Johannes Kühn (Germany)
1934
1934
Born in Bergweiler, in the Saarland area of Germany, on February 3, 1934, Johannes Kühn begin working as a workman in his brother’s building company. Because of an illness, Kühn didn’t speak for years, then began writing poetry in his late fifties, while acting, from 1955 to 1958, at the actors’ studio in Saarbrüken. He soon started writing dramas, fairy tales, and poetry, but had little success in this efforts. After several years of wandering throughout the country, he published his collected impressions into poems and stories, and begin to attain national attention, particularly in the 1980s when he published the collections of poetry, Salzgeschmack(1984) and Am Fenster der Verheißungen (1989), and Ich Winkelgast (1989), as well as the fairy tales, Zugvögel haben mir berichtet (1988). He has also written several volumes of stories and fiction.
However, Kühn ceased writing in the late 1980s, and did not return to writing poetry until 1992, a period when he has now won many awards, including the Horst-Bienek-Preis für Lyrik in 1995, the Christian-Wagner-Preis the following year, the Stefan-Andres-Preis in 1998, and again in 2004 for his volume Noon Bells in the Field.
Today he lives in Hasborn, Germany.
BOOKS OF POETRY
Stimmen der Stille (Saarbrücken: Verlag “Der Mitte,” 1970); Salzgeschmack (Saarbrücken: Verlag “Der Mitte,” 1984); Am Fenster der Verheißungen (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1989); Ich Winelgast (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1989); Meine Wanderkreise ((Saarbrücken: Verlag “Der Mitte,” 1990); Blas aus de Sterne (Warmbronn: Verlag U. Keicher, 1991); Gelehant an Luft (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1992); Wenn de Hexe Flöte spielt (Warmbronn: Verlage U. Keicher, 1994); Leuchtspur (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1995); Lerchenautsteig (Warmbronn: Verlag U. Keicher, 1996); Wasser genügt nicht (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 1997); Habein Aug mit mir (Krüger Verlag, 1998); Mit den Raben am Tisch (München: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2000); Nie verließ ich den Hüelring (Blieskastel: Gollenstein-Verlag, 2002); Ich muß nicht reisen (Warmbronn: Verlag U. Keicher, 2004); Ganz ungetröstet bin ich nicht (München: Carl Hanser Verlag,2007)
Noon Bells in the Field
—translated from the German by Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright
On the cliff ledge of the quarry
the sound of the bell leaps
like a ball, light,
overshoots the forests
and reaches
the plough
the farmer,
so he knows:
It’s noon.
In the swamp
sounding towards the sunken bell,
it wakens, I believe the way children do,
echo.
Playing,
echo dives
into the ravine
where the pastured horses walk.
It falls
on full kettles
of berry-pickers,
who pause, surprised
it’s so late already.
Tin of tea,
bacon slabs on bread
the peaceful man eats and drinks,
the vagrant
in the narrow pass
he’s finished begging
and begins to chew
his fine lunch
by the fresh note of the church bell
he knows other prayers too.
How loud the ringing of the anvil is,
the locomotive roars
the waterfowl screech
the wagons rattle
the village siren wails,
and; trumping them all
the old church, in all gravity,
what many rejoice.
(Reprinted from Agni Review)