Sponsored by the DFG, University of Trier, and multiple Harvard supporters, I joined with Henrieke Stahl, Maria Khotimsky, Will Waters, and Friederike Reents to organize this symposium on what turned out to be the eve of the pandemic lockdown. We were able to bring guests from Germany, Latvia, the UK, and several other US universities together for what now feels like an impossible crossing of borders. The conversation with poets, translators, and scholars was very lively; Maria and Friederike are editing a volume based on the symposium, which should appear in 2022.