Kaspar Is Dead

Jean Arp 1886 (Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine) – 1966 (Basel, Canton of Basel-Stadt)



(Translated by G P Skratz)

o god our kaspar is dead
& now there's no-one to steal away with the burning flag &
snap it every day in the dark cloud's braided hair.

no-one to crank the coffee-mill in the ancient cask.

no-one to conjure idyllic deer from the petrified grocery bag.

no-one to sniff ships umbrellas bee-keepers udders of wind
spindles of ozone no-one to filet the pyramids.

o god god god our good old kaspar is dead. lord lord
kaspar is dead.

heart-broken shark's teeth rattle with grief in the belfry
when we utter his given name. so i stick to his last,
sighing kaspar kaspar kaspar.

why have you deserted us. what form has your great soul
wandered into now. have you become a star or a chain of
water on a hot whirlwind or a plump breast of black light
or a transparent brick on the groaning drum of the rocks
of existence...

o now the crowns of our heads the soles of our feet wither
away & angels smolder on the funeral pyre.

the dark bowling alley thunders behind the sun & there's
no-one to wind the compasses & the wheels of wheelbarrows.

no-one to dine with the phosphorescent rat at the barefoot
table.

no-one to drive off the wind devil when he tries to seduce
the horses.

no-one to teach us monograms in the stars.

his bust will adorn all truly noble firesides but there is
no snuff & comfort for a dead head.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 18, 2023

1:16 min read
233

Quick analysis:

Scheme A BCX X C XA XB XXD XXXAA DD AA XX AA A AB
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,314
Words 252
Stanzas 14
Stanza Lengths 1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2

Jean Arp

Hans Peter Wilhelm Arp (16 September 1886 – 7 June 1966), better known as Jean Arp in English, was a German-French sculptor, painter, and poet, and worked in other media such as torn and pasted paper. He was known as Dadaist and abstract artist.  more…

All Jean Arp poems | Jean Arp Books

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