Liebesgedichte

Love is the heart of Friederike Mayröcker's poetry; it is that primal and exceptional state that can only be matched by the soulfulness of writing: it enchants and inspires, liberates from space and time, yet leads directly into existence. However, happiness is only deferred, and the love work is above all this: a jubilant futility, then. Friederike Mayröcker's love poems, presented here in a selection by Ulla Berkéwicz, span over six decades; some of the most moving ones are a result of her poetic defiance against the ultimate loss of her beloved, Ernst Jandl, who passed away in 2000.