No matter how you look at it, contemporary poetry is generally speaking in a bit of an odd situation today.
For a long time now there have been complaints from publishers that poetry doesn’t sell any more. Logically enough, editions and issues have been reduced as a result. Inevitably this has led to a loss in opportunities for the reception of poetry. Poetry in book form has shrunk so dramatically that it no longer features in statistical surveys.
Oddly enough, things that have been declared dead have an uncanny knack of surviving longer than people think. It is an undeniable fact, for instance, that poetry readings are enjoying growing popularity. For years now, the literaturWERKstatt berlin has been staging an annual Summer Night’s Poetry Festival called "Weltklang". This is the largest poetry event in Germany featuring poets from home and abroad. Up to 3,000 people come along to this festival to listen to several hours of poetry readings. Confirmation of this trend towards greater popularity is provided by the equally broad and rapid appeal of talking books and the event character which poetry slams, as they are called, have these days.

This odd situation allows the following conclusions to be drawn.Firstly, although poetry is barely audible in the clamour of voices in the culture and media industry, it appears to gaining a hearing for itself as a genre. Secondly, it seems to have said farewell to the ivory tower existence it is reputed to pursue and to have recalled the impact of its collective potential. As a result, it is gaining increasing attention and acceptance for itself by means of audio presentations, which are making it interesting as a commodity again.It is no accident that sound and rhythm, the original archaic elements, whose essential mode of expression are song and dance, are reasserting their poetic relevance at a time when publications of poetry are beginning to disappear and that they are revitalising the reception of poetry as a whole.

While this may give cause for satisfaction, the drifting apart of the written and the spoken form of poetry remains an unhealthy development which needs to be reversed.

Bearing this in mind, the literaturWERKstatt berlin has set up a poetry platform on the Internet which regularly presents collections of poetry read by the authors themselves. Photos and texts enable listeners to put what they are listening to in a visual context.

"lyrikline.org" is the brainchild of the literaturWERKstatt berlin. The editorial office is supplemented by a programme advisory group comprising representatives of the supporting organisations and by an author appointed on an annual basis. The poetess, Elke Erb, has agreed to act in an advisory capacity for the selection of the authors in the start-up editions. The Contemporary Poetry edition is being launched initially with ten poets and poetesses each presenting ten poems. It is planned that they will be joined on a monthly basis by one or two additional authors. Other editions are planned entitled The Audible Legacy, Poetry for Children, Visual Poetry.

"lyrikline.org"’s declared intention is to exploit the multimedia experience the Internet offers (text, image, sound) so as to increase the dissemination, popularity, reception and sales of poetry.

Furthermore, started as a German-language poetry platform "lyrikline.org" is designed to pave the way for platforms in other language areas. This will ultimately lead to an international association of poetry platforms which will not only guarantee direct access to poetry in all languages, but will also bring about an aesthetic breakthrough in the centuries-old debate about whether poetry is translatable or not. After all, Internet users will be able to both hear the foreign-language poem as an intact, original work of art, read the translation as they would do in a bilingual edition of poetry, and compare it with the original. In fact, they will be able to choose between different translations as well. An exchange between authors from platform to platform and the necessary translations will renew the international dialogue between poets.

Of course "lyrikline.org" does not aim to compete with, replace or do away with printed poetry because the physical presence of books and people’s relationship with them are of a unique, unsurpassed quality. Rather it is a question of turning a new medium into a multiplier for the dissemination of poetry.

Support for the project has been obtained from the Goethe Institutes and from the Arts Council of Switzerland Pro Helvetia, which provide information about the platform in their libraries and thus contribute to the distribution of the "lyrikline.org" address. The institutes themselves have an interest in integrating these unique sound documents into their work.
The Berlin Central and Regional Library has likewise agreed to lend its support and is popularising the platform within Germany itself. It archives and catalogues the entire data and passes them on via its own contacts and wide-ranging networks.

Two other organisations joining in, which have been active for a long time in promoting poetry, are the poetry journal Zwischen den Zeilen – Zeitschrift für Gedichte und ihre Poetik (Between the Lines – Journal for Poems and Poetics) and the anthology, Jahrbuch der Lyrik (Poetry Annual), which has covered the development of German poetry for the past twenty years.
Among the other supporters of the project are the Hörverlag publishing house in Munich, which has extensive experience of sound recordings of literature, Lesart, the Berlin Young Readers Literature Centre, and the Berlin Literature Forum in the Brecht House.