Growing Up
About xylophones and assumptions
About wrong answers
And how complexity was kicked out
About little figures on the wall leading the way
About white paste in the face
And green little hearts
About a stone with freckles
About trees that tell stories of centuries
And secrets opened with hammers and cries
About them sitting on the bed and discussing how to leave
About being compared always
And stories of boats and closed doors
About stolen money and questions like “maybe it’s all your fault”
About comradeship as long as you share the same opinion
And trips to the mountains
About singing happy songs in my head not to break down in front of you
About asking “are you still struggling with this”
And books and ice cream parlours
About windy weather and rules
About them picking plums and making jam out of it, a kitchen full of sweetness
And intimacy disturbed
About winning in chess and draughts and nine men’s morris
About trying to speak silently
And cherry blossoms in April
About dogs who came by for a short visit
About explaining that you need room to breathe
And late-night bicycle tours when the season changed
About going on stages, laughing at the right time and getting tips in blue
About lemon juice in your hair
And trying to forget a story
About sitting on a curb while waiting for the night to end
About grazing your cheek so bad it would bleed for weeks
And looking for distant places
About climbing on roofs and drip rails as finishing line
About picking cherries in fancy dress costumes
And engine oil between your fingers
About them standing in the hallway, saying “that’s not true”
About cleaning supplies before breakfast
And descending stairs
About the sound of rainstorms
About translating movements upside down
And pretending to sleep
About wrong answers
And how complexity was kicked out
About little figures on the wall leading the way
About white paste in the face
And green little hearts
About a stone with freckles
About trees that tell stories of centuries
And secrets opened with hammers and cries
About them sitting on the bed and discussing how to leave
About being compared always
And stories of boats and closed doors
About stolen money and questions like “maybe it’s all your fault”
About comradeship as long as you share the same opinion
And trips to the mountains
About singing happy songs in my head not to break down in front of you
About asking “are you still struggling with this”
And books and ice cream parlours
About windy weather and rules
About them picking plums and making jam out of it, a kitchen full of sweetness
And intimacy disturbed
About winning in chess and draughts and nine men’s morris
About trying to speak silently
And cherry blossoms in April
About dogs who came by for a short visit
About explaining that you need room to breathe
And late-night bicycle tours when the season changed
About going on stages, laughing at the right time and getting tips in blue
About lemon juice in your hair
And trying to forget a story
About sitting on a curb while waiting for the night to end
About grazing your cheek so bad it would bleed for weeks
And looking for distant places
About climbing on roofs and drip rails as finishing line
About picking cherries in fancy dress costumes
And engine oil between your fingers
About them standing in the hallway, saying “that’s not true”
About cleaning supplies before breakfast
And descending stairs
About the sound of rainstorms
About translating movements upside down
And pretending to sleep
through
your eyes
pictures
rearranged to
burnt memories
self-portraits
made of
ashes and
I ask you to
show me
through
your eyes to
paint me
grey and
black and
blue
rearranged to
burnt memories
self-portraits
made of
ashes and
I ask you to
show me
through
your eyes to
paint me
grey and
black and
blue
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Katharina Kiening creates stories existing between analytical observation and surreal imagination. She does so primarily through literature and visuals in the form of photography, very often combining words and pictures in one narrative. Her work has been published by various art and literature magazines in Europe and the US. She is based in Salzburg, Austria.
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