Vlae tussen woorde as poëtikale spilpunte in nege landskappe van ons tye bemaak aan ’n beminde en die windvanger van Breyten Breytenbach

Breytenbach’s two volumes, Nege landskappe van ons tye bemaak aan ’n beminde (“nine landscapes of our time bequeath to a lover”, 1993) and Die windvanger (“the wind catcher”, 2007), show remarkable similarities regarding his ars poetica. In both volumes the poet plays with the number nine – nine sections referring back to the seminal first poem. Both volumes feature omissions, parentheses and silences in the different sections as well as in the poems. In “versetverse” (“resistance verse”) Breytenbach invites the reader as participant to fill the gaps, to claim the landscape as an inheritance and to catch the wind. This article explores the leads, provided by the poet, to investigate explicit statements on the nature and value of the poems. A comparative reading of the two volumes indicates the poet’s parallel approach and methodology.