By Karla Reimert
Translated by Patty Nash
Peppermint bonbons striped
white-red in the doctor’s bribe jar.
Say “Ah.”
Ha, doctor, I’ve got something
better in my mouth:
flesh. Gristle. Tissue
spreading out:
salty, muscular, new quiet swells
between teeth. Chewable.
I’m rich: I own a doll,
a telephone, I swing
my long legs from the exam table.
Karla Reimert is a German poet. Her first book, Picknick mit Schwarzen Bienen (Picknick with Black Bees), was published in 2014 and won the Berlin Literaturwerkstatt’s Prize for Best Debut. Reimert has won the Würth Poetry Prize, the Rheinsberg author forum prize, and the Essay Prize for the Japanese Consulate.
Patty Nash is a poet and translator. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Delta Review, Juked, Prelude, and elsewhere. She is an MFA candidate in poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She tweets at @pattynashdj.
