Month: januari 2018

Reading: Afterwards by Philip Schultz
Philip Schultz (b. 1945) won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry with a collection called 'Failure'. To him, that failure referred to the relative failure of his alter ego the novelist, who finally gave in to the poet, under one condition: the subtitle of the book is 'a novel in verse'. Here is a poem called ...
Reading: Wolves by Louis Macneice
Louis MacNeice (1907-1963) was a modern British poet who had studied philosophy. He caught pneumonia while inspecting a mine shaft for its sound quality - what a way to go. Here is 'wolves': Wolves I do not want to be reflective any more Envying and despising unreflective things Finding pathos in dogs and undeveloped handwriting ...
Reading: In the Midnight Hour by Charles Wright
Charles Wright (b. 1935) is of course 'one of the best poets of his generation'. Raised in rural Tennessee. Influenced by Ezra Pound. Many prizes. I learn that is poetry forms a complex whole, so we are looking at a fragment here: In the midnight hour This, too, is an old story, yet It is ...
Reading: Anseo by Paul Muldoon
Today Paul Muldoon (19 ). Seamus Heaney has called him one of the greatest poets. I read a poem called Anseo. It's the Irish way to say 'present, sir, yes, sir': Anseo When the Master was calling the roll At the primary school in Collegelands, You were meant to call back Anseo And raise your ...
Reading: Tattoo by Ted Kooser
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry book "Delights & Shadows" by Ted Kooser (b. 1939) today the poem 'Tattoo'. Kooser was a life insurance executive for many years. He is now retired and teaches poetry part time at the University of Nebraska. He gets up at 4:30 in the morning and writes. Every day (which is ...
Reading: Turtle by Kay Ryan
Today I read a poem by 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner Kay Ryan (b. 1945). Turtle is a poem with her signature 'recombinant' rhyme and mordant wit: Turtle Who would be a turtle who could help it? A barely mobile hard roll, a four-oared helmet, she can ill afford the chances she must take in rowing toward ...
Gelukt! De wereld bestaat nog in 2018!
De eerste column van het nieuwe jaar is altijd een beetje een feestje. Just kidding. Ik schrijf deze vluchtige woorden laat op de avond in Seoul, vanuit een heilig plichtsbesef tegenover mijn Nederlandse lezers. De onderwerpkeuze verloopt zo stroef als de vastgeroeste schroef van een oude sloep. Oudjaar was voor mij zonder Freek, zonder Youp, ...
Reading: Pentecost by Derek Walcott
A challenging poem by Derek Walcott (1930-2017), the magnificent poet and social activist from St. Lucia who received the 1992 Nobel Prize for literature. I read a complex poem entitled Pentecost: Pentecost Better a jungle in the head than rootless concrete. Better to stand bewildered by the fireflies' crooked street; winter lamps do not show ...