Read a poem by another poet written
on the same day:

From depths it rises
dripping sweat of dreams:
shouts and dogs
snow and cold air
cages

Continually it belches
labours to breathe
scratches with its claw
on the bed of paper
stomach rumbles

Most movement visible
comes from the claw
otherwise it stares darkly
into woken incomprehension
underlip stubborn

Yet inside thoughts race
from dogs to cage
to breath on air and back
from colourless forms
that mope in the distance

It stays in this state
until it falls asleep again
or else roused by hunger
rises further and slouches off
in search of food

Half-animal, half-man
its vegetating mind
drives it to kill
only when attacked
and police advise distance

Vienna