Vox Populi
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Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Kurt Brown: “Yonder” by Herman de Coninck
I seek a village.
And in it a house. And in it a
room, in which a bed, in which a woman.
And in that woman a lap.
Outside, the river broadens
to go far, the silver-scaled,
fish-bearing, boat-carrying,
sea-seeking, here-staying.
So a simile seeks
a poem for the night,
a man a woman,
a bookmark a gutter.
Night snaps the book shut.
***
GINDER
Ik zoek een dorp.
En daarin een huis. En daarin een
kamer, waarin een bed, waarin een vrouw.
En in die vrouw een schoot.
Buiten maakt de rivier zich breed
om ver te gaan, de zilvergeschubde,
vissenhebbende, botendragende,
zeezoekende, hierblijvende.
Zo zoek een vergenlijking
een gedicht voor de nacht,
een man een vrouw,
een leesling een vouw.
Nacht klapt het boek dicht.
~~~~
Herman de Coninck (1944-1997) was a Belgian poet, essayist, journalist, and publisher. He was known for his accessible and ironic poetry, often reflecting everyday life. His first collection, “De Lenige Liefde”(1969), became a bestseller and won several literary prizes. De Coninck was a key figure in the New Realism movement, which sought to make poetry more tangible and relatable. Poets Kurt Brown and Laure-Anne Bosselaar translated a selection of his poems THE PLURAL OF HAPPINESS published by Oberlin College Press in 2006.
Translation copyright 2006 Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Kurt Brown
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So playful and so serious at the same time. My gosh, I love this …
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Oh, I adore this entire collection of translations by Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Kurt Brown, introducing English speakers to the work of de Coninck. In “Yonder,” I especially love the tone, and how the river is both going far and “home-staying,” and the bookmark seeks a gutter. Thank you, Laure-Anne and Kurt!
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Just to say this wonderful poem and its Flemish partner have flowed through my thoughts for the past day— rich language and images and nuance— I have been looking up lap and gutter in Dutch and always the meanings fan out and shimmer. Thank you, Laure-Anne and Kurt for this treasure! I shall look for the book. And thanks to all who commented before me, during the past day when I was hurrying along like the river!
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Thank you!
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So many wonderful things you did together. . . . This is a jewel!
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Thanks, dear Marty…
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What a wonderful translation of what must be a wonder of a poem in the Dutch! It makes me want more of this poet and I hope their book is still available. Thank you Laura Anne and Kurt Brown, and Vox~!
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I’ve already ordered the book; it’s still in print.
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I love the whole poem, but in the second stanza, I am rolling with the river and suspect the translation has done something miraculous to put me there.
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Oh, how I LOVE Dutch. It’s impossible to translate its idiosyncrasies and word plays, and the ‘feel’ of each word in the context of the other. I know I am privileged to be able to read the original. But this translation is the best it can be.
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Thank you. I wish I had understood when I was younger how other languages open thoughts that don’t have other ways of walking or soaring.
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That’s the thing. Each language comes with a different cosmovision, culture, religion, playfulness and words that can’t truly be translated, they mean so much more than the equivalent in the Merriam-Webster. When I write poetry – as must happen to you – I often come across a thought I want to express and only find the right word in either German, or Dutch, or French, or Spanish and scratch my head, then ‘write around it’. Take Qechua (which I don’t speak, of course, but here is an example of this all-inclusiveness that people take from one word automatically – those who speak the language, of course – and how we have to explain it: Pachamama: (translated as Mother Earth) but in Quechua, “pacha” means universe, time, place, and “mama” means mother.
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When I visited Bolivia, Pachamama enriched my vocabulary as it was frequently used by our guide. Once it was incorporated over and over in the discussions in English, the texture changed and opened different seeing.
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I so agree with you that each language comes with so much more than words, dear Rosemary. And I often am at loss to explain that Flemish is not Dutch ! Not at all! Yes, they have common words and vocabulary, but the dialectical variations, the culture, the spirit, the texture, the cultural references, the wit in both languages are SO different. I speak both fluently, as well as French and English — and, curiously, found that Flemish and American English are the easiest to translate, whether it’s Flemish to American or American to Flemish. But all that is so subtle, so delightfully different, that I regret I have not found a simile to explain this to my American friends…even to Kurt, it was sometimes borderline impossible! The closest comparison might be the Canadian French (so close to the “Acadien” French,) and the French spoken in Paris today… So it’s a delight to find Flemish/Dutch understanding friends here, at VP! Lieve groetjes (kind/loving greetings) to all!
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Allez, zulle! Have to smile. I though of this and thought I should have made mention of the difference. Lived in Antwerp for a year.
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I enjoyed reading “Yonder” as well as your post, Laure-Anne. Lieve groetjes in return!
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I enjoyed reading “Yonder” as well as your post, Laure-Anne. Lieve groetjes to you in return!
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You have such a gift for languages, Rose Mary.
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Yes, I am/was fortunate.
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A beautiful poem in translation!
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I agree, John. Thank you.
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This fabulous poem makes me want to be a simile. Or is it a vergenlijking? There is a great depth beneath the waters and the lap. Hopefully we will never snap the book shut, if it has work by Laure-Anne and Kurt in it.
As an aside, I tried three times to like Sean’s comment, and then others, but apparently liking comments no longer works for me. A wordpress issue? But if this goes through, at least can comment on the original
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Sorry about the wankiness of the web platform, or the server, or whatever…. Your likes and comments are much appreciated.
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Sometimes I can’t comment of like in the new app ( Jetpack?) or the older WordPress, but can in the other. I suspect maybe I am not totally logged in to whichever one is acting weird.
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I love these translations, this language that both disrupt and settle my sense of things. How grateful I am to consider language daily at this site, and that there’s a fine curatorial prowess always taking our sensibilities for a run, a most essential form of exercise and delight!
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Thanks, Sean. I look forward to your responses on VP every morning.
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What a team…
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