Poetry in the Bundestag: Trittin and Stegner present their own short poems

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Green politician Jürgen Trittin: The poets have long been in the Bundestag

Photo: Sebastian Gabsch / imago images / Future Image

Does the Bundestag need more poetry?

Several writers recently called for the Bundestag to be given a parliamentary poet.

In the debate about whether this makes sense, opinions differ widely.

Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) recently criticized the proposal as an "elitist project".

Now MPs are reacting to Kubicki - and show that there have long been a number of people in parliament who seem to have poetic ambitions.

For example, the Green politician Jürgen Trittin presented a first poem on Tuesday, with which he addressed Kubicki directly.

"Wolfgang from Kiel / Has such a feeling / Still a poet in the Bundestag / He thinks that's stupid / One is too many," Trittin wrote on Twitter.

He also called for more poems to be written for the FDP politician using the hashtag #DeinKubickiGedicht.

Among others, the writers Simone Buchholz, Mithu Sanyal and the author Dmitrij Kapitelman had suggested the office of parliamentary poet.

Such an office could serve as an irritation and disruptive factor and at the same time build bridges to heal the cracks in our society, they argue.

In Canada, Parliament created the position in 2001.

The SPD MP Ralf Stegner joined Trittin's call.

Stegner wrote, also referring to Trittin's short poem, "The inconsistent is bent / drawn into a shaking rhyme".

The Green MP Konstantin von Notz also took part.

"There are now many who think there is no need to rhyme today," he wrote.

But apart from parliament, the proposal also causes anger, not everyone likes the rhyme well: Many users on Twitter reply Trittin that they prefer to tackle real problems again - above all the fight against Corona.

"Our worries are ignored. Instead, Kubicki is discussed!" Rhymes one user.

Others take the invitation as an opportunity to poetry against Kubicki in particular:

fek / mrc