From ‘Ich muß mein Herz üben’ by Angela Kraus translated by Michael Ritterson

ICH MUß MEIN HERZ üBEN

Tacitly
humanity is in agreement
that the world does exist.

Hardly anyone dares come out publicly
with the question: Is there really a world ?

The fact that it’s visible is insufficient proof.
If something invisible can exist,
then it should be possible now and again
for something visible not to exist.

Why, then, this conspicuous shortage
of talk at the breakfast table ?
Or in all of nature, which is patient with us.

Does the world exist ?

I must practice my heart !

By Angela Krauß

Translated from the German by Michael Ritterson

Angela Krauß – Writer in Residence Spring 2009 at the CAGCR. Angela Krauß was born in 1950 in Chemnitz. She studied advertising at the Fachschule für Gestaltung und Werbung in East Berlin and worked in advertising and communication until 1972. From 1976 to 1979 she studied at J.R. Becher Institute for Literature in Leipzig. Angela Krauß shot to fame when she won the Ingeborg Bachmann prize in 1988. She was visiting Professor for Creative Writing at the University of Paderborn in 2000 and gave the prestigious Frankfurter Poetikvorlesungen in 2004. Besides having been awarded numerous prizes she is a member of the Academy of the Fine Arts of Saxony and the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz. Angela Krauß lives and works in Leipzig

Angela Krauß was one of Six Trendsetting German Authors who took part in the ‘Waves of Difference’ German Literature Festival organised by Queen Mary, University of London and Goethe-Institut London.

Thank you to the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations at the Queen Mary, University of London for allowing us to publish this translation.