Translations
My mother was led into the world by her teeth Pulled like a bull into the heather
She only ever wanted to be a mother her whole life and nothing else, not even a human being!
One body turned into another body Pulled like that by the golden voices of children A bull out of hell Called out her teeth out in front of her her children pulling * First I walk my mother out into the field by a leash by a lifetime then she walks me out our coats shimmering I brush her hair Wipe the flies away from her eyes They are my eyes Who will ride my mother when we aren't around anymore? Her children won't Turned from one thing into another until you are a bull standing in a field The field just beginning to whistle us home * Then I am led by the mouth out into the yellow field
The light turning to water in the early evening, the insects dying in the cold and coming
back in the morning
Something has to come back Wings and shit I have put on my horse-head Led by a bit A lead My leader is tall and the hair on her forearms is gold It is a miracle to lower your eyes into the tall grass and eat
From Flies. Copyright © 2010 by Michael Dickman. Used with permission of Copper Canyon Press.