Ick spraeke kein Deutsch.
but i’m on a roll
of the dice,
to attempt to understand
a few phrases,
a little buzz.
mein Prinz -
he knows a little. he lived
in Germany, once upon a time.
I don't want to be dim.
I press on, past the thirty second
ads (they’re persistent)
Don’t give up.
Everyone knows a little. Perhaps not
how to spell.
This app is called Duolingo. Will it do a little
for a ding-a-ling like me?
mein Mann -
his Tanta Karen und Oncle Walter
will speak English to me
but I’d like to speak some Deutsch
to them…and listen in.
Mango also is a great help - free through the library.
I’ll never be a hyperpolyglot, but i’ll no more,
than not! You have to know at least six
languages (Do they say fluently?)
I know a little French, Spanish, German, Greek,
English of course and a little geek ;)
She arrived at 3pm on the dot
coming anywhere other than Greater Manchester
her northern accent was hard to decipher
She could recognise a meter oak
but had no time for Robinas
She enquired why guys were into figures
after i mentioned my SL120 record player
She was fiercely Red/ Green
believing in mandated proportional representation
She had a German Granny
and could understand, but not speak Deutsch
She could only thank me for a chat
not wishing for a relationship
my efforts thwarted
no green shoots
A V.P. named Ms. Kamala Harris
Headed straight for the border of Paris
First she spoke Espanol
When eyes started to roll
She switched to Deutsch, not-at-all embarrassed
I walked without her through a tentacled forest. Skulls broke beneath butters. A scarlet-and-gold clad Legionnaire, unequipped for darkness, richer than Deutsch chocolate. A lance bogged in moist marsh. Stripped bare and skull dragged, I broke free, into the forest. I walked there, without her.
My Two German Beaux,On a TVCooking Show
Oh, how I love sauerbraten
and that divine apple strudel!
But it was even better to see
Guy Fieri with my two old German
Chicago beaux on his TV show!
Why, I nearly lost my noodle!
There they were,still very comely,
on the cooking channel.
Making a great German dinner
Why,I almost knocked my German
beer stein off the mantle!
I was thinking back to times in
Chicago of soccer games and
festive Deutsch holidays!
When we danced like their was
no tomorrow.
Who ever dreamed time would
pass so fast!
I felt like Alice in Wonderland
peering through a magical,
looking glass.
When I was young, never once
believing time would pass!
11-3-2019
Dedicated to Peter A, in Chicago,
who was the inspiration for this
work! Danke, my friend.
Facts don’t matter
Kleinen factor
Das mach dribble
All my scribble
Schlegel passive
Meaning massive
Vorton measured
Lyrics treasured
Erinnerungen
In den blauen weiten des meeres
Im schleier des nebels
Im warmen sommerregen
Im duft der blueten
I'm schwindenten abendrot
Im schimmern des mondes
Und in den traumen der nacht
Suche ich etwas
Und was bleibt
Die erinnerung wird schwinden
Wie die sonne im novembernebel
Ein hauch von glueck
Verloren am horizont
Aber jetzt ist es kalt
In der weissblauen welt
Wo die sonne auf den schnee faellt
Wo der horizont keine klaare linie
Vervolgen moechte
Und wo alles schmaelzt
Zur ewigkeit.
''Let their beaks be bolted
Till all breath their last''
Says Lord Gaga of our sky.
So when we eye a chick below
And perch on it recoveringly
To pet the wolves in our guts
Behold their crescendo:
Die,die,die ...
But Goodloot resides at other sky
Where with harps and hymns
Eagles lift lions like acorns.
So we shall ''do the needful''
Fly no more here but there
For there is the Princess' sky
Where eagles eat Everest
In deutsch built armoured cars.
DEUTSCH SPRACHE
I spent years
Learning German
eating ginger snaps
Sitting straight
Thinking orderly
….sometimes
Snapping out crisp verbs and nouns
...sometimes
But--
All I remember
Is frightfully crazy
Sexualgymnastik
Is not a word often used
In polite conversation.
"Wasch und Fun"
No need to translate for me for an hour and a half.
You left me to wash undies at the Wasch und Fun
while you shopped for lox and wine.
I found the soap and the wasch; but the Fun eludes.
Every patron,
even the suspect simultaneously wearing four pairs of pants,
switched out of Deutsch, enjoying the random and unexpected
dusting off of their Englisch.
We were united in our cluelessness
of the washing machines mannerisms and the
strange dichotomy on the open door with the sign that said “geschlossen”.
We washed in defiance of the sign, desperate for clean clothes on Christmas,
urgently willing the machines to finish drying before the sign proved true.
You blended into your town again; repatriated anonymity.
An American disguised as a local, shopping on Christmas eve in Freiburg,
while your new husband washed undies,
happily oblivious to almost every word anyone uttered.
Ninety minutes without a translator. Clean clothes and
Wine for Christmas in Deutschland.
Bitte.
- - -
JDZoller Copyright (c) December 2009
Cara,an Irish lass
Charlotte,the French belle
Vive la difference !
But how to tell!
Desire,a Dutch gal
Nichola ,ein deutsch fraulein
Vive la difference !
Both are a fine dine.
Edward is a true king
Maris a player in the band
Vive la difference!
Both bake well if to hand
say what?
this guy a nut?
dann right,
his brain took a flight,
but left him here,
for us to deal with,
dann poems,
loads a' bull
get him
on da next flight
outta here!!
I don't care
if it's on a pidgeon....
all's I wanna see,
is his butt pass'in
oer' the horizon
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