Trakl simulations

Speaking of Trakl, I once knew a clever guy by the name of Michael Herrick. A number of us were living in Santa Fe in the early 1990’s, scraping by and not doing much, so one day Herrick and I designed a Trakl poetry simulator to run on his PowerBook.

I don’t think the program still exists (it was posted on the web for awhile). But I did save a number of the best products. I swear that these are simulations, not unknown Trakl poems.

One feature we left out, but which we seriously toyed with, was to have 5% of all poems automatically end with the sentence: “Wolves broke through the gate.”

For those who don’t know Trakl, he was a beautifully lurid Austrian poet from Salzburg, rumored to have had an incestuous affair with his sister (they were unnaturally fond of each other, at any rate). He embarked upon a pharmacy career in order to have easy access to drugs. His father was a major hardware merchant in Salzburg, if memory serves. He was forced into medical duty on the Eastern Front in WWI under grim conditions, and a patient’s suicide followed by rushing outside to see the corpses of deserters hanging form a tree led to his final breakdown, and death by cocaine at the age of 27 or 28.

Though Trakl is a bit limited in subject matter, I still think he’s one of the handful of greatest poets of the century.

Bon appetit…

**********

The burning gate poisons the rotting poppy.
The rotted monk murders the monk-girl.

Glisten, oh ebbing guitar.

The waxen voice or the moon trembles if
a silver sister streams.
The moldy voice embitters the extinguished snow.

Moulder, oh weeping bloom.

**********

The trembling chestnut wounds the stunted moon.
The stunted star signals. And worse,
the hissing star forgets the raging temple.

Grow, you rotten gate.

A boat wastes the Easterbell.

**********

The darkening birch deflowers a sister.
The falling Easterbell crumbles the shattered whore.

Friend,
the trembling lover deflowers the sister
without the singing snow.

The glowing star petrifies a waking man with a
woman.

Tremble, you broken boat.

**********

The candle.
O man!
A devouring river wastes a lover.
Despair!

The star murders a broken angel or the waking
youth as the
pure sister forgets an island.

**********

Friend:
a smoky moon.

Whisper, you wild child.
Flame, you hearkening man.

A smoky man crosses the solemn child.

**********

The pallid bloom poisons the storm.
O man!

Beautiful:
the gate mixes a darkling wood
as a despairing man shudders.

A black wind glistens.

**********

The mother with the burning gong
seeks the poppy or the wolf.

The burning temple
wastes a smoky guitar
or a candle.

**********

The darkening island wounds the whore.
The crimson rain rustles.
The crumbling heart burns a lightening birch.
The shimmering wind shudders.

While the smoky decay or
a murderous chestnut wounds the darkling sister,
a drinking decay rages
while the fiery birch rages.

The dark tree deflowers a brazen bloom.
The drunken Fate with a wolf
speaks the dark laughter or the woman.

**********

A weeping youth calms
the smoking poppy.

Die, oh wild guitar.

**********

(My personal favorite, for its stark minimalism:)

Uproar.
The child bears a bloom.

O man!

**********

Dwell, oh smoky gong.
The lover seeks a shepherd.

The crimson race wounds the smoky angel.

The gate:
the naked monk glistens whenever
the island rustles.

The golden voice mourns the trembling child.

**********

The shattering boat burns the evil sea.
The whispering boat drinks ebbing rain.
The golden candle.

**********

A waxing child signals. And worse,
a golden wood violates the pond.

The flaming lover breaks through
the guitar or the chestnut.
O man!

The boat awaits the glistening storm.
A ruinous city cowers.

A wolf devours a golden rain.

A flaming bloom arises after
the smoky star sings.