The Poet of the Month August is Cornelis van der Wal.
You can read the Frisian poems on RIXT and an English translation of one poem will be published here.
Line of Rink
From the 1st to till the 7th of august, the Poet Pack RIXT will stay on the Skriuwersarke, the Writer’s Ark, of late author Rink van der Velde. The 50 poets won’t all come at once, but every day a different pair of poets will visit to work on a stanza which will form a poem in these seven days.
As all activities have been low-key because of the corona crisis, the pack wants to slowly meet again in the right circumstances. And what’s a better place for this as the Ark, or a better activity to work together on a collective poem.
In August, Cornelis van der Wal is the Dichter fan de moanne, the Poet of the Month. He will write the first stanza, upon which the group will build from Saturday onwards. De ‘Rigel fan Rink‘/ the ‘Line of Rink’ which Van der Wall with start with is:
‘De mar nimt de bui net.’
‘The lake drives the storm back’
This line is from the novel De nacht fan Belse madam/ The night of madam Belse (1991) and gives direction and tone to the poem as well as the week.
The growth of the poem can be followed from home, as Omrop Fryslân will call with the poets on the Ark every day. This will be at 15:40 h. during the week and at 17:40 h. in the weekend.
To conclude the week, the poem will be read in full in the former hangout of Van der Velde, pub Marktzicht in Drachten, on the evening of the 8th of August.
The Skriuwersarke of Rink van der Velde, who passed away in 2001, is held by It Fryske Gea and Stifting FLMD. The Poet Pack will be provided with drinks and food by the Poiesz Boarnburgum.
What: Rigel fan Rink/Line of Rink,
Poet Pack RIXT at the Skriuwersarke/ Writer’s Ark
Where: De Skriuwersarke, De Feanhoop
When : 1-7 August at the Ark.
- Friday 31 July at 15:40 h. on the radio programme De Middei fan Fryslân.
- 1-2 August at 17:40 h. on the radio programmes Sneon fan Fryslân and Snein fan Fryslân.
- 3-7 August at 15:40 h. on the radio programme De Middei fan Fryslân.
- 8 August, in the evening the final gathering at pub Marktzicht, Aldewei 14, 9203 AG Drachten
Entry: All visits to the Ark are by appointment because of the corona regulations. Also be aware that Marktzicht will have limited place for the same reasons.
Please contact RIXT for questions or to visit the Ark .
Poet of the Month: July
The Poet of the Month July is Kate Schlingemann.
You can read the Frisian poems on RIXT and an English translation of one poem will be published here.
June 2020
Geart Tigchelaar was the RIXT poet of the month June 2020. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘the block r’ – is published below, including a YouTube video of the poem.
the block r tlaintlaintlain twaintwaintwain traintraintrain I sought long and hard under couch and cupboard just when I had enough just to find that block r now I’m able to make words and sense of everything tlaintlaintlain twaintwaintwain traintraintrain as dad takes his nightly seat and watches how some elite expand upon beached planes, national, business waylaid and hefty financial aid you can hear it immediately they’ve lost the block r just like dad who shouts coffee! quiet! I’m ruminating on a plan they can have the block r I’ve got loads to spare tlaintlaintlain twaintwaintwain traintraintrain they’re building international railways with space and nature that’s how they’re dismantling the ghoul of air pollution if by chance the block r would disappear under bookcase, couch or in vacuum cleaner there’ll still be enough blocks to play with sweetly animal woods plant bloom possibility © Geart Tigchelaar Translation: Trevor M. Scarse
Voice: David Scarse
Poet of the Month June
The Poet of the Month June is Geart Tigchelaar.
You can read the Frisian poems on RIXT and an English translation of one poem will be published here.
May 2020
Jan Kooistra was the RIXT poet of the month May 2020. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘the lay of the land’ – is published below.
the lay of the land that a girl sits in front of a shot window softly crying in a room that used to be a home that a woman looks at that girl through the holes in the wall and feels her child’s hunger pains that is the lay of the land that a primal forest is transformed into a wasteland in a day or ten and fishes drown in plastics and pesticides that a petty thief is thrown into jail while a big-time crook lives in pomp and circumstance and lays down the law that is the lay of the land that a virus prowls the streets like a hungry wolf, laps up millions and leaves us sheepishly paralysed that air and sky become fresh and bright again animals dare to roam grounds long seceded leaving us dumbstruck and unenlightened that is the lay of the land that we’ll be flying again to luxurious places for a few crappy cents across dying oceans and crowded slums that a wistful writer stares out of his window at the faraway hills turns around, forges that one sentence that is the lay of the land © Jan Kooistra Translation: Trevor M. Scarse
Oardelskonkedei on May 15th
The Oardelskonkje is a new poetry form which has been created not long agi by poet Syds Wiersma, who drew the comparison that we are travellers on one and a half (oardel) leg (skonk). The verse has “one and a half leg/ oardel skonk” with two stanzas; the first with ten words, the second with five. The poet is free in all other aspects of the Oardelskonkje.
In late April RIXT invited everyone to work, play and write poetry with this new form. People did so and the resulting poems can be read in Frisian on RIXT’s first Day of the Oardelskonkjes. The twelve published Oardelskonkjes come from poets Elmar Kuiper, Gerrit de Vries, Carla van der Zwaag, Yva Hokwerda, Elly de Leeuw, Inne Bilker, Simen de Jong, Henk Veenstra, Ytsje Hettinga, Dirk Geerdink, Anne Heegstra en Ypie Bakker.
