Not so Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s a selection of questions I have been asked recently (but not frequently), and some tentative answers.

Q: Why don’t you have a twitter account? Do you have any thoughts on the relationship between twitter and poetry?
CF: If I had to choose between spontaneity and composition, I’d choose the latter. You can compose a great tweet, full of poetic qualities, but it’s not what this service is designed for. It’s a speed communication service, designed to relate news and information quickly. In my view, however, it’s not news if it can’t wait. Speed is not necessarily a virtue (pace „Make haste to help us“). You might say twitter encourages people to be concise. That’s true on the level of the individual message. But this positive aspect is undermined by the fact that you can send and receive as many messages as you like. Which is where concision goes out of the window.

Q: Have you ever received support from someone really unexpected and what was the context?
CF: Oftentimes, people offer help and guidance without even noticing it. The way they talk about a particular topic, or make a seemingly inconsequential decision, assumes exemplary qualities. You remember it, you think about the implications of what they’ve done, and draw conclusions.

Q: What’s the strangest snippet of conversation you’ve ever overheard?
CF: Two middle-aged ladies on an English train, one saying to the other, in a rather excited voice: „Not archaeology, gynacology!“ I’m still waiting for an opportunity to re-enact this historical moment.

Q: Not counting George W. Bush, if you could punch one person in the face, whom would it be?
CF: No-one, really. But there are moments when I would like to have the guts to ask a stranger who has just been annoying me, with the most evil look in my eyes and a quiet smile on my face, whether he has a wife and children.

Q: What’s your favorite pop band?
CF: Ah, some people might think that’s a trick question, hoping that I would say the closest thing to a pop band I have ever listened to was Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie. However, it’s U2.

Q: Have you ever been mistaken for someone else?
CF: I have been called Tim on occasion, and people then gave me a bewildered look when I suggested that I was the other one.

Q: What was the most awkward way you’ve been introduced to someone?
CF: My friend said: „Das ist Christophe Fricker.“ The person he introduced me to just looked at me and then said: „Das sagt mir jetzt nichts.“

Q: The most awkward way you’ve introduced someone else?
CF: My poor friend Jeanine. She had had a wonderful new haircut, even more striking than her old one, and I didn’t recognize her when I arrived at the pub with another friend who I wanted to introduce to everyone, so I asked her for her name.

Q: If you woke up tomorrow, with all the memories of your current life, and you were fourteen years old (back when you were 14 or today — whichever appeals to you more), what would you do?
CF: Back then: I would assume that I was on the STAR TREK holodeck and wait for the plot to unfold. – Today: Call Judith.

Q: What is your favorite dinosaur?
CF: Diplodocus.

• Foto by tom )º(.