kattalog / sammlungen 2
(reworked vintage, 1987 – 2012)
lyrische texte bilder und notate

our small publishing house in Graz has for some time been committed to making the forward-looking works—be they texts, photos, images or poetic arrangements by Christian Katt—accessible to an interested readership in editions controlled by the author down to the last comma. We are therefore especially proud that Christian has entrusted us with publishing this new, extensive volume.
We are deeply convinced that Katt has not only helped shape the development of modern poetic expression in his own way, but that with this extensive volume a very significant contribution to the literature of the middle of the second decade of the 21st century has appeared.
Anyone who opens themself to the texts in this book will gain access to the exploration of many other worlds whose existence may previously have been unknown to them.

For the publisher Hermann J. Hendrich

Christian Katt, born in 1960 in Vienna, is—like Ludwig Laher—a master of observation. In his 332-page book lebend.maske. Cut (2)!, the second of a total of three volumes of poetry, the author gathers lyrical texts, images and notes from the years 1987–2012. Encounters are spoken of, of experiences and fractures that are reflected in language itself, in the counterpart, or on journeys. Precise observational sketches and moments of reflection are the starting point for condensed text miniatures, such as: “die leserin im zugabteil schweigt mir ins nichtgesprochene Wort” (p. 7) or “nicht mehr in wärme sich zitternd/ kein lidschluss gelingt ihm offenen auges” (p. 80). Katt’s socially critical motifs bring to light compounds such as “Konkurrenzvernichtungsvorbereitungsvoraussetzungen” and “fließbandspekulationen in weltenräume verschossene vorgefertigte visionen”, and do not leave consumer criticism aside. His way of working appears ascetic. The texts are extremely condensed, reduced to the most important and pointed. The reader senses this in poems such as, for example: zeit abzutreten aber was/ doch ist da noch einiges ins reinere ungetrübtere zu bringen (…). The poet consistently uses lower case, placing words and lines in their respective appropriate place. In 2002 the author was a lecturer at the School for Poetry Vienna ( www.sfd.at ), where he supervised the online class. Christian Katt’s language miniatures cannot be consumed effortlessly; they reveal themselves through closer reading, through a second or third reading. The skeptical basic tone of the poems invites one to linger and rewards in the end: “Unter dem alten baum schlagen wir neue wurzeln”. Inserted images and photos ideally complement the texts.