Two Poems

When Christo had wrapped the Three Tenors
on the balcony of La Scala
the civilized world fell unnaturally silent
Falsetto supplications
barely audible through the sackcloth
were registered
in horror and glee
by opera lovers attending the spectacle
but where that desperate ear-splitting top note issued from
remained uncertain
It may however be assumed
to have come from the middle
and more voluminous
of the celebrities
whose mummified contour
began to quiver
while
at his feet
an envoy from the world’s freest country
voiced his concern about such curbing
if not gagging
of human communication
Opera buffs will be pleased to learn
that the wrapping
in grey plastic
of Robert Wilson and Peter Sellars
halfway up Cologne Cathedral
has been confirmed
and will commence
in due course

(Translated from the German
by the author with Richard Stokes)

After arriving in paradise
we ask ourselves
skeptics to the last
what on earth is going on here
The deaf listen to music
while musicians have fallen silent
The dumb have acquired speech
while the eloquent start to babble
The lame are running like weasels
when not darting through the air
We
the powerless
stay powerless
content
with but a tinge of regret
watching the ugly grow beautiful
angels with blackened wings
drop from the sky
and the serpent
aim at us
hissing from its tree

(Translated from the German
by the author with Richard Stokes)