Schön bist du, Licht, schmaler Streifen auf meinem Kopfkissen den ich durch halbgeöffnete Lider erblickeschmaler Türspalt in eine andere Welt Lichtgemurmel im Hinterkopf - Abglanz des Aton, der weitersingt in mir - You're beautiful, light, a slender line upon my pillow which I behold through half-opened eyelids a door ajar, a narrow channel to another world light murmuring at the back of my mind - Aten's reflection that sings on within me -
A sizzling transcendental eroticism is glowing in Steinherrs poetry that is galvanized by the tension of metaphysics and profanity, divinity and dazzling idolatry. In the end of many poems, this tension is discharged in a single punchline. Walter Fabian Schmid, poetenladen It is high time to publically acknowledge him as one of the most powerful poets of today. Wulf Segebrecht, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Ludwig Steinherr is one of the most compelling new voices to have emerged in Germany since the late 1980s and this selection - the first to appear in English - from his 10 poetry collections published between 1985 and 2005 reflects the breadth and depth of his writing, ranging from its post-Celanian darkness to its insistence on light.