
Ernst
Jandl (1925-2000) was one
of the great post-WWII Austrian poets and playwrights, associated with the
Wiener Gruppe. One of the most important avant-garde & experimental circles
of European modernism, the group included the poet Friederike Mayröcker,
Jandl's life-long partner. Jandl’s poetry shows the clear influence of Dadaism;
it explores the possibilities of a poetry composed of pure sounds and phonemes
as well as a poetry fully grounded in concrete textuality; yet these outer
limits of a poetry spectrum don't confine him—his work also shows interest in
existentialism & metaphysics. His poems move from whimsy to the grotesque,
from satire to moments of lyric intensity. They are severely rigorous in their
minimal formalism, and deeply playful as only a rigorous formalist can be. A famous short satirical poem of his illustrates a formidably nimble impish
wry and structural intelligence:
i love concrete
i love pottery
but i'm not
a concrete pot.