EARTH (4)

A poem / that understands itself and purely / encompasses itself like a figure of speech / with a ball and with air // and then takes flight because / of so little earth—I gladly / let it ascend to heaven. By preference // including the poet himself.

Frank Pollet





The poet's word is the entire world. Not the tangible earth, not the fluid water, but the earth inside the earth and the water that makes the water fluid.


Paul Snoek





Writing poetry is producing a single leaf of all the woods on earth, producing a single ear of corn of all the grain fields on earth.


Herman van den Bergh





Poetry is an animal, a combination / of the softest animals on earth.


Ben Cami





www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

INTUITION

What turns a verse into a poem is precisely the sense of inner necessity with which intuition unfolds, in sharp contrast to the deliberate intent with which one undertakes an experiment.


Hendrik de Vries


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

TECHNOLOGY

Technique can be just as poetic as poetry is technical.


Albert Hagenaars (inspired by Frans van Tilborg)


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

DICHTER

'Dichter', the German word for poet, is often an honorific title. It can be given to a writer who has written nothing but prose and no verse at all.


James Reidel


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

MUSSET

Musset is more a poet than an artist, and right now more a human than a poet – and a miserable human at that. Musset never separated art from the sensations of which it is the complement. In his view, music was made for serenades, painting for portraits, and poetry to comfort hearts. When you try to stuff the sun in your pants like that, you burn your pants and pee on the sun. And that's what happened to him.


Gustave Flaubert


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

VOICE

Being a poet for Maurice Gilliams means carrying a fate and passing it on. Because the poet is, for now, defeated, but keeps going on because he hears ‘the voice,' which guarantees him that he will win.


Paul De Vree


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

LIGHT

I wanted to strike the brightest light out of the language – because deep in the heart of the language lives a white light.


Herman Gorter


Also see:

Frozen poets - Sculptures, graves and other traces of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry



www.alberthagenaars.nl

THE INEXPRESSIBLE

Ideas have nothing to do with poetry, it's the inexpressible that matters.

Max Jacob





www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

COFFIN

Bibliophile editions are the luxurious coffins of poetry.

Renaat Ramon





www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

RUBRICK

Writing a poem is like putting together a Rubrick's cube. You have all the colors —words and images— but you have to get them in the right place. And there is only one possibility. After a long time of tinkering, you find the solution, you have the aha-moment. That's it. But with a poem, it sometimes takes months before you find that small word that suddenly makes the poem harmonious. Finished. Not in the sense of a perfect poem, but of a successful attempt. Each poem is an attempt to express something accurately.

Lut De Block





www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

FLEMISH

Flemish is much richer than the standard language. It is also the task of the poet to create neologisms, to be creative with language, to color the language, for example by tearing words from their context, deforming fixed expressions for their own use. A poet must be a bit of an alchemist.

Patrick Cornillie





www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

PERSON (2)

A poem might be called a pseudo-person. Like a person, it’s unique and addresses the reader personally.

W.H. Auden





The poet is a world, contracted in one person.


Victor Hugo



www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

BIRD

If a bird could exactly say what it sings, why it sings, and what in it is singing, it would no longer sing.

Paul Valéry




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

NOTHING

Poetry begins where, for the time being, there seems to be nothing to share and where one does not initially count on sharing the familiar.

Kees Fens




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

GENESIS

The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.

Joy Harjo




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

THE UNKNOWN

The poet must address the unknown. Almost everything is the unknown. What we know, we do not know. And he must magnify the mystery rather than diminish it. And even the simplest poem adds something to the unknown. The poem is the poet's religion.

Leo Herberghs




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

CHILD

When a child learns to write verses, they are often incredibly original. The child has a fresh approach to language. The lines flow playfully from the pen. It is the words that transport the child to the world of poetry. The words make the child a poet. Language gives the child access to experiences and feelings unknown outside of the poem.

Leo Herberghs




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

CONTEMPT

Essentially, all great action is based on contempt, all poetry, for example, on disregarding its cause and content.

Karel van het Reve




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

PLAIN

Writing poetry is: looking out over an expansive dry plain and letting it be irrigated through lines of verse.

Maud Vanhauwaert




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry

GRIM

The world has become grim these days. On almost every level. Yet poetry is still very much alive. It will survive as long as we breathe and words find the strength to denounce or embrace the spirit of the times, to express it profoundly, and thereby to transcend it.

Antoon Van den Braembussche




www.alberthagenaars.nl


Also see:
Frozen poets - Statues, tombs and other traces of hundreds of poets

Dutch poetry in Indonesian language, translated by Siti Wahyuningsih and Albert Hagenaars

Critical reviews on modern Dutch poetry