Rocks & Soil

New poems by the Büchner Prize winner

Twenty-two years after his collection Probebohrung im Himmel, Jan Wagner has found inspiration in commonplace soil with his new volume, Rocks & Soil. His keen eye extracts miraculous insights from the loamiest, chalkiest earthbound truths, converting them into poetry whose lightness and magical sound astound the reader. Objects come to life and tell their stories in his impressive lyrical cosmos – whether it’s a »carrot-rocket« on its way to the centre of the earth, a steadily growing »rubberacropolis« of worn-out tyres or Dürer’s Rhinoceros.


»Inspired and unerringly surefooted, Jan Wagner has written poems that are as light as a feather but have a weighty impact.«
Matthias Ehlers, WDR5