The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Thomas Dreiucher
The green light never fails
But when may I reach this throne?
Let's invite again
Storm Island (Maryse Conde)
Nadine Buderath
Dark times, no emotions
Storm destroyed his perfect plan
and a 'weak' woman
Educating Rita (Willy Russell)
Nadine Buderath
She wants to reach more
Then teaches him how to live
Brings joy to his life
House Made of Dawn (N. Scott Momaday)
Judith Karla
Look at this people
that once possessed this country
which you now call yours.
Nature, harmony -
disgust, exploitation, war
Two worlds: once just one
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
Elena Komleva
Hungry poor people
are struggling for their freedom
destroyed fates and lives.
But people don't lose
faith in a happy future
the big power of love.
The Wave (Morton Rhue)
Claudia Kettner
A drop.
Drops.
Water.
A wave.
An ocean that no one can control.
Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen)
Julia Albrecht
Two girls so different
Sense and sensibility
Will both girls find love?
Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)
Julia Albrecht
A life full of pain
But after all you are loved
In your family
Blue-Winged Angel
(based on M. Ondaatje's The English Patient)
Isabella Boboc
Close your eyes
feel the warm ground
underneath your charred and dying body
desert warmth
second skin made of felt
covering your burned-out limbs
Silence surrounding
but then - a light, bright sound
high-pitched and barely perceivable
melts through the early morning peace
charming not only your ear
but delighting your very soul
Open your senses to find
an entire waterfall of blue-varied glass
shimmering, flashing and sparkling
kissed by the morning sun
enormous gleaming and high-clinking wings
hundreds of health-spending bottles
settled upon strong medicine man shoulders
dazzling cape of pain-relieving essences
To William Shakespeare
Kirsten Seelbach
Romeo and Juliet
Juliet the sun
The moon the only witness
Fate is dawning soon.
Poison forbidden,
Yet so lovely used now.
Why did he not know?
Macbeth
Innocent murder!
A king, a death - my lady knows
Her fate: sunset dawns.
Drink as much as you want,
My porter! Never forget
The dawning of fate!
Othello
Jealousy in vain
If the beloved object can
Not be loved anymore.
Kirsten Seelbach:
Beloved (Toni Morrison)
A secret so dark.
No slaves, my children, no slaves;
Blood stains our future?
Emma (Jane Austen)
Matrimony is
A difficult matter.
Does she know that, too?
While wanting others
To fall in love, she forgets
To see her own love.
Persuasion (Jane Austen)
Persuasion may
Help to find a solution.
But it can destroy, too.
Rubicon (Colleen McCullough)
Powerful Caesar,
Will you decide to make your
Own way to fortune?
The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco)
Angela Holzhauer
Sherlock William of Baskerville
he has his feet in dark ages.
Adson, let's light up the darkness.
The "finis africae"
Was the grey hole in my trip;
Friars in herb-gardens eat murder.
That book that hates laughter
Lies full of poison in my stomach.
Haunt it through the labyrinth!
Vanessa Gerhard's Literary Haiku:
Shakespeare's Sonnets
The sonnets. Oh no!
For a man he did write them!
Worlds are breaking down.
Macbeth
Confusion takes over
Strange things happening at dawn.
Blood on 'innocent' hands.
Ravens fly so low.
Black lady with bloody hands
Helps fate with witchcraft.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)
The picture fades fast.
Beauty will last forever.
But without a soul.
Sula (Toni Morrison)
She ceased breathing.
No suffering inside her.
Facing death smiling.
Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
Ralf Siewer
A sheep in the box;
Can you see it or do you
Need a real drawing?
Sunsets make you glad;
How many sunsets have YOU
Been watching today?
Christian Ludolph
(based on Robert Browning's poem "Meeting at Night" and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved)
I was afraid. Afraid that she would not be there or that I wouldn't make it back in time. This would at the least result in a long and painful whipping. But I would never turn around. Feeling the sand between my toes as I ran across the beach, my only vision was her. As I crossed the last three fields before the farm appeared, I could almost already feel her soft skin touching mine. For a short moment I held my breath till I saw the glow from the match she lighted so I could find her. Not many words we spoke, afraid of being discovered, but finally we could feel our two hearts beating each to each.
Transitions
with quotations (adapted) from T.S. Eliot
Dominik Hacker and Peter Schüller
The world is living on carnage
Devouring the waste of your life
She was propelled though the air and crashed head-first on the concrete. Neck obscenely twisted and blood dribbling out of her vest. She was found too late.
"Look at that road-kill. Another squirrel squished," a husband said to his wife as they passed the partially cleared-up scene a few hours later. "Yeah, poor fellows can't cope with roads and cars."
She was laid in a coffin, dissected by the coroner, contemplated by a couple of puking freaks from university and frozen in a storage room to keep her fresh until burial. "Nothing unusual," the coroner announced, munching his burger while writing his report on the unnatural death of this poor girl.
Her family gathered on a fine sunny day at a nicely arranged cemetery. The dignity of the funeral was perfect but for one thing. Her coffin was about to be lowered into the grave when suddenly the rope snapped, sending death into the underworld where it belonged.
With a bang not with a whimper
"Only unpleasant thing that day." All agreed and went on devouring the wastes of their lives.
She looked pathetic after so many salty tears had flowed down her freckled cheeks. "I can't bear you being so pessimistic all day long. If you've got the blues, don't bother me. Get yourself a tranquilliser." He stared at her for a few seconds, then turned his head away in disgust, still chewing on his $1.25 Big Mac. At first she grew angry, then began weeping again while he carefully salted his French fries. After he had left, only paralysing void remained.
Usually her motorbike comforted her, giving her the distraction she couldn't find elsewhere. This time, however, there was no room for hope - no relief. She must have acted on impulse, giving full throttle, closing her eyes, and drifting into darkness.
This is the way agony ends.