[A POETRY CHAPBOOK]
Kurt Schwitters [A Poetry Chapbook]
Poems by Kurt Schwitters Designed by Kelly E Gatesman
And in the night [1946]
And in the night,
The is open.
darkness
When things get round All corners are round
air.
Open in the And the stream Falls with noise. When I clap and clap My trap on your trap. Pecalamit.
Opinion Par Avion Onion opinion Par Avion Herbert Read Naoum Gabo Tuntagro Nelly My dear friend Par Avion I am so glad Par Avion Aa vee I ou ennenn I ou enn ou enn enn London
Opinion [1946]
3
58 4, 4, 4 ½4 59 4, 4, 4 ½4 6, 6, 6 56 6, 6, 6 ¾6 57 5, 5, 5 ² 5
25 25, 25, 26 26, 26, 27 27, 27, 28 28, 28, 29 31, 33, 35, 37, 39 42, 44, 46, 48, 52 53 9, 9, 9
Poem 25 [1922]
54 8 8, 8, 55 7 7, 7, 56
25 4 4, 4, ½ 4 4 4, 4, ½ 4 4 4, 4
4
4
Desire [1922] And Without Have Sing Earthworm Strut Lyric Tradition The beggar Of Hollow Green Of about Of abutments The grass.
ZA [1922] Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K I H G F E D C B A
Premonitions [1937]
ke
a ids m k e h s en t d, ev , your kid l o t e you g than you n e h s W poem r e t t be ded. inclu
A concrete pigeon in the hand is worth two abstract sparrows on the roof.
Ice Clocks [1922]
Clocks cook clocks ice simmer ember Clocks cook ice
Mimosa, orange, aphrodite, tulip flora, aphrodite. I drift around through life a dead fish.
Boil clocks boil breathe ice Ember crumbles ember simmer ice
Madness can be divided. Madness can be divided and multiplied.
What Is Madness? best [1924-25] The way to
may it leave our time free space for being free.
stand Politics t sof at the ur o core of time.
Da po da is liti is a ag cs ga ai be in ns ca st t m us ad e it ne ss.
learn about madness is to distance oneself from it. Madness is politics.
re co t tha ften y o Ma on s and o s rther fu
that I now have said that there was nothing I said. friend that I said to a third had said that a fourth friend d said that a fifth friend ha d said that a sixth friend ha said that I once must have id what I never once sa to all ct fa let him say for a those friends
When someone once said that some friend had once said that some other friend said
What someone once said [1937]
In the center of the center stands a man. The mailbox dangles from its house.
ard me. ripens tow y r r e b k c . eet bla l and pure ditch a sw a y ic a r w le h c ig : w. e h In the dappled co heep’s smil s a e s d th n is ta s k ge Mil of the villa the center n I
Village Poem [1922]
y. lectricit
fe e soul o h t s i e r Wi
A woman does screech: “Wow o wow!”
“Baa” the sheep says. See the maiden with an apron on. Also her bare foot is the maiden’s own. And on her bumble bridle Blume Anna sits alone.
The world is full of goods trains The passengers are cows And milk and butter. And cheese and lovely marmelade And bulls and horses, And cocks and hens.
Perhaps Strange [1942] The cow is mother to the milk, And grandma both to cheese and butter. The cheese is cousin to the marmalade. The horse is cousin to the cock The hen lays eggs. The egg is cousin to the cheese and butter, The son and daughter of the milk.
Isn’t it strange? It is.
The gazelle trembles [1947]
The gazelle trembles, As the lions roar. The hyena shambles. But ART GIVES MORE.
I and You [1946] I I I I
am the bak, chissel lak, griffel taaler, am the Maaler.
You You You You
are feudinn, chissel tinn, griffel turkey, are the purkey.
Foreman Forepower Fore Csharp D Me fore C-sharp D.
Workers Song [1920]
C-sharp D forepower foreman. Foreman me? Forepower C-sharp D-flat? D-sharp E-flat? Shifts power Me shifts power Workingman shifts power.
D E-flat
I call out: rise! Foreman a e! Powers aris e! aris C-shar p D Me arise!
C-sharp D-sharp Me fore Me Me
Workingman C-sharp D Workingman Foreman Shifts power Foreman shifts power Shifts Csharp D Foreman Powerman Forepower C-sharp D.
Poems by Kurt Schwitters
Body text set in Rockwell Bold Condensed Titles set in DIN 1451 Engschrift
Translated by Jerome Rothenberg & Pierre Joris
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