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I saw Death

with my own eyes

not in a movie

not in a poem

not in Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”

but in my own flesh and blood

and although I still go

to the supermarket

to the butcher’s

to the doctor’s to check

my blood pressure

the sugar in my blood

the neurons in my brain

although I drink my glass of red wine every evening

although I reach the climax when I copulate

I know IT is there

in the back of my head

and I shout to you out there

to send me prayers

good vibes

positive thoughts

but all I hear is

the echo of my own words

filling your mouths

when you shout back

and beg for mercy

and all I can do is

show you my bare hands

and give them to you

to read your own story

in the lines of my palms.

© 2017, Aprilia Zank 

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DR. APRILIA ZANK is a lecturer for Creative Writing and Translation in the Department of Languages and Communication at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, where she received her PhD degree in Literature and Psycholinguistics for her thesis THE WORD IN THE WORD Literary Text Reception and Linguistic Relativity.

Aprilia is also a poet, a translator and the editor of two anthologies: the English–German anthology poetry tREnD Eine englisch-deutsche Anthologie zeitgenössischer Lyrik, LIT Verlag, Berlin, 2010, and the anthology POETS IN PERSON at the Glassblower (Indigo Dream Publishing, April, 2014). She writes verse in English and German, and was awarded a distinction at the “Vera Piller” Poetry Contest in Zurich. Her poetry collection, TERMINUS ARCADIA, was 2nd Place Winner at the Twowolvz Press Poetry Chapbook Contest 2013. Aprilia Zank is also a passionate photographer: many of her images are prize-winners and several have been selected for poetry book covers.

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