Winner of the debut prize of the Lyrikpreis Orphil 2024
Shortlisted for the debut prize of the Austrian Book Prize 2022
»no one is above things / we are all in the midst of it«
»interpersonal relationships are / my nemesis«
Everything begins with birth, but »no one comes into the world / and knows how things work«. But then the doctor says straight away that she is capable of great things, with which he means: hunger. And so her own body becomes an area of crisis and conflict from the very beginning. All the more so when later, in a toilet in Versailles, it suddenly bleeds for the first time. A place of love and pain, of longing and healing – the (primal) longing for a mother, perhaps,...
Everything begins with birth, but »no one comes into the world / and knows how things work«. But then the doctor says straight away that she is capable of great things, with which he means: hunger. And so her own body becomes an area of crisis and conflict from the very beginning. All the more so when later, in a toilet in Versailles, it suddenly bleeds for the first time. A place of love and pain, of longing and healing – the (primal) longing for a mother, perhaps, »besides the one I have«.
In her debut, Sirka Elspaß strikes a unique note between pop and poetry, existential force and effortless ease. Emotional injuries, moments of loneliness and psychological crises are captured in crystal-clear, precise imagery. So beautiful and so sad, so heartrending and wise, because the author knows: »no one is above things / we are all in the midst of it«.