stretching the gerund, which does not exist as such in German, to lend the translations a sense of the misty borders and time found in Mayröcker’s German.

from études

»les études« in the heart the branchlets lips of snow leaflets in my heart stag-beetles Fuchsias, I lied, don’t want to eat any more don’t want to drink any more only want into the clouds, Marie, have raving winglets, Marie, kiss you on both cheeks, Marie, ach furor Fauré was in pain in tears, Marie, since my heart invisible like 1 memorial, Robert Musil, was feeling blue sniffled weakly etc., in the moment of awakening, Marie, with snow in the hair with snow in the eyes ++++++++ with snow blossoms that time the branches of the cherry trees feeling for the open window by night, partridge and moor and on the trails, the tears, on the trails the tears while the birds on their blue tracks how I feel for their hearts how I press them to my heart, Fuchsias for many miles of miles of Fuchsias, Marie, on your lip, Marie, you pipe bird, Marie, wings Ferns, Marie, morning whisp of April ach rosé, 1 little ach Fauré, blow up little Maybell bouquets with holy water, Marie, and all things must be ready to serve, Marie (and became 6-cornered face from it ++++++++), Marie

28.4.11

as I awoke, lying on my back with my hands balled into little fists and 1 adventure when we forget each other eternally namely the veins of every leaflet (»etudes«) namely we ADORED ourselves etc. …….. namely burying oneself into the damp pillow, the precise poetry of Ilse Aichinger, the Markusplatz that time : head to head and dove to dove : everything in grey, Gertrude Stein. Carotid clogged 1 dark summer — from the kitchen window lean fox in the terrain of the Wertheimstein Park tracing, line-ticker poem, lamentations, deep grotto in the rosy dawn »études« exercises, the lineage : 1 spider. 1 intimation in the middle of the night that 1 humming : fly or wasp in the night cabinet but then the buzzing went out, cotton in the ear of back-to-sleep …….. on the FRAMING half-moon in bright night etc., in the framing 1 kitchen towel, or flag, feelings full of angst, leaflets of Mimosa tree withered, and protégé LAPIN/the rabbit, surrounded by 1 Viola, PLUMAGE, oh you white-fluffed bird of the clouds — the ruffle the rouge of the roses, the ruffle of rain, the redolent shells »Bataille«

3.5.11

»études« faded early spring the clear-cut chestnut branches in the grass sweet grass of the sticky chestnut buds while the small shako folded out of newspaper, the Horae, of Schiller tones 1 dark

Voice from the back of the car, The Horae, of Schiller, silver, stitched moon and stars = embroidered and that time Mama her HANDKERCHIEF stuffed into the décolleté namely memory of 1 stuffing in of her handkerchief with sun and moon etc. into her cleavage : the »Ivy Monograms« Jean Genet, so like shelter that she does not misplace it lose it, ach 1 stitched stifled thing at her breast stifled handkerchief so that at all times it’s at hand etc. alias sheltering cloak Madonna …….. the

night sky stitched with sun and moon = embroidered so faded early spring in the glass brushwood in the flowerpot etc., afterglows sinking in cities fans of rosée flower of Oleander, languoring death Pansy’s eyes sewed shut …….. wily

gal oh pipe bouquet oh

protégé

for C.F.

3.5.11

this branchlet of exercise (»étude«) branchlet exercise (»étude«) and

as M.Th.K. hurried out ahead in the dark of the campus namely at night

that time once again not wanting to let the light

of morning break in meanwhile the crow : curl over the eye I mean the eye

casting shadow shading with crow : curl (strand) of overnightly

crow : curl meanwhile Lily of the Valley’s chiming ringing in morning-

hour which I with dark crow : curl darken meanwhile

voice of the beloved echoing in my heart once again eye of the

beloved winking at me meanwhile Lily of the Valley scent and uncovering

me shoulder and neck (the glasses that gliding to the floor with

whisping/cornerlet of shelf etc.) Pansies’ kisses in

the morning foliage meanwhile the lilacs’ bursts of breath namely »the

Lilac is going to my head ..« etc., meanwhile sleeping amidst re-

fuse/animals, rhetoric of curfew, spring namely in

its CLOGS striding ahead hear it striding in its wood-

en slippers intoxicating Florilegium meanwhile rainbowiridescing

flash ach eye-crack of death meanwhile

gullet : droning writings, il tempo namely Radishes time,

meanwhile in the lightblue kimono sky white fluff flab down of

cloudlets already disembodying themselves …….. am a-

ghast oh murky resedagreen meanwhile repeatedly scurrying nights

to crucification glimpse colossal

lineaments in nightly hallway mirror meanwhile

windburst (Mignon) etc. little shakos scraplet of privy

5.5.11

exercise cahiers exercise in the notebooks

that like the flower nature or name, »and the most beloved live near-

by, languishing on most separate mountains« Höld., pro-

tégé namely have rinsed loose plumtree. Oversown

with Dogroses (Mother’s favorite flowers), Chamomiles – little shakos

scraplets of privy ie Reseda : murky yellowgreen of morning-

calm, the »Ivy Monograms« as Jean Genet ………. have

death from the bushes, have laced snowshoe have found

breadcrumb in snowshoe – exercise cahiers exercise in the notebooks

wafting etudes Magnolias etudes of rain, kisses of raindrops

dewing skies, would like to walk in misting gardens strolling burning

gardens with you etc., NO not death not transformation not ruin

not passing not parting not unisono – ach lineament of

birch-grove white Violas : exercise cahiers exercise in notebooks :

nightly Glas : pond : little standing water (photographed

by B.S.), little standing water deep grotto, behind tree stumps

Wingthornroses Birches Liana percussions, Serenity’d Liver-

leaf, after intimate sleep this crying and pleading

woodisles of blossoms and birds …….. what

I with thorn-shrubs …….. here Lilac-blossom

went out (in 1 burst of breath)

7.5.11

namely the marmots the fairylike May I mean this fairylike spring in the Foxglove tree (»on 1 Croatian prairie ..«) it used to always tear out my heart but now it’s all the same, you know all the same to me, »the Horae« of Schiller you know »I lust over every line of yours«, while the Japanese cats namely the cats whine actually wail : lamentations you know, all the same, Schiller’s »the Horae«, am cracked lying on my arms in the sun in the window, smell the rain that seeped in many years in the frame of the window, thin as of veils my sleep, toward morning tearing, the wind namely these tiny airs blows into the small of my neck (in the privet hedge) such 1 fairylike May etc. fresh as that time in D. the wafting of May as we stepped out of the house and hand in hand and the pearls of the dawning am cracked lying on my arms in the window smell the scent of the many rains which seeped into the wood frame of the window …….. what concerns the eyeslit of cats which in the AREA = Restricted Area straying and crying and screaming/I mean the blue May : exercise of May »étude« ach exercise of the birdlets »étude« at sundown etc., the night is sickling, claw of the music-notebook, kneesocks of the trees in 1 cemetery i.e. of ivy, such racked life, le kitsch, little folded letterlet in the bathroom ……..»so it drove inside me, last night up there, at that height« …….. Thomas Kling

12.5.11

the twitching of the lids dearest of the birdlet’s open

beaks skulls mornings as it mouths, beaking around 1

blossoming branch on 1 trembling branch in the wafting of

May singing dreaming the tender claws I mean clawing, like

Valérie like Lenz’s sash fragrant like engl.Rose : in

ash trees running …….. Turner, overdressed or

window pillow cemented, the engl.Roses’ aghast

whisp in midst. Firefly’s trail : diamond in that

night as you kissing me …….. Laurels in your

garden (»how high the moon«) the night sickles that time as

the Danube your naked feet swilling, how it winds pen-

nant of the ships gliding past (Christmas treelet’s summer) –

its shadow suddenly looming to my left frightening

me »whereto’s the path« etc. then me heavening : embracing,

the long hair, tied together, you know, in politeness,

Resedas presumably/cuckoo-pieces smelling the

ruches of intimacy etc., the bedstead, namely.

for EvS

14.5.11

»and if 1 drives to the Rhein« (I regress) and if 1 drives

to the Rhein by these words on the telephone meanwhile/presently starting

tears and if 1 drives to the Rhein all at once meanwhile/pre-

sently with these words on the telephone starting the tears and if 1 drives

to the Rhein the locks

of the Loreley I kissed them (I regress) all at once and

Heinrich Heine and if 1 drives to the Rhein 1 airlet namely :

Heinrich Heine the Loreley her locks I have

kissed them (I regress) the airlets wafting in the trees the leafage of the

floral wreaths …….. on the waters and if 1 drives to

the Rhein the tears flow 1 floral wreath in its locks (I

regress) Heinrich Heine and if 1 drives to the Rhein the

airs waft

for Susanne Becker

16.5.11

exercise of the summer : zenith : with bare feet, Magnolia tree, while working on this book the imagining of 1 little exercise maintained itself : 1 etude of 1 blossoming twig, 1 leaflet in my hand, of 1 Stone Pine LINE of unseeming Francis Ponge etc., that time out of the living room window mother’s head, waved after me 1 long time while I ran down the alley continually turning around waving she was already frail but she smiled

in this movie etc.

These cheery stamen in lung in spring these strawberries in front of the general goods store glowed namely the open-sliced melons halved sun – the sleepinducing tablets taken at 2 in the morning, pecking doves at our feet us sitting on the little wall, Naschmarkt »blessed meal« that we cried also pecking humans also »Horae« …….. also puddles starting into which we started plunging and crying. Also crumbs breadcrust remembrance-bag at the Naschmarkt (kitchen philosophy and the like), and how they started : plunging down : from the kitchen table the spoonlets : hasty as sucklings that time, had spoon faces honey-trickling, isn’t it true – »OK« and laughing »OK« out of the telephone (like bedstead, that time) and then in the dreams with the scraplets scribblet swiping back and forth and every scraplet 1 slang etc., then lightblue in the window, the natures changing : murkinesses : Händel’s »Berenice« e.g., the Bitter Oranges namely chirping ACH as yg.birdlet in budding trees whose sawn off branches by the bunches in the wafting grass and crimson tones oh deepest gal ……..

21.5.11

1 leaflet of heaven’s kingdom in the hand exercise

of the summer, inexhaustible night, aura of morning, dreamed mor-

ninglandlike conversations, ejaculate in the knapsack — woe!

raw smoking chest tea rose in the glass yellow self-exfoliating ……..

(piddling »good morning«) : hyper-poetic

the code (cud) sometimes how flower like fragrance from flower Lily-

fragrance of Peony Tischbein’s Goethe in the Campagna or

by the Loire, this mixture of fragrance and repulsive smell wild-

honey e.g., on the kitchen table the honey pours itself out or that

time with Valérie on the terrace of the café as it began raining

heavily etc. and we pattered in fits-and-starts pattered (bless-

ings) as 1 sends children to bed …….. bitter honey »le

weekend« 1 leaflet of heaven’s kingdom etc. heard the swallows

how they cheep, stream at night by the streams of Babel there

we sat and wept, the deep grotto : hollow of our

kisses (Goethe writes that German were 1 kiss to the world),

silver CALLOUS of the night, Mischpoke of Jesus ……..

…….. she had dreamed Myrrh-scent, Azure and Lilac-

heart

by the Loire. Blueweather, am in the wind

28.5.11

but the love opened up in the thickets, Linden trees namely alleys that fragrant, fields of apostrophes swallowed whereto, planes of wild speech flesh I mean planes of wild speech elements – meanwhile shower of any yg.Jasmine-bushes streaming down : from sweete Jasmine-woods meanwhile the verbum in seeking to hide itself etc., I mean not appearing at its orthodox place but atomizes somewhere in the middle of the sentence formation : lesson received via Elke Erb etc., and were it to have happened in 1 descent, these withered (weathered) Peonies in the glass which by-the-flank = flake-by-flake while the Linden blossoms swarming down and in the small rain puddles I mean that as white pellicules appear namely exercises of the Jasmine bush blossom leaflets = »études« meanwhile FAMULUS Elke Erb very slender elite University dressed in black across from me with with sparing curls isn’t it true, in tender masculinity …….. had dream of 1 trip into outer space whereby in fresh colors 1 rayon of red fruit, the actual Lily of the Valley the »Monograms of Ivy« …….. Reseda I wept 1 Viola (murmuring) Dogroses etudes of spring namely fragrant ruches cheek to cheek heart to heart of rain, fragrant halls of forests, in her arms »Bataille« protégé with Dogroses Chamomiles and Carnations so 1 of those bed of Roses and Gladiolas (Genet), exercise of 1 birdlet’s chirping in the early evening (»étude«), exercise in the evening before the storm, in dark branchwork, ach cried myself to sleep, then dreamt of TURNER, »overdressed«

3.6.11

always the yellow thickets (in the hair) thorns at the prairie-swath, Iris Dogroses Clematis in isles, faded Jasmine stemlet in the glass still fragrant have poured out the tears where the deep grotto and I on 1 bench under nut trees leaflet of crêpe-paper steaming soul 4 o’clock in the morning early hours, Liana and Lady’s Mantle tied together to sheaf +++++++++++ your voice resounding on the walls of the deep grotto, Foxglove Angelica your flaming ears (Dahlia-messages/made in heaven), when opening the window in the morning the scent of 1 Viola-bouquet wafts me …….. namely Magritte : Viola-tuff instead of girl’s face ++++++++++ cuplet of snow (Roses), by the Loire …….. with 1 stick or staff in 1 river you pull FURROW, the birds’ adornment, isn’t it true, »wedding of Venice with 1 ocean« etc. – ach with 1 staff you pull FURROW through water : silken foot or flood, pulling FURROW through this river, on the staff still 1 leaflet that the river will rip off etc., dipping hands in diligence and blood –

(at the Stockholm airport I saw you again it was during advent and fevered to each other, wanted to go with him to another city to another country, »le kitsch« etc.) poet of the WASTE LAND, all at once, 1 of his little Karlsruhes, moocher time is gaining on us, little cup of snow, »blossoms ex-blossoms« : Ann Cotten …….. »scrounging 1 bit« in the rustles of leaves, ach mesh of tears, you plant the saplings into the blue of the sky, isn’t it true, such heterogeneous writing

10.6.11

excelsior = the sublime way, hadn’t I worn baby-doll dresses. Tearing into the sky (secrecy) something about you discretion : right earlobe left ear : soaring/sobbing I cried – no longer willing to speak in society no longer able to speak, secrecy, cold eyelashes …….. am I not, since I was 1 child, with ice skates, and Mother freezing behind the boundary of the ice rink and me with protective glances etc., torn in saddle : no longer daring to speak with any 1, unable to encounter any 1, Arvo Pärt with angel-voices calling up the holy ghost by blaring luring, ach world of dust : this crumb of AMPHIBIAN in the bedstead (»this is 1 stickup« : from poem to prose, isn’t it true) …….. and hadn’t we, as we began to love traded handwritings namely matching them, the big »Z« e.g., bushy/and woods’-thicket, and hadn’t they, the great aunts, often spoken of »lisière«?

and feeling cold (at 80 degrees), lying down sensing cold because (too publically whiskey) because all too gripping the lecture, not finding the moment to cover 1 self up, would like to loose myself from my past, oh that I refuse to speak to elucidate to give directives branches = Zweige : to point, to twig with the finger : there, that way!, because 1 will not/cannot explain, because the words won’t come : agliding about, since they’re OBDURATE I mean 1 wishes that every 1 would comprehend us also without words, 1 refuses : refuses 1 self

++++++++++ he had asked that time : is longing large?

am not sociable, the end

13.6.11

Pentecost Monday