Gerrit de Vries was the RIXT poet of the month December 2021. You can read his original Frisian poems of that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘Moth hunt’ – is published here.
Moth hunt my tool looks a bit like a tennis racket a light-green handle with a small shutter for the batteries a light-green shaft press the yellow button like sparklers on New Year’s Eve the moth flickers gaily on the wall with supple arm movements I direct letters of air if you hit a moth in mid-air and you’re lucky it’ll burst into pieces with a loud bang and a blue flash of light in a shower of satisfaction I wish I could touch you that way © Gerrit de Vries Translation: Trevor Scarse