Poet, writer, literary critic, translator and broadcast personality
Raoul Schrott attended the Universities of Norwich, Paris, Berlin and Innsbruck. He completed his Doctoral thesis on "Dada 1921 – 1922 in Tirol" and after finishing his thesis, continued his scientific work on Dadaism. He writes poems, novels and short stories, translates contemporary and ancient poetry. In 2008, he completed the translation of Homer’s “Iliad” and has published several scientific articles about Troy, translated Homer's writings into colloquial German.
Raoul Schrott is the author of 22 books (poetry, prose, translations, scientific researches) and has received various literature awards. In 2008 he was appointed Visiting professor by the Free University Berlin. He lives in Austria. Raoul Schrott's participation in Tbilisi International Festival of Literature is supported by Goethe Institute in Georgia.
La Zisa
and we returned to the enclosed garden ! eden
the peaks far around the bay in the hues of narcissi
and amid this court of summer the sebihl
a marble fountain ! ribs rippling one by one
as if water welled on water
to flow into the four rivers ! how still it is
trees full of oranges and mirrored in the faience
of the calm blue pools your silhouette ! an image
inhering in itself: the nonchalantly displayed absence
agleam ! high above on the capitals peacocks spreading
their tails ! with imperishable flesh
their fans kept the sun in their eyes ! i wanted
to steal it back for you: that is what words
can do ! open windows for the wind blind arcades
and a clear view over cupolas ! in that niche perhaps
one who offers the cup acrobats chess-players in mosaic
amphorae in the sand over the arches in the shade
threads of saffron in its hand ! something bowing
down to you then gone ! all perfection only ever becoming
/ translated from German by Ian Galbraith /