europaplatz: Jennifer Lee Tsai in Birkenhead

Jennifer Lee Tsai lebt in Liverpool, wo sie als Lyrikerin, Kritikerin und Lektorin arbeitet. Ihre Gedichte sind unter anderem in Sammelbänden erschienen. Sie ist Redakteurin der Zeitschrift „Ambit“. Ihre Gedichtflugschrift „Kismet“ wird im Juli bei Ignitionpress erscheinen.

Tonight, I left the streets of Liverpool,

bathed in Spring sunlight on a blue evening.

I took a train to go west of the River Mersey.

Three stops from Central Station to Conway Park,

I stepped onto Europa Boulevard. Here is the

town centre of Birkenhead, its name means

‚headland overgrown with birch’ –

famed for its shipbuilding and seaport

in past times. Where is Europe on this street?

When they named it, did they think of the Europa

moon or the myth of the nymph stolen by Zeus?

Nearby, there is a Europa Square shopping centre,

a Europa Pools, an award-winning bus station

funded by European money but where is the wealth?

The locals here distrust the idea of Europe.

Many are on zero-hour contracts; some families

go hungry every day. Most of the old factory

and docking jobs have disappeared but there are

lavish mansions on the other side of the town.

In ganz ­Europa gibt es Europa­plätze, von Lissabon bis Vilnius. Aber ist an diesen Orten auch Europa? Und wenn ja, wie viel? Lyriker*innen und Auto­r*in­nen haben sich für uns auf die Suche begeben. (taz)

I sit on a bench in the middle of the boulevard.

The leaves of beech trees quiver in the breeze.

Herring gulls dip and dive through the lucid air.

I look up, see a plane overhead, going somewhere.

Tonight, Jupiter and the Moon meet in the sky.

There are things that happen beyond our sight.