Jonis Hartmann
Innovative as ash
One grey morning, its season insignificant, I didn’t commit any error for the first time. I stayed in bed. Backed by those non-existent sunbeams, I stuffed the blanket into my mouth. Initially the progress was slow, but then it went as all by itself. At this very moment I wasn’t here anymore, instead I was part of the workforce at the apparatus, which driven by that mighty word moves in circles around the well to create this little reddening on the stars’ faces.
Button
I’ve found a button. I could push him and then, somebody who I didn’t know at all, got hit. I played this game for a long time. Unfortunately, the button is busted now, impossible to pull it back. Either someone must lead a hard life, or a comet in shape of a fist is speeding rapidly towards us from somewhere out there.
Rotary current
A screw lay on the pavement and I looked for the machine to which it was belonging. Instead I found a man who was going for a walk. Soon all screws of this world will lie in my room, but not even once did I think about giving up the search for this very machine.

Jonis Hartmann was born in Cologne in 1982, but has lived and worked in Hamburg for several years now. His texts include fiction, poetry, essays and translations – they were published in Edit, Akzente, Ostragehege a.o.
He is a member of the writers’ collectives Forum Hamburger Autorinnen und Autoren and Found in Translation, hosting the multilingual bi-monthly reading series Hafen Lesung, and currently works as chairman of the writers’ room, a 50-plus member writing atelier in Hamburg.
Photo © Nettie Hendricks