Otto Laske

Otto Laske is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work comprises poetry, musical compositions, visual art, and scholarly writings.

For him as a bilingual poet born in Central Europe who started a new life in North America at age thirty, a central theme is the forging of identity through the crucible of displacement and loss of home, regardless of whether the home is a cultural or personal one. In his work, this theme is inseparable from a deep connection with nature as a holding force that stands outside of the vicissitudes of history.

As a bilingual poet writing in English and German, Otto fuses in his work the 20th century traditions of European and American poetry, speaking with a voice that is transnational, intergenerational, invested in historical memory as well as philosophical inquiry, often focusing on the limits of language itself.

Laske’s poetry so far comprises six collections: (1) Soundings (Tönungen in German), (2) Tremblings, (3) Unheard Harmonies, (4) Karman Poems, (5) Prose Poems, and (6) Edge Work: Conversations with Absence. A selection of poems from titles (1) to (4) appeared under the title Silesian Language Smithy in 2022 at Frieling Verlag, Berlin, Germany (ISBN 9 783828037290)

Audio of 2019 poetry reading: https://archive.gloucesterwriters.org/wp...  Arts websites: www.ottolaske.com, Visual art: https://www.saatchiart.com/olaske?srslti...