The German originals of these poems, by Matthias Göritz (b. 1969, Hamburg), were published as a collection titled LOOPS: Gedichte in 2001 by the Austrian press, Literaturverlag Droschl (Graz, Austria). Göritz is the author of three volumes of poetry, two novellas and three novels—including Der kurze Traum des Jakob Voss (The Short Dream of Jakob Voss), 2005, winner of the Hamburg Literature Prize, Radio Bavaria Prize, and the Mara Cassens Prize—in German. He currently teaches in the Comp Lit Department at Washington University in St. Louis.