Mark Dion, Bureau of the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacy, 2005, desk.
Inventory
by Günter Eich
This is my cap,
this is my coat,
here is my shaving set
in a linen bag.
A tin can:
my plate, my cup,
in the metal
I have scratched my name.
Scratched it with this
precious nail,
which I hide
from greedy eyes.
In my haversack are
a pair of woolen socks
and some things I don’t
tell anyone about,
it serves as a pillow
at night for my head.
The cardboard lies here
between me and the earth.
The pencil lead
I love the most:
by day it writes verses for me
that I have thought up by night.
This is my notebook,
this is my canvas,
this is my towel,
this is my thread.
From The Faber Book of 20th-Century German Poems, edited by Michael Hofmann.
September 21, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Thanks for the heads up about Musee Fragonard. I HAVE in fact been there, about 4 years ago, did not know they were closed for remodelling. I love you blogm and Mark Dion is a hero of mine. Thanks for the comment!