Jungle we have been together so long that our cuttings have grown to trees a jungle with greenish snakes around tender boughs juices dripping from overripe fruit behind supple stems feline eyes lying in wait the greedy scream mating whispers monkeys sniggering and again one was too weak – in our bedroom the python's digesting his ten pigeons Like A Phoenix I rose from the ash of my fires wings armoured in gold purple plaster-wrought plumage I had died a thousand deaths gone through a thousand oblivions shuddered at the Gates but the seeds of my blood burst and thrived in fresh soil brain wove new paradigms litanies turned to arrows I shall tread this path to the end feed on cinnamon and myrrh wear my beauteous rags hidden behind this adamantine shell Parting the dawn blurs under persistent rain the narcotic still in my blood I head toward a tedious awakening weave between slumber and half-awareness try to focus on images trickling down into the blown rubber sealing of the bus window – cleft from myself my gaze penetrates the pane rambles sends back messages which I fail to understand – I strive to give content to words burning on huge hoardings towering the road benevolent welfare promisors grin at me with regular false teeth – a bunch of school kids splash momentary shades of colour onto the grey of daybreak I struggle to disentangle the now from the yesterday at the other end of the day on the roadside a woman petrifies in an endless waving
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.
Confessions 