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I am 47 years old and I began writing poetry during my adolescent years. At first, I intended to write texts for pop-songs, but soon I realized I had my own enunciation, which then became more and more essential for me. I also perceived early that the style and character of my writing was different from the style commonly found in contemporary poetry of the second half of the twentieth century. So, I modeled myself on the classical writers Novalis and Verlaine. Under the impression of the poems written by Paul Celan, I dabbled for a short time in a more modern style, but this turned out to be a blind alley for me. In search for a more contemporary approach to poetry, I not only screened the bookseller´s shelves but also hand-written copies and transcripts collected by friends of poetry. I finally ran into poems by Rolf Schilling and soon afterwards I could meet him in person.
Rolf Schilling was eleven years older than me and he had already completed six series of poems. Moreover, he displayed a most encyclopedical knowledge on literature and made me familiar with authors bridging from Rilke`s time over to the present time. Many years later, I could republish some of the forgotten ones of these authors in my own publishing house.
Rolf Schilling was encouraging me strongly, but at the same time he also restrained me. Soon I qualified as an adept and crown prince, but I had to struggle not to be considered as an imitator or epigone. Many verses written in the eighties include grains of efforts to win a borderline, although these trials were not always fortunate. With the »White Butterfly« in 1992, I achieved formal autonomy, which was subsequently enhanced because I strode away from Rolf Schilling also thematically. By now, I have composed 20 series of poems and the means of digital print made it possible that in begin of 2008, the majority of my poems were published by Engelsdorfer in a series of ten volumes. The earlier printed books were produced in my own publishing house. Although being a bookseller with well-established contacts and holding the essential knowledge in this business, I could not find another firm to publish my works. This rejection does not reflect the economic risk. One year ago, I was addressing hundreds of literary journals offering them samples of my poems for free to be published. In the case of thematically oriented journal issues, I had even written new poems featuring the topics of the special issue (these verses are now in the series »Babylon of The Word«). Most editors did not answer my request and the minority who wrote back responded deprecatingly. This is a type of totalitarianism that exceeds by far what was commonly encountered in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It´s not about my person: all authors striving for a re-animation of German poetry experience the same. Rolf Schilling and Joachim Werneburg are only published in my own publishing house, Timo Kölling publishes via »books on demand«, whereas authors like Uwe Nolte and Uwe Haubenreißer have not been published up to now.
Thus, I have a good reason for the pronouncement there is something fishy about this issue in the fatherland and I date this back to as early as 1950. My considerations thereto have been incorporated into my poetry, especially into the »German Passion« in 2003. I´m fully aware that such notions will lower my chances to gain publicity in the literature market. However, I´m convinced that a handful of people in our country still treasures poetry. To reach these people, I have put my full work into the web. Responses are welcome!
God with us
Uwe Lammla