Poem by Kira Wuck

Loneliness smells of calf’s liver in a baking dish

the smell sticks to every corner of the house

snow and tall trees mark off roads

You can’t get away before everything thaws

that’s why people get married quickly here

Sometimes someone hacks a hole in the ice

to see if he’s still alive

in the sauna friendships are exchanged for beer

Words are as scarce as the light

when anyone asks anything

I stick mine under the snow

In the kitchen I drink the last dregs

in the wine glasses waiting to be washed up

boiled pig’s heads gape at me

snow is swept off roofs

I hide slightly tipsy under the table-cloth

pick the innards out of a roll

look at where the walls touch each other