The Perpose

Wherever deep in the woods the perp also is.
There I fallow my woman and has its ounce
dow, the woods downward deep into being
hark I hear my voice again the
                              perp in the
                                  woods.

Translated by Gary Sullivan and Oya Ataman.

* * *

Der Zwergck

Wo im tiefen Wald der Zwerg auch ist.
Da hohl ich meine Frau und ißt sein mal
au, der Wald hinab geht tief zur Sein
da hör ich meine Stimme wieder der
                              Zwerg im
                                  Wald.

* * *

Notes

Oya and I originally had the title as "Dwarfph," since the "g" and "ck" in "Zwergck" would be pronounced similarly in German in the way that "f" and "ph" are pronounced similary in English. "Zwerg" is, of course "dwarf," and where you now see "perp" in the translation, we had dwarf.

But in reading Leo Navratil's notes about his and Herbeck's working process, and given how early this poem is, it occurred to me that Navratil probably did not suggest Zwerg as a subject, but rather "Zweck," which means "purpose," "aim" or "goal."

My suspicion is that Herbeck took the suggested subject, Zweck, and embedded Zwerg within it to create Zwergck. The dwarf, then, is born linguistically in the imaginative title, and then goes on about his/her business in the poem that follows.

Given how dark this poem feels, I felt that "perp" was not too negatively weighted--especially given that perps, of course, have very specific aims or goals or purposes, so the "perp" in the translation arrives into the poem in way similar to that of the Zwerg in Herbeck's.