Night Theater

Snails circle
A shed where a child was born.

She bled into straw—
Who can write this?

Under Arcturus,
Rubble of light:

We have no words
For what is happening—

Still language endures
Celan said

As he stood in a torn
Green coat

Shivering a little,
In a night theater, in Bremen.

Credit

Copyright © 2012 by Meena Alexander. Used with permission of the author. This poem appeared in Poem-A-Day on December 14, 2012. Browse the Poem-A-Day archive.

About this Poem

 

"I wrote this poem in summer within earshot of the sea. What Celan said about language in extremity has always haunted me. I was also thinking how we have no words for the act of giving birth. It was important to me that the poet’s coat should be green."
—Meena Alexander