Erding: The poems of the ice swimmer

Created: 04/20/2022, 08:00

By: Gerda Gebel

Nature as a place of power: Author Véronique Dehimi likes to be outdoors.

She will read from her latest work on Tuesday, April 26, in the city library.

© Gerda Gebel

Erding - Véronique Dehimi has already published six volumes of poetry.

On Tuesday, April 26, she will read from her latest work in the Erding public library.

Erding – Writing is Véronique Dehimi's great passion.

She started doing this when she was young.

In the meantime, she has devoted herself more and more to poetry, i.e. poetry in verse form.

The sixth volume of poetry by the Luxembourg native is now being published.

She will present him on Tuesday, April 26, at 8 p.m. at a reading in the city library.

Dehimi has been living in Erding for 25 years and says: "I've never been in one place for so long." Frequent moves were necessary due to her husband's studies and engineering work, and the Dehimis then settled in Bergham near Erding.

After studying philosophy, German and Romance studies, Véronique Dehimi worked as a French teacher at various schools, but even then the school system was often too narrow for her.

"I need a lot of freedom for myself, to actively do nothing," explains the 61-year-old mother of two adult sons.

She dared to take the liberating step at the age of 40, when the children were out of the woods, as she says.

"It was around the turn of the millennium when I decided to change my life and take more time for writing." She learned a lot in the early days as a member of the Munich Literature Office and the Free German Authors, where she had a lot of contact got to other writers.

“It was more like a workshop.

You read to each other and learn a lot in the process,” says Dehimi.

Initially writing primarily short stories, she soon concentrated on poetry.

In 2016, a small novel entitled "Lie down with the wolves" followed.

The novel tells the story of a woman who finds herself and becomes part of nature.

The work is based on the diary of a backpacking trip to Siberia and Mongolia, which the enterprising author had undertaken a few years previously.

"It's also a heart's desire of mine," she says.

The former French teacher has also reorientated herself professionally.

For six years she has been working as a convalescent companion in the social psychiatric service in Freising.

Counseling for people who are in a mental crisis is very intensive, "but a lot comes back".

From a literary point of view, a reading book for psychiatry (title: Psycho Tisch) emerged, which Dehimi co-edited.

Contributions from those affected, relatives and doctors are included.

Véronique Dehimi writes two thirds of her poems in German and the rest in French.

What the author finds fascinating about poetry is that “you can express a lot with just a few words.

It arises anew in every reader”.

She is aware that many people struggle with poetry, but she wants to encourage readers to engage in it: "A poem is open to many points of view, each of which is correct, that's a good sign for a poem," explains you.

Her sixth volume of poetry is entitled "Where the shadows of the fish dive into the night blue".

Dehimi wanted to present it at the Leipzig Book Fair in March.

"The date was already fixed and I was really excited." Then the book fair was canceled due to the corona.

Ideas for her poems come to the author's mind all the time, so she always has a pen and paper with her to jot down her thoughts.

At home, the ideas are first written down by hand, only in the second step are they entered on the computer.

There Dehimi then works on the subtleties, changes the choice of words or the rhythm.

"Some things ferment for years before they are ripe," she says.

She often finds inspiration in nature, which she sees as a source of strength.

The Erdingerin by choice feels particularly at home at the Notzinger Weiher and uses it for swimming, “in any weather, all year round, at any temperature”.

Ice swimming has earned her and her friends, who sometimes accompany her, the nickname "The Three Ice Saints".

It comes from the recently deceased kiosk operator Heini Link.

“You feel reborn afterwards, like champagne in the early morning.

A freshness that accompanies me throughout the day,” enthuses Dehimi.

She has also swum in Lake Baikal in freezing temperatures.

When Dehimi has collected 80 to 100 poems, she publishes a new volume.

It is structured thematically.

There are pond poems, but also topics such as the complexity of human relationships, eroticism or time and transience are addressed.

Next Tuesday, Dehimi will be presenting her latest volume of poetry in the Erding public library and will also be reading from her novel "Lie down with the wolves".

She is accompanied musically by Celina Botros-Stadler on the viola, with dance improvisations by Geli Schubert-Riechert,

Entry costs seven euros.

Reservations are required on Tel. (0 81 22) 408-140.

GERDA GEBEL