Guy Helminger

• A morning with a cold
  

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drags itself along the timber walkway
in Harlingen rows across the sea in
 
hopes of reaching the horizon
soon. The black-headed gulls
 
slice sails on the masts When
the boats leave harbour the sky
 
will consist of few remnants of
fabric and we shall hold on to
 
the fishing rods and peer inside
where the dead have been robbed
 
of their bones Question: What would
you take with you from a
 
flooded house? Answer:
The flood
 
But meanwhile we are rich enough
and have instructed the oysters
 
to produce pennies in place of pearls
 
 
Translation: Delphine Lettau
 

​Guy Helminger was born in 1963 in Esch / Alzette (Luxemburg) and studied German Literature and Philosophie in Luxemburg, Heidelberg and Cologne. Since 1985 he has been living in Cologne and working as a writer. He has received the Prix Servais, the 3sat Prize, the Dresden Poetry Prize, the Merano Poetry Prize and the Gustav Regler Prize, among others, for his work.

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