Author: kamiel79

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 ...
Reading: The Calves Not Chosen by Linda Gregg
Linda Gregg (b. 1942) lives in New York. The biography on Poetry Foundation only mentions the many awards she won and we don't really care about awards. I found a poem of hers that I find interesting. Here goes: The calves not chosen The mind goes caw, caw, caw, caw, dark and fast. The orphan heart cries out, ...
Twee homunculussen
Twee homunculussen: de jouwe en de mijne lopen hand in hand, ze verwaarlozen hun werk, Cartesius lachen ze uit ze geloven niet meer in de kerk van onze lijven, slaan een luid akkoord op het orgel aan, opdat wij dronken vrijen met elkaar, en zij zich kunnen bevrijden van ons, hun apenpaar
"Religions are big slow poems, while most poems are short, fast religions." - Les Murray
Reading: What Marked Tom by Tyehimba Jess
Tyehimba Jess (b. 1965) is the winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for his poetry book 'Olio'. Born in Detroit, he currently teaches at the College of Staten Island in New York City. I was impressed with some pages of Olio, a complex and beautiful poetic journey into the life of African American performers from the Civil ...