APRILIA ZANK

Leda And The Swan

 

not the white of snow

or the velvet feathers

drove you to surrender

but the strength of muscle

against reluctant fibres

the taste of blood

on your thighs

ancestral instincts

gushing

in the rhythm of motion

opening the eyes

of your mind

wide

at the radiance of light

sensed in your lap

the numinous stir

tensing your breasts

under the numb weight

of feathers

the otherness

of the embrace

the grasp of the beak

on your neck

the mystery of

wings and arms

growing together

 

Find The Bird

 

this is a forlorn place

where once youngsters came

to gallivant, dance and love

when life seemed perpetual

and the wanderers, dancers and lovers

treasured it in their immortal minds

as they knew they would never forfeit 

and they didn't

floating above the waves

as feathers, breeze, echoes – 

 

and once in a while

a bird would fall to the ground

heavy with the sorrow of the world

and so tiny that you could hardly see it

lying there

on the barren rocks

in its delusive nest of feathers

withering under the callous sun

void of lustre and echo

 

The Death Of The Fisher King

 

to Robin Williams

 

he dug out his fire stallion...

from under the embers of the altar

put on his barbed wire crown

 

followed the traces of blood

of rats nagging at drowsy derelicts

in underground corridors

 

of lovers castigated by sniper gods

for having chosen the wrong place

in the wrong moment

 

of ghost cast shadows

tumbling in the squeeze of his skull

as he dragged his golden rags in the tunnels –

 

and how long can a man walk on water

to get a glimpse of the Grail

shimmering in the depths of the well?

 

not farther than a dream's length

not farther than the vault of a second

not farther than an owl's call in the dead of night

 

and how long can a man

walk into and out of a dream

without tattering its ephemeral carcass?

 

how long can a man

wipe off the blood on his hands

of deeds he has never begotten?

 

he put on his crown of burning feathers

mounted his stallion armoured with flames

vanished into the well

following the call of the Grail

 

APRILIA ZANK

 

Dr. APRILIA ZANK is an educationist, freelance lecturer for Creative Writing and Translation Theory, as well as a multilingual poet, translator, editor from Munich, Germany and an Author of the Poetry book BAREFOOT TO ARCADIA. Born in Romania, she studied English and French Literature and Linguistics at the University of Bucharest, and then moved to 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, from the Ludwig Maximilian University, where she started her teaching career. The research for her PhD thesis was done in collaboration with six universities from Europe, and as a visiting lecturer at Alberta University of Edmonton, Canada. Dr Aprilia writes verses in English and German, French and Romanian 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. In 2018, she was awarded the title “Dr. Aprilia Zank – Germany Beat Poet Laureate”, by the National Beat Poetry Foundation (USA). She has been an acclaimed guest at cultural events in Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Turkey, Singapore and Romania, where she read her poems, delivered lectures on various topics. Her poems and articles are published in many ezines and Anthologies of different countries.