I’d Rather Be a Poem – Modern German Poetry

Nora Gomringer's monothematic poetic experiment sets aspects of pop culture, medicine, horror, and fashion side by side to see what...

Nora Gomringer's monothematic poetic experiment sets aspects of pop culture, medicine, horror, and fashion side by side to see what connections spring up. The results—initially published as three separate volumes between 2013 and 2017, illustrated by Reimar Limmer—are now being reissued as a set. Her hilarious poems contain hidden cunning, and she loves luring her readers onto thin ice. Upon closer reading, however, they're also poignantly bittersweet: diseases become cultural markers, and clothes morph into much more than mere rags or haute couture.

I first encountered Sascha Garzetti at a festival. I was struck by his simple, appealing language and the laconic, tongue-in-cheek...

I first encountered Sascha Garzetti at a festival. I was struck by his simple, appealing language and the laconic, tongue-in-cheek observations that he so carefully sets down on the cloudlike white page. This volume's short chapters tell the story of a life, of loss, and of time spent in far-off places. Here, finally, we again find the kind of poems you can just place in readers' hands: some will say, "how delicate," others, "how clear." When both camps can agree, "he's really good," something has indeed been gained.

A few years ago I had the honor of designing a book with the visual artist Christina von Bitter. I...

A few years ago I had the honor of designing a book with the visual artist Christina von Bitter. I wrote texts to accompany and freely converse with her unusual miniature paintings. For "After the Storm, the Mosquitoes," she collaborated with the poet Michael Krüger to produce precise visual and verbal descriptions of specific places—including both interior and exterior states. This volume, published by Hirmer Verlag, is a harmonious marriage: art catalog meets poetry collection.

Since 2014, Franz Dodel has been working on an endless, or rather never-ending haiku. Edition Korrespondenzen published a revised new...

Since 2014, Franz Dodel has been working on an endless, or rather never-ending haiku. Edition Korrespondenzen published a revised new edition in 2019, presenting the text as a linguistic perpetual-motion machine of sorts, with copious footnotes, addenda, and quotations. The text forms a unified whole in the form of a songbook. The lines, "we don't only remember/ while we're alive/ rather we're alive/ because we remember" are now followed by "perhaps this is an apt summary of Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past'." Such verses can only be penned by a poet adamant about observing and writing on a daily basis, wresting his lines from the grip of time.

Marion Poschmann's "Nimbus" is a book of spells as well as a magical object, in which the author conjures up...

Marion Poschmann's "Nimbus" is a book of spells as well as a magical object, in which the author conjures up various odes, ghosts, and other creatures. She devotes chapters to shamans and spirits—anima—and welcomes their many manifestations. The collection is descriptive and elegant, but also capable of deft feints, as if it were conjuring itself into being. I can read Poschmann again and again. Aptly, this volume's title can refer to both spiritual and meteorological phenomena: a saint's splendid, holy halo or the dark cloud formation that heralds havoc and, above all, uncertainty.

Years ago, Marcel Beyer wrote a collection titled "Graphite." He chose a material with geological, cultural, historical relevance, as has...

Years ago, Marcel Beyer wrote a collection titled "Graphite." He chose a material with geological, cultural, historical relevance, as has Esther Kinsky in "Schiefern," which can mean "slate," "schist," or "splintering." This volume, devoted to observations of nature, focuses on geology. Stones like tufa and fool's gold appear alongside heather, fire, and writing itself; all are symbols of cultural history—dark, stratified, and splitting apart. Kinsky's lovingly detailed view of people, terrain, and country mine a vein of unfamiliar riches, pitch black rather than predictably sparkling

Kerstin Preiwuß's poems explore states of matter and their possible transition—be it melting, sublimation, or condensation. "Dew Point" is an...

Kerstin Preiwuß's poems explore states of matter and their possible transition—be it melting, sublimation, or condensation. "Dew Point" is an inspiring, intense volume of poems and imagery densely packed into brief cycles. Part musical score, part miniature history, it adds up to a riveting read. If petri dishes could sing, they'd have Preiwuß's poetic voice.

Luisa Famos is bound to be one of the first discoveries of anyone looking for Swiss poetry. This bilingual edition...

Luisa Famos is bound to be one of the first discoveries of anyone looking for Swiss poetry. This bilingual edition published by Limmat Verlag sheds light on what two Swiss languages—Romansh and German—stand to gain from one another. Readers might expect Romansh to have a lilt easily lost or weighed down in German translation, yet these versions establish Famos's status as a contemporary classic. In "On the Way / In Viadi" she delves into the differences between "moments" and "encounters." Luzius Keller, who wrote both the translations and the enlightening afterword, makes these poems accessible on a multitude of sensorial levels.

A deservedly celebrated book! "Birdlife" is so polyphonic and unexpected that it's a joy to read. It calls various birds...

A deservedly celebrated book! "Birdlife" is so polyphonic and unexpected that it's a joy to read. It calls various birds by name, and sets their characteristics in direct relation to human actions and perceptions. The resuscitation of a dead starling, for example, is like a gruesome game played in a desperate attempt to make up for its killing, or even undo its death. To animals, we humans are menaces and mere observers in one. Ziebritzki examines this age-old coexistence, writing of countryside and city, of all the spaces and interstices in which we encounter each other.

The "father of concrete poetry" could never have dreamt that, at the age of 93, he would be denounced for...

The "father of concrete poetry" could never have dreamt that, at the age of 93, he would be denounced for his poem "avenidas," which had been considered an avant-garde classic since the 1950s. As obtuse amateur literary critics waged their dreadful debates, he calmly carried on editing this collection of sonnets which, read together, are a biography in poetic form, and a lively delight. Here, a master of self-imposed strictness writes poems and approaches utter extravagance—albeit within the bounds of a steadily measured 12 lines, of course.