[audioplayer file=”https://admin.rattle.com/audio/SessnerAugust.mp3″]
and chlorine scent on my shirt from
the swimming pool the aunts
are there smiling slipping me
small change and what do you
want to be someday they
ask the spirit I say of the
boy who drowned last
year while swimming
his bicycle still stood in winter
in front of the pool oh they sigh
and one scuttles to the bathroom
no one budges until
finally there’s a flush
—translated from the German by Francesca Bell