Jetze de Vries was RIXT Poet of the Month for October 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems from that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Lot’ – is published below.

Lot

before dawn the man closed
the door of his home softly
drove for hours, looked in mirrors
clouds gathered like smoke
the sound was closing in
a monstrous insect across the mountain ridge
the land of the free did not come into view


© Jetze de Vries
translation: Trevor Scarse

Fedde Dijkstra was RIXT Poet of the Month September 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems from that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘CLOSE ENOUGH’ – is published here. Fedde Dijkstra is a guest poet of RIXT.

CLOSE ENOUGH

in between the forest’s breaths
cars rumble across the concrete
a pigeon flaps out of a tree

two clocks ticking at each other
and through the French windows
a cat traipses stealthily

inside, nothing barring its way,
through the corridor, up the stairs
where it plays with a little ball

which on its own accord
ba
    donk
             a
              donk
                       a
                       donk
bounces down the stairs

a blackbird sounds the alarm
the neighbour calls her kids inside
and a siren comes in

nothing is perfect
but everything falls into place
close enough for jazz


© Fedde Dijkstra
translation: Trevor Scarse

Henk Nijp was RIXT Poet of the Month June 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Nylân’ – is published here.

Nylân

there I stood, for the first time
towering high above everything
I could even see far beyond the tracks
the scorching sun
beneath the tiles, the restless water
the howling others

the first steps easy-peasy
halfway bit slower higher
at the top the wet concrete and the jitters
the eroding blue of the iron
the rough plank underneath my feet
doubt setting in

behind me the bellowers
“come on, hurry up…!”
careful steps forward
then hesitation and standstill,
the rolling depths

no way back
into the void,
arms flailing
the crash and the bubbles
then the howling others once more


© Henk Nijp
translation: Trevor Scarse

Preston Losack was RIXT Poet of the Month June 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘King of Fools’ – is published here.

King of Fools

“Was there ever, once upon a time
When things were mitrily in feign,
A moment all were trying to find
Some birds a-bluing in the train?
Figgies felt so full of fitness
Horny buggers thricemore high
Gruff ol’ dingy doggo minace
Huffing puffing trashing fly!”

“What words get hewn when grouped in fours
From tangents found but hours before
Make some here and get some there
Low in rank as scrivonaire
Let’s dump all standards overboard
And just write “shitty dentist gourd!”
No need for proper, no need for prim:
We make nonsense interim!”

“Word for word we build up worth.
Humbug held his heft in first,
Frithay with but a Wednesday look,
Hourly crample with your Sunday schnook!
Listen crovishly! Cry on fowl!
Read a helper in a trailer park
And laugh when I get discomvowel’d!
Stand upon my diction-ark!
And knock on doors from thyme to time
Whimsing of nauseating butterrhyme!”

“No worries, man, if you don’t get it–
Don’t be confused, don’t get frustrated,
Can’t you hear how it sounds, my sons?”
Thus speaks the King upon his throne of puns!


© Preston Losack
Translation: Trevor Scarse and Preston Losack

Edwin de Groot was RIXT-poet of the month May 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘What Nr 14 already said’ – is published here.

translation by Trevor Scarse

Cornelis van der Wal was RIXT-poet of the month April 2022. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘White houses’ – is published here.

White houses

White houses, in the woods
cruel animals lurk. Bones lie

in a circle around the city moat.
The sun knows what the bones should think.

Planes throw dead children like
bombs on the white city.



© Cornelis van der Wal
translation: Trevor Scarse

Ina Schroders-Zeeders was the RIXT poet of the month March 2022. You can read her original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Cain’s wrath’ – is published here.

Cain’s wrath

a fratricide takes place in a sunny landscape
where yellow flowers will grow down the line

for now, the flight of innocence still holds sway
the fear for the cruelty of a bitter despot

now that the mad Eastern wind wreaks havoc
nature holds its breath for when calm will return
and Abel’s death is avenged by flowers

a dull green helmet will swiftly rust
and become a nest to a pair of lustrous doves


© Ina Schroders-Zeeders
translation: Trevor Scarse