aus der höchsten Höhe als Gruß der größten Küche – Phantastisches in der Lyrik

Three new German-language volumes of poetry, published around the same time, explore in-between worlds where humans meet myths, visions of transhumanism meet romance. They are: Thomas Ballhausen (born 1975 in Vienna) with his volume Unter elektrischen Monden (keiper lyrik 2023), Georg Leß (born 1982 in Arnsberg) with die Nacht der Hungerputten (kookbooks 2023), and Hannah Schraven (born 1992 in Heidelberg) with außerhalb der blessuren (Rohstoff 2023). All three volumes bring together poems that, by approaching the obscure, follow one of the oldest literary lines of tradition and give the seemingly familiar a new, sometimes dark gloss. Schraven's texts tell of waking up in "mirrored trances," of transformations into inflatable sea mammals. In her work, the sea has a fuse and guppies detonate "in time-lapse dimness." Leß describes a squadron of putti ("specky meteors, blasted from the highest") invading through the roof of a furniture store. These are poems about rot and road salt, indifference and rose water, winged lance and boar feather, and bones "sunk in hyperreal marzipan." Ballhausen's poems take us sometimes to a midnight cinema, sometimes to an "inner Greenland," Punch and Judy get lost in Plato's Allegory of the Cave, and strange figures emerge from the waters, "all horns and catsuit." The three poets read from their books and are interviewed by Maren Jäger.

In reading and conversation:
Thomas Ballhausen | Georg Leß | Hannah Schraven
Moderation: Maren Jäger