Anne Vegter

Late dienst

Language: dutch

Translations: german (Spätschicht), english (Late Shift)

Late dienst

Je kunt een plan tekenen, een nieuw huis
inrichten maar in halflicht schiet je voet weg
onder de vloer en je noemt gang deur, deur gang.

Je kunt zoeken naar een lichtknop staken:
weerstaat je huid de nacht slaap je wakker
op de veren rug van een nieuwsgierig dier.

Je kunt zeggen dit is de try-out maar
je meet minuten licht als werkelijk te traag toe
rek je lippen, liefste, tot een waanzinnige fermate:

bereik het galactisch perron waarachter
een nachtnet spant, na de laatste trein
knallende echo’s van sterren.

(of zeg je liever allerlaatste ster)
(of verminderingen)
(of explosies)

Je zegt fabelachtig liefste hoe jij je oren
als sleutels in de gaten hoort vallen
van je geschrokken huis.

Anne Vegter

photo © private

* 1958, Delfzijl, Netherlands
lives in: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Anne Vegter is a versatile poet and writer. In 1989 she made her debut with the children’s book The Lady and the Rhinoceros, which was promptly awarded the Woutertje Pieterse Prize, an important prize for new Dutch literature for children. Her first poetry collection, It Sprang (1991), showed that a poet of stature had risen. Several more children’s books and poetry collections followed, as well as a collection of erotic stories and several plays. In every genre the fact that she is first and foremost a poet glimmers through. In 2013 she was appointed Poet Laureate for the Netherlands.

photo © private

Anne Vegter writes whimsical poetry that has often been called surrealistic and dreamlike, disturbing and puzzling in equal measure. All of these qualifications are made in a positive sense, however. Some critics find the mystery and unpredictability of Vegter’s poetry too much, but most praise the sense of adventure and surprise that accompany it. Her latest collection is called Big Data (2019), which was awarded the Ida Gerhardt Prize in 2022. Her work has been translated into various languages, and in 2020 a collection of her poems appeared in English translation (Island Mountain Glacier, translation Astrid Alben, Prototype Press). Since 2021, she is the city poet of Rotterdam.

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