Gottesanbieterin

Nora Gomringer is increasingly being asked the Gretchen question. She responds in essays, speeches, stories, and of course, in poems. This often happens humorously and with a wink; her faith is personal. Recently, the poet has dealt with earthly fears, illnesses, and phenomena of the superficial, yet the metaphysical has always been inherent in her work. When we think of Gomringer's walk with a lisping ermine that speaks about the loneliness of humanity, it is hardly surprising that yet another animal encounter serves as the catalyst for the poems gathered in this volume. Many years ago, the poet encountered a giant grasshopper in the American backyard of her host family: the praying mantis. It was this hour-long encounter of silence that led Gomringer to question earthly existence and the diversity of religion, that 'flavor-enhancing, sometimes palatable, sometimes intolerable glutamate of being.' This poetry collection brings together a selection of Gomringer's reflections on the here and the hereafter since that time.