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

 

 

Spell

 

your spell

burns on my skin

signs

which I can't decipher

I lick my wounds

and wait

for the soothing

at the end of the day

 

the sea breeze

drives my tiny boat

to a harbour

with multi-coloured markets

foreign merchants

with sparkling eyes

allure me

with veils and pearls

rare birds

glistening snakes

sensual scents

in gold vessels

heavy wines

 

I steer my boat

with growing strength

to the almost attained goal

but your spell like a whip

grabs me

wraps itself around my arms

around my chest

around my lap

burns desire

onto my skin

and I sink

into the original sin

 

at the end of the day

I scream

and lick my wounds

with bliss.

 

 

Testing The Limits Of Stylistics

 

distance drowned in grape blood

counting empty shells

on a lonely shore

holding tight at scraggy sun beams

looking for the missing word

 

yet we stare at the same stars

wavering between metaphors

 

you can shell your words

mould their pulp anew

wrap them

in brown packing paper

but you can't hide

the gleam in your eyes

 

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.