[ book tip by Beat Mazenauer ] The rivers and waterways absorb all the water, just as all words are absorbed and intermingle with language. Ferdinand Schmatz’s new poems qualify for this analogy because the water’s flow from its sources is translated into polyphonic poetry – in the middle of the Danube.

Individual motifs are repeated in tonal and meaning assonances – a constant undulation and gurgling of words set in. The power of the Danube’s current has coagulated here - in "donaupalast, gestiftet" - into stone monuments, “to the pageant of the benefactor, the thunder”. Marble and “wall purple” define the magnificent architectures of the churches and castles. The bells drone and the language imitates them: “listen, / something is chiming down here”! Ultimately, we stand open-mouthed – in amazement, in excitement.

[ book info ] Schmatz, Ferdinand: Quellen. Gedichte. (original language: Deutsch) Haymon, Innsbruck, 2010 .