kamiel79

Reading: On Seeing A Watermelon by Monika Kumar

Monka Kumar (b. 1977) is a Hindi poet. Her interests include the folklore and folk culture of Punjab, contemporary literary theory and world poetry. She also writes a PhD thesis on the work of François Lyotard. I read a fruity love poem in the translation by Sampurna Chattarji: On Seeing A Watermelon Seeing a watermelon ...

Uprooted

When I was born, my parents planted a birch tree in our back garden. I could not see it from my room at the front of the house. The room in which I read my Winnetou, in which I touched a breast for the first time. The room I painted ocher, and decorated with beer ...

Sneeuwpoppop

Ik maak Miru graag met voorbeelden uit haar eigen belevingswereld vertrouwd met abstracte concepten. Toen ze van een vriendinnetje een knuffel kreeg van een sneeuwpop, zag ik mijn kans schoon. "Hé Miru", zei ik, "dat is een sneeuwpoppop." -"Een wat?" "Het is geen sneeuwpop, toch? Want die is van sneeuw." -"Oh ja." "Dan is het ...

Small big data

Today's hype is Big Data. As with other hypes, such as 'sharing economy', 'cloud', 'blockchain', the hype is simultaneously promoted as a commercial instrument that is indispensable for companies and as a pervasive phenomenon that redefines the fabric of society. Every big corporation sits on a heap of big data about their customers. Statistical analysis ...

Reading: The Wreck by Don Paterson

Don Paterson (b. 1963) is a Scottish poet from Dundee, where he still lives and plays jazz guitar in a band. He has taught poetry and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His poetry unique on two T.S. Eliot Prizes and the list of awards goes on. I read a remarkable ode to a love ...

But how can art keep us alive when it cannot kill us?

Reading: First Memory by Louise Gluck

Louise Glück (b. 1943) is an American poet born in New York. Numerous awards, appointed Poet Laureate in 2003. Her poetry is neither confessional nor intellectual and considered among the purest writing in English poetry today. Her subject matter is often desolate and depressing, yet poetically brilliant. I read a short little piece of wisdom ...

Good riddance: Arnons voetnoten

Vriend en vijand zijn het erover eens: Arnon Grunbergs laatste voetnoot op de voorpagina van de Volkskrant is een heuglijk feit. Als wat hij achterlaat een zwart gat is, ben ik met liefde nihilist. Dat de tweeëneenhalf duizend schrijfsels die hij de afgelopen jaren produceerde taalkundig om te janken zo belabberd en intellectueel onhoudbaar zijn, ...

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie