Four Poems by Toon Tellegen
Toon Tellegen, born in 1941, is one of Holland's best known poets,
with a long list of awards to his name. In 2007 he received three
prestigious prizes, two of which were for his entire oeuvre. He is
also a prolific children's book writer and novelist, and his poetic
animal stories are extremely popular among both children and
adults.
The poems translated here are from Tellegen's most recent collection, Raafvogels (“Raptors”), a collection that was awarded the Publieksprijs.
All but one of the poems in this collection start with the words “My father”, and they paint a picture of an imaginary father and his family. In his preface to the collection, Tellegen writes:
Years ago I invented someone whom I called my father.
It was morning, very early, I couldn’t sleep anymore,
I remember it quite clearly.
My father didn’t seem surprised at having suddenly appeared
out of nowhere and, in his turn, invented my mother, my
brothers and myself. He even, that very same morning, invented
the life we should lead.
We led that life for a long time. My father made sure that
there was always something inadequate about it, something painful,
like a shoe that pinches.
Translated by Judith Wilkinson
Page(s) 35
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The