Sipke de Schiffart was the RIXT poet of the month in September. You can read his original Frisian poems from that month here. The translation of one of them – ‘boy,’ – is published here.
boy, you will never read this, I’m afraid, never will you know that my thoughts are with you, that I won’t ever forget you you represent so many others, though you weren’t allowed the time to write a diary on a video I saw how you were grabbed by an adult male, in your shorts, with your skinny legs, how old – six, seven? did they burn your parents alive, shoot your grandparents, rape your sister and chop off your little brother’s head? as he walked your attacker held you tightly with his arm under your armpit, an arm thicker than your legs whose arm was it? it belongs to every antisemite in the world! I console myself with the thought that not much is lost in a life where something can occur like what has happened to you © Sipke de Schiffart translation: Trevor Scarse