Playlist. Tanka.

Gabriele Hartmann
PLAYLIST
a review

My husband brings today's mail, weighs an envelope lined with bubble wrap in his hand, hands it over to me with a respectful bow, a nod - he has already deciphered the sender, guessing there is a book in it. I know there's the book in there: PLAYLIST, Tanka by Tony Böhle.
My fingers tug at the paper impatiently, finally I hold it in my hand: No DIN format - just as I do with the feather-light edition, FFM, know and expect. Slim, high, soft, 84 pages, thread binding, with flap folded in at the front and back. Exceptional - like the design - the cover too: black with glowing traces of color that stretch across the front and back: light painting by Valeria Barouch. The title PLAYLIST in accented, color-coordinated letters. The blurb: an excerpt from the review by Martin Thomas, which I have already read on "einunddreissig.net". There, headings of chapters and tanka are quoted, Tony's literary work is illuminated, and light painting by Valeria is described. A homage to both people, to both art, to the common work.
First: a table of contents, then: Tony's foreword. It provides information on the genus Tanka as a literary phenomenon and lists successful Tanka in world literature. A bibliography completes the overview. You can see: Tony is keen to carry his picture of the Tanka out into the world: "But one thing is never: a bloodless shell made of 31 syllables."
Christian Skrey's epilogue is dedicated to the author, the genus Tanka and - in detail - Tony's Tanka. Valeria describes her light painting behind it. Indicates that it is up to the reader and viewer to combine picture and tanka.
I'll come back to that. The protagonists are introduced again, then the list of publishers follows.
Now! I think and start inspecting pages 17 to 63. 29 pages with tanka (3 per page), 10 pages light painting. Delicious: Tony's colorful words, delicate: Valeria's speaking traces of color. I indulge in opulent pictures, be they sung in tanka or poured in color. I see Tony, the king and Valeria, the sorceress, shining in front of me: alternating between saucy art and charismatic aura. Always achieving the highest quality, always at least two fingers on the ultimate pusher.
I learned from Tony that there shouldn't be a “third person” in Tanka. And in fact I find him himself in every single one of his tanka, whether he specifically names the ego or the lyrical ego presents his own (-like) perspective. In the other weighing pan, at most a second being: mostly a woman. Tony's Tanka lacks any distance. They are so personal, so soulful that you are almost ashamed to be allowed to read them:

includes gently
a battered egg
with both hands ...
even as a childless woman
do you carry this love within you!

And as a balanced counterpart to Tony's weightlessly floating verses: Valeria's magical light painting!
What touches the viewer deeply is an immense tension of brightly colored traces - mirrored in two works and again mirrored in a symmetrical four-part set - which are decorated with symbols in the style of a collage.
What do these pictures remind me of? Oh yes, I already know what: Japanese woodcuts by Kiyoshi Hasegawa! A perfect bridge to the modern Tanka: progressive and classic at the same time.
If you want to read more, please refer to Tony's foreword, Christian Skrey's afterword, the review by Martin Thomas and of course Tony's Tanka himself in PLAYLIST.