Hollands Diep
(translated from Dutch by Daniel Carden Nemo)
my translation teacher thinks my sentences are taps
I am purposely silent in all languages
naked as the truth he says
poetry flowing
he blows a Dutch sky above it
and the skirts of my mother tongue
billow up and around
mixing hot with cold
catching the air current
a kind of land of plenty of Brussels lace
illegal to sell off
drift drives the seam out of my blouse
now in a daze my teacher
pursues a thread of attractant through the suds
leads the cow to the open field
where all my animals pass water
we overflow
two drops of water my great love
drawn from the huge arm of the river--
secretly, in the harsh stream of male language,
suspended from my drunken heaven,
climbs the sun
* Hollands Diep is the name of a river which flows south of Dordrecht in The Netherlands.
I am purposely silent in all languages
naked as the truth he says
poetry flowing
he blows a Dutch sky above it
and the skirts of my mother tongue
billow up and around
mixing hot with cold
catching the air current
a kind of land of plenty of Brussels lace
illegal to sell off
drift drives the seam out of my blouse
now in a daze my teacher
pursues a thread of attractant through the suds
leads the cow to the open field
where all my animals pass water
we overflow
two drops of water my great love
drawn from the huge arm of the river--
secretly, in the harsh stream of male language,
suspended from my drunken heaven,
climbs the sun
* Hollands Diep is the name of a river which flows south of Dordrecht in The Netherlands.
Hollands Diepmijn vertaalprofessor denkt dat mijn zinnen kraantjes zijn
ik zwijg expres in alle talen naar waarheid naakt zegt hij poëzie stroomt hij knalt er een Hollandse lucht boven en de rokken van mijn moedertaal bollen op gaan breeduit staan mengen warm met koud vangen de luchtstroom een soort luilekkerland van Brussels kant illegaal te verpatsen drift drijft de zoom uit mijn bloes nu in een roes mijn prof een lint van lokstof door het sop jaagt de koe naar open veld leidt waar al mijn diertjes wateren we stromen over zo twee druppels water mijn grote liefde aan de grote rivierarm afgevangen -- heimelijk, in de harde straal van mannentaal aan mijn bezopen hemel opgehangen klimt de zon First published by Poetry International |
Untitled
translated from Dutch by David Colmer
the field half cleared
we winter in the messy part
the house gives us cover
only the smart showerhead still needs
to adjust to your voice
hot and intense
doesn’t come across as a command
we perform the courtship flight anyway
devices flick on
the blinds fold up
a thigh is revealed the entire living module
reacts to your presence
if the house was really smart
it would play dumb
and leave us enough calculating power
to complete the fertility circle
we winter in the messy part
the house gives us cover
only the smart showerhead still needs
to adjust to your voice
hot and intense
doesn’t come across as a command
we perform the courtship flight anyway
devices flick on
the blinds fold up
a thigh is revealed the entire living module
reacts to your presence
if the house was really smart
it would play dumb
and leave us enough calculating power
to complete the fertility circle
Untitledhet veld is voor de helft geruimd
in het rommelige deel overwinteren we het huis geeft ons dekking alleen de slimme douchekop moet nog wennen aan je stemgeluid warm en intens klinkt niet direct als een commando toch voeren we de baltsvlucht uit apparaten springen aan de zonwering plooit op een dij komt vrij de hele woonmodule reageert op je aanwezigheid was het huis echt slim dan bleef het stom dan liet het ons de rekenkracht om de vruchtbaarheidscyclus te volmaken |
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Astrid Lampe's work sits at a considerable distance from the mainstream, which threatens to become even broader due to the use of social media and AI. Since her debut Rib (nominated for the C. Buddingh' Prize), Lampe has been writing strikingly unconventional collections, such as De memen van Lara, Spuit je ralkleur (Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize), Rouw met diertjes, Zusterstad 2.0, Tulpenwodka, and most recently Zachte landing op leeuwenpootjes, which addresses the war in Ukraine. In 2023, she was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize for her entire poetic oeuvre. The jury noted that, since her debut, Lampe has been raising pressing questions in her poems about climate, corporeality, and digitalization. They describe her as one of the most idiosyncratic and generous poets of our time.
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Daniel Carden Nemo is a poet, translator, and photographer. His work has appeared in Magma Poetry, RHINO, Full Stop, Off the Coast, and elsewhere.
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David Colmer is an Australian writer and translator of Dutch and Flemish literature. He has translated over eighty books throughout his career, including Little Fox (Levine Querido), I’ll Root for You, and A Pond Full of Ink (both Eerdmans). His translations have won several prestigious awards, such as the PEN Translation Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. David lives in Amsterdam.
