There is nothing to understand.
We lash through our days
and sleep through our nights.
It's as if we are a person
of another person.
You turn the book
over and over, caress
the cover as if
it were matted in the skin
of a lover.
I lost my father.
I'm a lonely girl.
I bring home
no lover.
Only a son.
Lisa Zaran is an American poet and essayist. She is the author of six collections including The Blondes Lay Content and the sometimes girl, the latter of which is the focus of a translation course which is being taught at Haupt- und Realschule Grossheide which is located in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in North-Western Germany.