Manz Hans Manz

Manz Hans Manz Poems

Manz Hans Manz Biography

Hans Manz (* 16th July 1931 in Wila in the Zurich Oberland ; † 17th November 2016 ) was a Swiss teacher , translator and author of children's books Hanz Manz, born in the Zurich Oberland in 1931, raised interest in the language with his play-books and poems in his readers. His specialty was, among other things, the tracing of treacherous expressions of speech. As a teacher at a primary school in Zurich , he had tested and improved his own "language skills" together with his pupils. He also translated children's books, for example, In the Night Kitchen and Hector Protector and As I Went Over the Water by Maurice Sendak and The Beast of Monsieur Racine and The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Tomi Ungerer . Manz wrote prose and lyric for adults and made childrens broadcasts for Swiss television . He has lived as a freelance writer and journalist in Zurich and Italy since 1987 .)

The Best Poem Of Manz Hans Manz

A True Story of Daily Life

My next-door neighbor,
a Chinese guy from Hong Kong,
sweeps, whenever he reaches for his broom,
first my doorstep,
and then his own.
He doesn't know our saying
"Sweep in front of your own door first."
I do know. But lately
I've given it up, and sweep,
whenever I reach for my broom,
first the doorstep of my neighbor,
the Chinese guy from Hong Kong,
and only then my own.
So when he comes home after work
or I come home
our doorsteps are always clean
and the old rules have been swept away—
away with all that once kept us apart.

translated by Lane Jennings

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