Father’s on the Phone with the Flies

Herta Müller creates cut-and-paste poetry, clipping individual letters, words and pictures from newspapers and magazines and gluing them together into rhymes. In this unique composition, the words appear as if they’ve been sent on a journey, liberated in undreamt of ways – because these poems are not fashioned merely from language, they feature pictures and colours too, in a playful union of words and imagery. The result is a kind of lyrical recycling which »looks like blackmail letters, except a lot prettier and more colourful.« (Jörg Magenau, Süddeutsche Zeitung). Here, the ‘alphabet of anxiety’ is spelled out in verse and rhythmic couplets. »These playful collages make perfect sense: if you try to run, they trip you up; if you try to use your head, they act like a guillotine.« (Andrea Köhler, NZZ)