Internet-Magazin Internet Magazine

Chrysanthemum Nr. 20. Oktober 2016 84
Gabriele Hartmann
Monogram
It is getting colder. There should be even snow in the mountains. But the rain remains
rain. Within sight of the Vézère — the rustle of leaves.
He transmits the carefully crafted text into the laptop, cuts back to regular length,
fills the first card with blazing words, squeezes great artifacts into tiny letters:
Lascaux II, the horse that lies on its back.
He copies the second card from the first, the third from the second, at the fourth,
he notices that one of the phrases has become a life of its own. What could have
belonged to a sheep, shall now be one of its own. A difference so fine that the
sheep remains unsettled at the beginning of the line.
“Goats,” she says, “and deer. No sheep.”
In this manner, on the fifth card, the almost sheep mutates into a deer. On its back
there is now a cow.
“Horse”, she says. He sighs. In addition, the fifth card is smaller than the previous
ones, and no space is left for the greeting. “G.” fits in just yet.
“If you had left out the cow, your friends would at least know what sheep sent
them a postcard. Now they might think I did.”
Same initials
a small
stolen spoon
The sixth card is addressed to the recently widowed cousin. A shorter text between
the words space for compassion.
Chrysanthemum No. 20. October 2016 84