APRILIA ZANK

 

What Have They Done To My Earth?

What have they done to my eyes?

They are sore with the sorrow of the world,

blinded by the smoke of smouldering flesh,

dazzled by the flashes of evil unfurled.

What have they done to my words?

They have torn them off my aching tongue,

thrashed and crashed them in taming attempts,

squashed the pulse of life from rhymes unsung.

What have they done to my dreams?

They have screened my brain, altered my cells,

manipulated my cortex with new paradigms,

dragged my innocence to the gates of hell.

What have they done to my Earth?

They have poisoned my waters, burnt my trees,

fractured Gaia's ribs to rob her entrails of gold,

spread wreckage and waste in my valleys and seas.

But I shall stand tall, not let my words be silenced,

will raise my voice, speak my mind loud and clear,

will clean the earth and plant the seeds of new trust,

will teach mankind to live without grief or fear!

Rapsodie Espagnole

out of the concert hall

in the dark

in the empty street

wondering

where all the passers-by

had vanished

I saw those fires

at an uncertain distance

those silhouettes

dancing,

or fighting,

or loving

and I was there

among the embers

and smoke

my veils caught fire

burnt layer by layer

my skin sparkled

with scattered pearls

ghosts all around

I sensed their eyes

pierce the darkness

their breath

build bridges to my lips

while the old gypsy

grinned

shuffled the cards

to tell me a fortune

which I was unwilling

to hear

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.