From Things That Disappear, which will be published in the fall by New Directions. Translated from the German by Kurt Beals.

The great advantage of an outhouse is that you never have to flush it and it doesn’t freeze in the winter. Do you know how to pump it out? Well, my father used to shovel bark mulch over it, then it decomposes. Why don’t you install a chemical toilet? Don’t you have a pit? Does it leach out, or not? It’s all natural. I’d rather dig a hole in the bushes. But if you put bark mulch over…