If you love a zebra, don’t settle for a tapir – Der Dichter Henri Cole

In the organizer's words:

Henri Cole (born 1956 in Fukuoka, Japan) is an author of farewells. Each of his poems is a secret elegy (he writes, for example, about the devastation caused by AIDS in the homosexual community in the 1980s), but they are also poems in which happiness can suddenly unfold "like a strange psychedelic moth". None other than the critic guru Harold Bloom called Cole a central poet of his generation. From the very beginning, Cole's lyrics were devoted to seemingly banal processes such as peeling potatoes, hunting pheasants, erecting a party tent or de-icing wings with a sprayer. "Sometimes I feel like a large, open eye, in which there is a sifting of too many things," he once wrote. Other poems are self-portraits and double portraits (either with cats, hornets or a praying mantis). In general, descriptions of animals are a trademark of Cole's poetry. Another recurring theme is his own family history and inherited traumas (Cole's mother was born in Marseille, where her parents were able to escape the genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915). Cole is not a stylistic pyrotechnician, nor does he want to be. He admires the "three big Hs" (Herbert, Hopkins and Heaney) and sees himself as their successor. His tone is intimate and unpretentious. Henri Cole has published eleven volumes of poetry, most recently Blizzard (Edition Lyrik Kabinett 2023, German translation: Henning Ahrens).

The event will be interpreted into English and German. With the kind support of ECHOO Konferenzdolmetschen

In reading and conversation: Henri Cole

Moderation: Piero Salabè