Ina Schroders-Zeeders

Ina Schroders-Zeeders (West Terschelling, 1958) is the first Island Poet of Terschelling since 2018.  She writes poems in English and Dutch. Her poetry was published in the collections Veritas, Amor, Roads Book I and II, The Balance, Moving on and Op weg naar het niets, in English-language anthologies, and – for example – in The Journal, an English literary magazine. See also: https.inaweblogisback.wordpress.com.

In daily life she is a novelist. She also published a Terschelling thriller –  Waterdans (‘Water dance’) – in August 2020.

‘For me, a poem is primarily a tool to dig deeper into the imagination, to feel another’s imagination and then to give it your own, personal interpretation. That moment when you ‘feel’ a poem and suddenly a new world opens up for you, goes beyond what language can bring us, but for me it is the ultimate goal.’

THE DRIIG *

I saw: your understanding - a ‘driig’
a procession of pale people
to the cemetery of Saint John

You're now digging deep into my petrified words
like looking for the morning
before the tears fell,
like you know where the coffin is,
where the coffin is immovably buried

where it chafes, the silicon grinds
on the granite of my soul

I saw a ‘driig’
and they were all acquaintances

The ground smelled vaguely like a day in spring

You dig through the granite
hit the coffin - almost

You want to say you are not lying here
But it is September, I say, it is too early

The crows laugh at the mistake

© Ina Schroders-Zeeders


* A driig is a vision, for example in a dream, of a funeral procession, with participants known to the dreamer. The order they walk in, tells the dreamer who it is in the coffin.