klaagstukken
een vaag wij wordt aangevallen omdat we rouwden omdat we te zichtbaar toonden wat niet getoond mocht worden – verlies nederlaag anders leven uitstoting rouw zonder ontwikkeling ze zijn zo bang hun kompas te verliezen en richten met hun voorzorgsmaatregelen en beschermingsmiddelen telkens opnieuw schade aan zelf had ik niet het gevoel dat het gestopt moest worden deze sterke rouwklacht trok door mijn lichaam en hele wezen en vouwde naar alle kanten lappen geschiedenis en toekomst open details en beelden herinneringen beloftes lappen gemeenschappelijke pijn en ongeluk stukken grof genaaide weefsels aangelegde bruggen boeken en banieren in kleurige druk trillende liederen warmte van dieren routes en verhalen van levens en tochten lichten aan de uitgelegde binnenkanten op we zijn open en kloppend dit is echt het bestaat ik voel het uitgevouwen ze insisteerde zolang het niet gevoeld wordt stopt het nooit ze bleef daar gewoon liggen als rivierklei na een overstroming als ontmantelde flatgebouwen als conflictmineralen als eendagskuikens als röntgenfoto’s van afgesloten stallen als verstoorde nesten en huizen maar niet verlaten zie je ze staan de banshees en keeners de wilde kuune gastvrij voor verlies en rouw uiteindelijk is de congruentie helend
bindstukken
als je het moet beschrijven dan alleen door het te verbinden met iets anders een brief is afstand maar ook een intieme relatie maar het is te pijnlijk je kijkt naar een natuurprogramma om te ontspannen maar het huilde in golven die lijkt het nu al in je waren en waarvan de beweging herinnert aan een andere tijd waarvan de uitgestrektheid niet verhindert dat je wist in een afgesloten bassin of container te zitten de golfslag brak steeds en bewoog terug liep nergens op uit en jij zit daar tussen walrussen die zij aan zij op het klein overbevolkt eiland rusten en hun zware lijven de moeizame tocht de rotsen opsleepten waar ze om weer in zee te komen vanaf tachtig meter hoogte afschuifelden dan vielen vielen en je ziet nu hoe aan de overkant van het water de historica van haar rots afschuifelt met wijde vleugels niet naar het water maar de lucht gericht
bindstukken
rondom de langste dag kijken we even voor zonsopgang naar lichtende nachtwolken vol waterdamp van raketuitlaatgassen en verhoogde methaanconcentraties die hoog in de atmosfeer het zonlicht reflecteren. als je weer begint voel je verre delen van wat je lichaam of landschap lijkt met een tip elkaar even raken en kort verbinding maken de begroeting is somber zullen we elkaar weer zien? de dikke tong de stijve romp hindert het vouwen dat nodig is om uiteenliggende delen te bereiken de long tong oblong song
van wilde dood
marwin vos
The author would like to acknowledge Egan Garr, poet and translator, for help with editing the work.
Listen to a recording of:
With these translations of poems from marwin vos’ wild death, we hope to further the work of offering her poems to an international audience. vos’ poems unwrite and rewrite contemporary political themes such as mourning, rape and the exploitation of minerals while caringly placing the marginalized front and center. Instead of mobilising a traditional political self and a cohesive narrative, vos’ poems branch out and entangle, crossing genres and languages, capturing geopolitical infrastructures and somatic turns. We expect that vos’ work will resonate with readers of poets who similarly insist on political engagement, such as Claudia Rankine, Juliana Spahr, and Dolores Dorantes.
While translating the poems we loved most within vos’ work, we found that some sounded strange in the English language. vos’ voice is analytical, sober, and often works with a parlando style to contrast with the charged political realities she latches onto. As translators, we found that our main difficulty was in translating this particularity of the voice. The Dutch language—and poetry scene—lends itself well to this tone, and can accommodate vos’ innovative pairing of contained emotion and dedicated cataloguing of registers. However, something that sounds matter-of-fact and blunt in Dutch, might stick out as sentimental, overwrought, or even awkward in English. vos’ work resists conforming to the specific tone and cadence typically demanded by the Anglophone poetry scene, and we wanted our translations to honour her innovative voice yet simultaneously stand on their own as English poems. Editor and poet Egan Garr helped us trace and retrace the sensibility of how our translations would sound to the Anglophone ear.
The three translated poems are characterized by a lack of punctuation and subtle shifts in voice and register. The speaker’s sense of detachment is juxtaposed by exacting images. The warmth of animals, river clay after a flood, disturbed nests, and methane-laden clouds never stand on their own, as the poems strive to fix something together towards a kind of repair. In our translation, we tried to strike a balance between mirroring alliterations and sonic quality on the one hand, and semantic precision on the other. We enjoyed translating vos’ work, especially with her reading and commenting along. As non-native speakers of the English language, we perceive translation as a collaborative endeavor, a form of play, and an opportunity to delve more intricately into both English and Dutch.
While translating the poems we loved most within vos’ work, we found that some sounded strange in the English language. vos’ voice is analytical, sober, and often works with a parlando style to contrast with the charged political realities she latches onto. As translators, we found that our main difficulty was in translating this particularity of the voice. The Dutch language—and poetry scene—lends itself well to this tone, and can accommodate vos’ innovative pairing of contained emotion and dedicated cataloguing of registers. However, something that sounds matter-of-fact and blunt in Dutch, might stick out as sentimental, overwrought, or even awkward in English. vos’ work resists conforming to the specific tone and cadence typically demanded by the Anglophone poetry scene, and we wanted our translations to honour her innovative voice yet simultaneously stand on their own as English poems. Editor and poet Egan Garr helped us trace and retrace the sensibility of how our translations would sound to the Anglophone ear.
The three translated poems are characterized by a lack of punctuation and subtle shifts in voice and register. The speaker’s sense of detachment is juxtaposed by exacting images. The warmth of animals, river clay after a flood, disturbed nests, and methane-laden clouds never stand on their own, as the poems strive to fix something together towards a kind of repair. In our translation, we tried to strike a balance between mirroring alliterations and sonic quality on the one hand, and semantic precision on the other. We enjoyed translating vos’ work, especially with her reading and commenting along. As non-native speakers of the English language, we perceive translation as a collaborative endeavor, a form of play, and an opportunity to delve more intricately into both English and Dutch.
marwin vos is a poet from the Netherlands. wilde dood (wild death, 2023) is her fourth book of poetry, published by het balanseer. The collection was awarded the Grote Poëzieprijs (Great Poetry Award) 2023 and is nominated for the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize. Other works include het leven van sterren (the life of stars, 2019 het balanseer) and oorlogspaarden tot in de buitenwijken (war horses as far as the suburbs, 2015 Leesmagazijn). wild death explores the politics of loss, destruction and mourning. Both the pain and grief of profound loss want to exist in the world and wish to be addressed.. What does loss mean in a world focused on winning and gain? Whose death is remembered and whose death is forgotten? What if you are inconsolable? What if loss ushers in even more loss? Habitats and histories are destroyed; animals and other life forms are obliterated. The book creates a conceptual and social space to make real what is ignored: can we acknowledge that our actions lead to further destruction, death and pain, and can we look for ways to stop doing so?
Frances Welling is a poet, translator and editor from the Netherlands. She studied Russian language and culture, literary studies and translation studies at the University of Amsterdam and culture studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. She is an editor at DIG, a Dutch online magazine focused on digital literature.
Nguyễn Thị Mai is a poet of the Vietnamese diaspora. She studied philosophy and economics at the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University. She writes poems about community, money, girl music and decolonial dreams.
