Contemporary poets: 30 Michael Hofmann

Born in Germany in 1957, Michael Hofmann grew up in Britain and the US. He has translated several novels and plays, and published two collections of poems: Nights from the Iron Hotel (1983); and Acrimony (1986), about his relationship with his father, novelist Gert Hofmann. His new book of poems is due out in the autumn

SERIAL

The salad man

working six dollars an hour

nights

fisherman

frequenter of prostitutes

paroled killer

boasting

over in the night bakery

mystery trips

some catch

Miss Trippi

down on the Genesee River

when the police found him

parked on the bridge

the white parka

alone in his car

sitting eating a salad

the body

Miss Cicero

troubling

the creek below.

This is the last in the current series of contemporary poets; a new series will follow later in the year

(Photograph omitted)