Edwin de Groot was the RIXT poet of the month in November. His poem ‘clockmaker’ is translated below. You can read the Frisian original here.
clockmaker
regally he glides between ding-dongs
the wheel mechanism and pendulum,
he rides across their faces like a Teflon kid
or maybe freestyle, but the clockmaker
has known it all his life, time invites you
into his home, where you’ll get a bickie
a glass of bubbly if you’re lucky and
then bonjoured away empty-handed
he won’t be besieged, he determines
the jumps according to a template of tides
or monsoons of set comings and goings
or as what was, is and remains, even
after the deluge; a village already sunk
bound to the soil for all time like
a children’s grave, such a thing is rooted
does not perish and tick-tocks unrestricted
© Edwin de Groot
translation: Trevor Scarse