Poetists: Glass Poem

1.	A glass prism, turning around its vertical axis,
2.	changes into a glass ball and
3.	finally into a glass sphere.
4.	The glass turns into water,
5.	the sphere into a lake,
6.	which begins to ripple,
7.	on its surface the leaves and yellow flowers of water lillies are revealed.
8.	Life in the water; fish,
9.	a pike sits on a reed, lying-in-wait for a fish
10.	the pike devours a fish,
11.	deep waves of water,
12.	a fishing line gliding along the surface,
13.	a fisherman pulls at it,
14.	at its end is the pike.
15.	The lake enlarges,
16.	until a very high, aerial photograph of Lake Constance is seen, with Swiss glaciers to the south and the German lowlands to the north.
17.	A steamboat, sailing along and belching puffs of steam.
18.	A quick zoom-in of the white deck of the steamboat:
19.	passengers,
20.	who are throwing pieces of bread to sea gulls.
21.	The steamboat nears a harbor,
22.	a large cloud is shown,
23.	an intense rain shower
24.	the harbor
25.	freeze-frame of harbor and boat, zoom-out.
26.	until it is revealed that everything was a mere illustration on a glass ashtray, on which granules of cigarette ash are falling,
27.	as the zoom-out continues a hand is revealed, holding a cigarette,
28.	then the man, who is sitting and holding it,
29.	then a woman sitting opposite him holding a tennis racquet,
30.	until they are seen to be acting out a scene on a stage:
31.	of a theater,
32.	in which, at the end, remain only a lady with a pair of opera glasses
33.	and then only a pair of large opera-glasses. 1924

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translation copyright 1998 by Greg Evans