©Boris Becker

Jürgen Becker

Translation and Commentary by Ken Fontenot

Jürgen Becker was born in Cologne in 1932. A writer of poetry, fiction, and radio plays, his reputation as a prominent poet has grown steadily since his receiving the Villa Massimo Fellowship in 1965. Suhrkamp is his publisher. For many years he has been active as a publisher’s reader, a script editor for the theater, and a broadcasting editor. His numerous accolades include the Group 47 Prize, the Peter Huchel Prize, and the Heinrich Böll Prize. He is a member of PEN, the Berlin Academy of Arts, and the German Academy for Language and Literature.
 

In the Wind
 

Blackbirds, then voices. They don’t even

stop in the snow, whenever along with the snow

some news comes, which this morning

is quite essential. Or how

do you see it? I see the pear tree and how it

(the pear tree) reacts to the wind (to the

wind). This morning, once again, the decision

came. War between

magpies and crows, only this war,

no fooling around, only this clear communication.

Another voice, the next commentary; indeed (once

again) everything’s at stake. Are you standing in

the garden? Then you know, here here chick-chick, theblackbird

has first of all given warning, you know that, I’ll say it

once again, in the war, in the new snow, in the wind.