Shattered Bones

Can’t write

with my right

hand.

Yet

the left

is all that’s left.

Trümmerbruch¹⁸

Komm mit

meiner Rechten

nicht mehr zurecht.¹⁹

Leider bleibt

die Linke

linkisch.²⁰

¹⁸ This short poem came into being soon after a nasty accident I had in 2017, while teaching a class in theater at the University of Vienna. Actually, my students were giving conference participants a tour of historical theater sites in old Vienna, when I fell and shattered my righthand wrist. The poem was born of frustration and is thus compact, since it was impossible for me to use my right hand at the time.

¹⁹ The first verse of the original German version plays with the meaning of « zurechtkommen, » which literally means « to get along. » This composite German word incorporates « recht, » meaning « right. » In English, no similar word is available, so the translation makes use of the pun on the words « write » and « right. »

²⁰ In the German version, the second verse once again plays on another meaning of the German word « Linke » or left. In this case, it is the negative connotation of « linkisch » or awkward. Whereas the English translation uses a different meaning of « left » instead, namely that of being « left over. »