The Forgotten Sisters Behind ‘Happy Birthday to You’

Thank you, Tim, and Goddesses rest your soul xxx

It’s mine, today :) 52… Because I’ve got an at home dinner and movie date with my love I’ll all but copy-paste a beautiful article by Kelly B. Gormly I found about the origins of the iconic ‘Happy Birthday to You’ tune today and return to my 50 euro bottle of Sake birthday gift. Cheers!

For the past century, people of all ages have sung a four-line jingle to mark their loved ones’ birthdays. But few know the names of the siblings behind this ubiquitous tune: Mildred Jane Hill, a renowned musician and songwriter, and Patty Smith Hill, a pioneer in early childhood education.

The surprisingly tangled history of “Happy Birthday to You”—described by Guinness World Records as the most frequently sung English-language song—begins in 1893, when the Hill sisters co-wrote and published a tune called “Good Morning to All.” Their goal, Patty later recalled, was to craft songs that expressed “those words and emotions and ideas fitted to the limited musical ability of a young child.”

Patty tested out the song, set to the same melody as “Happy Birthday,” on her kindergarten students in Louisville, Kentucky. The lyrics went like this: “Good morning to you / Good morning to you / Good morning, dear children / Good morning to all.”

How and when did these lines morph into “Happy Birthday”? Theories abound, but an element of the unknown persists. In Louisville, locals often trace the shift to the Little Loomhouse, a cabin that now houses a nonprofit fiber arts organization.

“The story goes that one or both of the sisters were at a birthday party at the summer cabin, and that’s where the lyrics were changed,” says Mick Sullivan, a curator at Louisville’s Frazier History Museum, which features a panel on the Hill sisters in its “Cool Kentucky” exhibition. “One of the points of the song was that you could just change it. Instead of ‘Good Morning to All,’ if it was Friday, they might say, ‘Good Friday to You.’”

Sullivan adds, “Children change lyrics all the time.” Consider, for instance, a popular parody of the birthday song: “Happy Birthday to you / You live in a zoo / You look like a monkey, / and you smell like one, too!”

A Louisville house where the Hill sisters lived in their youth Courtesy of the Happy Birthday Circle

“If a history of music in Kentucky were being written, a large portion should be devoted to the music of the Negro in our state,” Mildred wrote in a late 19th-century essay. “The old Negroes, who alone know this music, are fast dying out, and it is sad that some effort is not made to secure it before it is too late.”

Patty, meanwhile, was one of the most important education reformers in the United States, serving as the first president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and a professor at Columbia University. She designed and marketed teaching tools called Patty Hill blocks, which kindergarteners used to build large play structures.

“What are you going to accomplish academically as a kindergartner?” Sullivan asks. The progressive philosophy “was about being with other kids and sharing that experience, [learning] cooperation and things that required multiple hands to do. That [approach] was really ahead of its time when you think about it.”

Mildred died in 1916 at age 56, long before her birthday composition’s meteoric rise to fame. Patty died in 1946 at age 78. The Hill sisters are buried near each other at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

In the 1920s, variations of “Happy Birthday,” set to the tune of “Good Morning to All,” appeared in several songbooks, including a 1924 one edited by Robert H. Coleman. As the song gained traction, even appearing in movies and aBroadway musical, Mildred and Patty’s youngest sister, Jessica Mateer Hill, decided to push back against unregulated use of the tune. In 1935, Jessica authorized the Clayton F. Summy Company, which had published the original Song Stories for the Kindergarten, to release a new copyrighted arrangement of “Happy Birthday.”

Decades of copyright disputes and lawsuits followed, with Warner Chappell Music—the music publisher that inherited the claim—fighting to retain the rights to the lucrative song. In 2016, a judge approved a settlementthat officially put “Happy Birthday” in the public domain.

In Louisville, the Happy Birthday Circle has raised $100,000 of the $8.7 million needed to build a public tribute to the Hill sisters at Waterfront Park. The project’s target groundbreaking date is 2026. The planned site—also called the Happy Birthday Circle—would feature a pavilion, a memorial and a picnic grove. It would be located under the Big Four Bridge pedestrian walkway, which connects Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana.

More than one million people cross the bridge annually, making it “a really great place to memorialize the Hill sisters, who have never been claimed by Louisville as the authors of the ‘Happy Birthday’ song,” says Rightmyer, who currently chairs the Happy Birthday Circle’s capital campaign. “We ask people in Louisville, ‘Do you know who wrote the “Happy Birthday” song?’ Maybe nine out of ten of them don’t. It’s the most sung song in the world.”

Read the entire article here?

Our field trip to the Mauritshuis!

Where Sander, Jasper and Frans went to see Jericho by Anselm Kiefer for themselves last December, My love and I (Benne) went on a field trip of our own to the Mauritshuis in March of this year :) We got 2 exhibitions for the price of one! Here’s some highlights from both:

By:

Click on the image to go to the Frans Hals Museum!

By:

Click on the image to go to an exhibition about the life and work of Frans Hals in the Lakenhal Museum!

By:

Click on the image to go to an exhibition of him at the Rijksmuseum!

Click here for Vermeer’s most famous work and here please for a gorgeous little Rembrandt (both spoilers for our upcoming third issue)!

With pieces by but not limited to:

Is a:

Click on the image for an informative video about the Ba bird!

By:

Click on the image to go to Pablo’s Wiki page!

Could only be by:

Click on the image to go to a website dedicated to Da Vinci!

By:

Click on the image to learn a lot more about her!

By:

Click on the image for an exhibition of her work at the Tate Modern!

I did not ask for permission!

A filthy rich experience indeed, eh? We sure felt it was. Thanks my love, for enriching me. + Happy to share it! Cheers :)

R.I.P. Tim O’Connor, the American ‘hitch-hiking Poet’ (23-02-1952/19-02-2026)

Another in memoriam? … Yeah. I really, REALLY wish I didn’t have to. Last week I learned that one of the most colorful and friendly people that I got to know when first venturing out with my poetry, doing so locally and in my early 20s, had died. Tim O’Connor was his name. The self proclaimed  ‘hitch-hiking poet’. According to the beautiful man himself he was an original Irish American Folksinger / Bluesman. Born in Chicago, grew up in Hollyweird. Son of Hollyweird royalty. Tim spent an eight year period of his life hitchhiking over 300,000 miles in 26 countries before ending up in my home town of Vlaardingen, The Netherlands (of all fucking places!) in 1999 after a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean in his sail boat “Theanna”

She (Theanna) was a gift from his father the actor and according to Tim she was a friend that saved tim’s life. He vouched never to sell her, saying his father always dreamed of solo sailing oceans, but he was the one in the family crazy enough to actually do it. The first month of his stay in our little country he crashed at Erna Lohmann’s, a local he’d met in London on a train earlier. Erna describes him as we all got to know him: witty, creative and utterly stubborn. So much so he refused to learn Dutch and calling himself untouchable. That fiercly independant attitude no doubt has its origins in his youth. A big part of which he stayed at a correctional facility for troubled youngsters. A period in his life he would go on to write several books about. And eventhough Erna and he broke up, he stayed in Vlaardingen for the rest of his life, meeting his life partner soon after the split.

Tim the musician

Here’s another one:

Ok, ok, just 1 more!

O'Connor has three songs in the feature film "Dead Calm". A high seas chiller thriller, starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane. He’d go on and perform to his hearts content. And then some? By the end he’d released no less than 7 cd’s and 3 DVD’s.

‘Run over by love’

11 original songs. Featuring the three songs from the movie "Dead Calm”

‘Drink or die’

“DRINK OR DIE” The Barstool Blues Night, In Delft April 3rd 2008. Tim O'Connor and Marcellino (electric lead guitar) 9 songs

Click here to visit Tim O’connor’s Youtube channel while you still can!

Tim the Writer

All-in-all Tim’s written 10 books about his youth and further mad adventures. He said his songs and stories go together like a hot dog and a bun.

Tim the memories

I used to work at a coffeeshop (the dutch kind, yeah) in Vlaardingen for 10 years (2006-2015). Tim was a customer off and on. Again, when sitting at my bar Tim was friendly and had a quiet demeaner about him, despite his signature hat and confident on-stage energy. We talked from time to time. Wouldn’t say we were friends, not that, but I liked him. A lot. Many, many other people did as well. I remember him at a jam session one time, at the venue ‘De Hommel’, where his performance easily attracted the most attention, no mather how high the volume during the rest of the evening. Looked like he hadn’t even tried… I guess that’s how I’ll remember him. Effordlesly talented and always kind. Rest in peace, Tim, please? You fucking deserve to!

The Brothers Lionheart (how judging a public reading contest for kids led to this trip down exquisitely horrifying memories)

On the 11th of February of this year I had the absolute pleasure and honor to help judge a local public reading contest for kids in the Library of Dordrecht city, alongside fellow judges Wilma Verhoeven & Ilse van Donkelaar. It was part of the National public reading contest for kids and the winner will go on and compete in the regionals, so the pressure was certainly on! So, so many nervous little faces… It was our luck then, that we could agree on our favorite pretty quickly. His way of getting the story across appealed to us (tone, tempo, emotional delivery) and he managed to pull us right in. Congratulations, Abdullah! You read at half the tempo all the others did. That helped. A lot.

A special shout out tot the crew of the library for the exceptional care and love you put into organizing this event! ALMOST perfect :)

One of the criteria we had to judge was if the specific part of their favorite book the contestants chose to read was pivotal to the story or not. And to their credit, most of them had clearly taken their time to find a passage that fit said criteria. We felt for a dragon almost drowning, learned that Harry Potter was a natural on the broomstick and how a pre-teen influencer finally got the better of her bitchy rival for example. A divers bunch of plot points indeed. As the afternoon went on, though, I couldn’t help but starting to feel a bit… Like I… was missing something? The stakes had been high all around, check, sure, but…

Know what I mean?

… Yeah. You know what I mean.

This says a lot about me too, I know, and the kinds of stories I’ve been drawn to from a very early age. I have no knowledge about 99.999 % of children’s books storylines from the last 3 and a half decades whatsoever but feel safe in guessing the 11 excerpts we enjoyed in the library are a cross section of the above mentioned. And honestly, that makes me just the tiniest bit of sad. I know I’m very much sounding my age now, but maybe it’s a sign of the times. No? We were asked to choose 1 winner. The rest would collectively come in second. + Please no constructive criticism afterwards. Only praise. … Enfin. It got me sentimental too, and for a very specific reason at that!   

 I remember laying in our backyard garden, must have been no older than 9, 10 at the most, and my first ever out of body experience, right then and there, from getting sucked into a story so fully the world around me just… disappeared? Must have read ‘De Gebroeders Leeuwenhart’ (The Brothers Lionheart) by Astrid Lindgren at least a dozen times in those formative, highly susceptible years and it’s safe to say it is my favorite children’s book. If you haven’t read it, please do? And why, you ask?

Disease, death, tyranny, betrayal, and rebellion! This is the O.G. of fantasy for the very young. George R.R. Martin waited a very long time before he killed of one of his main characters, by comparison? And like with Martin, death is all around during the remainder of the story, with (spoiler warning:) the traitor Jossi, Hubert, Mattias, the tyrant Tengil, the dragon Katla and the two brothers themselves for a second time at the end. Again, it had me hooked from the first page onwards. This is not a tale for the faint of heart. It is written to teach about loss, grief, betrayal, but at the same time contrasts these expertly with platonic love, loyalty, sacrifice, hope, courage, and pacifism. An emotional journey I wish every child could and would undertake. Especially while young. In adulthood not everybody is going to end in second place. Books should be a safe space to get utterly devastated in. Do this to your own kids? Some experiences in childhood WILL define you, and this should be one of them. A true masterclass. Go and get it at your local bookstore, please? Cheers!

RECIT (a network of European literary translation centres offering residencies for translators and organizing events)

RECIT is a network of European literary translation centres offering residencies for translators and organizing events bringing together writers, translators & audiences.

Their network currently links 18 organizations across 16 countries in Europe. Members comprise of translation residencies providing opportunities for literary translators to live and work on a translation project, professional development programs and events with audiences.

HISTORY

Initially established as a European network of Colleges of literary translators in the beginning of the 1990s, RECIT evolves into European Network of Literary Translator Centers and appears as such for the first time in an international event in September-October 2000 at the First European meetings of literary translators in Sarajevo.

With focus on strengthening the network of translators, RECIT facilitates residence programs for literary translators in Europe which had affirmed as a vital necessity in today’s cultural world.

Click on the image for a list of all the residencies!

Member benefits

• Connect with peers and become part of a European community of translation residencies;

• Learn from experienced managers and programmers, and share your knowledge;

• Get access to information and contacts in the countries of the network;

• Visit different members’ residencies during the annual General Assembly;

• Get information on funding and other opportunities;

• Promote your centre Europe-wide via the network website and members’ channels;

• Participate in discussion groups on specific topics (such as translation trainings or organizing digital events) with other members;

• Raise the visibility and reputation of your centre.

Click on the image for their Current opportunities!

Membership requirements and conditions

Present and future members of RECIT should be in a position to offer literary translators the possibility of a creative residency under good conditions of residence, work and meetings with other translators and people from the literary field. These centres should also offer, within the limits of their means and their environment, a public program of meetings around literary translation and/or training courses for literary translators. It is recommendable that member-residencies maintain a library at their premises and/or ensure residents access to libraries.

The eligibility of new members will be assessed by the General Assembly in accordance with all these criteria.

The annual membership fee is currently 250 euro per organization. Any adjustments of the size of the fee are decided upon by the General Assembly.

Members fee supports the work of the network, including promotion and management as well as the network’s contribution to the annual GA.

Want to get in touch as a translator looking to apply for a stay? Contact the recidency of your choosing! Cheers :)

In memoriam: the rich, creative life of Artist Jan de Winter(August 5th, 1939 – October 17th, 2022)

Second things first:

Jan de Winter was a Dutch sculptor, glazier and painter. De Winter was born in Vlaardingen where he lived his whole life. The story goes that during his birth a marching band could be heard playing outside. This might have had something to do with him being born on the same day as Princess Irene, but since there’s almost nobody alive left to tell me no, I say they were there especially for him? In his younger years he worked as a glazier at a company in Schiedam (gebroeders Henderickx), attending evening courses at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam until 1962. He later said he’d learned more working as a glazier than during his whole time the art academy.

De Winter is best known for his leaded windows, paintings and being an abstract sculptor. He was an avid violin player as well. In this article someone’s telling how you could often hear him playing his favorite classical pieces when you walked past their (wife Joke, two sons Frans and Martin and his) house in de Landstraat. Many of his artworks are/were visible in the public domain. One of his best-known works is leaded window 'Vuur, water en energie' (translated: Fire, water and energy).

“Vuur, water en energie”

The ornament was designed in 1970 for the Gemeentelijk Energie- en Waterbedrijf (GEWB) (translated: Municipal Energy and Water Company). After the demolition of the building a school director was able to save the artwork. It is since 2007 mounted above the main entrance of the Groen van Prinstererlyceum. A selection of others:

·       Vogelvlucht (1969), Fredrik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen

·       Glas- en koperreliëf Vuur, Water en Energie (19??), Accentcollege Rotterdamseweg in Vlaardingen - moved in 2007

·       Twee polen (1971), pond at the Frederik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen

·       Metaalreliëf Compositie (1974), Liesveldviaduct in Vlaardingen

·       Metaalplastiek Doelman (1974), Meidoornstraat in Vlaardingen

·       Mozaïek en twee glas-in-loodramen (1975), Christian school Kethel, Vlaardingseweg in Schiedam

·       Dubbel Figuur (1984), Columbusstraat in Vlaardingen

·       Vizier (1996), Vikingbank in Vlaardingen

·       Glas-in-loodramen, Hospital in Ede

·       Glaswand, Social services in Delft

·       Pegasus, Vlaardingen

·       Energie, garden museum Maassluis

·       Naamloos uit 1963, simular to "Vogelvlucht" from 1969, but vertical and smaller, NLW Groep Venray

“Twee polen”

“Energie”

“Vogelvlucht”

Ancient mythology was an essential inspiration for a lot of his work. Visit his page on the RKD (Netherlands Institute For Art History) website for even more photo’s? de Winter died in his house in Vlaardingen on 17 October 2022, at the age of 83 years old.

A small piece, in glass, made for the grave of one Jaap Pietersen, titled: ‘Sun, sea, wind and water’

“Vermurail” 1972

During the memorial service his sisters and sons remembered him as always having been a creative and adventurous spirit. How he would perform puppet shows on winter evenings as a boy, to which he would invite his nieces, nephews and all the neighborhood kids. And that it had been his father who instilled in him his love for music, and for playing instruments.
“Jan was a creative brother, who was always busy painting, drawing, making mosaics and music. The sleeping room he shared with his brother Aad and Klaas looked like a true atelier,” his sister Gerda remembered. His wife and he had been extremely proud of their two sons for following in his footsteps; Martin de Winter as a violinist and Frans de Winter as an artist.

A temporary mural design by Mr. de Winter (1990s)

And first things second because

this ‘in memoriam’ is personal. Very. Frans de Winter and I have been friends for over 3 decades at this point, and it is an honor for me to be able to help showcase his father’s brilliant work to a broader, international audience in this little way. I’ll share some of those personal memories about Mr. Jan de Winter to tell you why I feel this way:

Mr. de Winter as a purist. One of the first performances I ever did was reciting my poetry to a piano piece by Chopin, played live by Frans, during an open mic session in restaurant ‘De Planken Op’. Must have been… 1997? I remember de Winter sr. was torn about that one. Secretly proud, I imagine, yes, but equally AND openly as appalled that we had dared to add to such a genius piece of music :)

Jan as a host: when I would come over to their house, to practice said performance, or later, to pick Frans up to go out or something, he and Joke would sit me down and pour me a big glass of red wine, and before I knew what was happening a second… He and Joke have always made me feel more than welcome there, if not a little drunk after my unavoidable third.

The artist as a dad: when Frans and I went on working vacation to Les Contes, a spiritual bread and breakfast my aunt and uncle ran in the French Pyrenees back in 2000, Mr. de Winter insisted he’d drive us to the international Bus stop in Rotterdam, from where we would take said bus to France… Truly a lovingly bumpy and to be completely honest pretty scary ride to remember!

And finally, his atelier. Full on mesmerizing. Filled to the brink with papers, drawings, art supplies, piles of different pieces of glass, giant art tools like a cutting table, ehm, soldering equipment, stacks of his lithographs, paintings, his violin, and all of this must have appeared like a complete chaos to most, but you could just… feel that everything was EXACTLY where he needed it to be…

So. Yeah. Thank you for these, Mr. de Winter. Jan de Winter. Rest in peace, please.

‘Nuff said

Black Bough Poetry Christmas-Winter 2026 Anthology (poetry submission opportunity!)

Following on from their six previous Christmas-winter editions, Black Bough Poetry will be publishing a new, seventh volume for Christmas 2026! The editorial team are Matthew M C Smith and new guest sub-editor, Paul Short.

They welcome poems on all cultural and folk traditions around this time of year and everything to do with the season (Diwali, solstice, Hannukah, Mari Lwyd, Christmas, your childhood, memories, etc.).

The submission period when they will accept your work is Wed 28th January to Sunday 1st Feb 2026. Poems before or after this date won't be read.

The team is looking for imagistic, suggestive poems, following the idea of 'less is more'. They  publish vivid poems that avoid cliché and have subtlety. They rarely publish rhyming poetry. 

Usual submission guidelines:

a) Poets are invited to submit three short poems, max 120 words., each These must be previously unpublished. No cribbing, plagiarism or use of AI. On the naughty list, ten year ban.

If you have bought their 2025 Christmas anthology, you can submit up to five poems. Please attach a photo of your book and you can submit up to five.

b) Please send poems in Garamond font, size 11, single spaced, within the submission window. They welcome bilingual versions of the same poem (eg. Welsh and English versions). 

c) They prefer punctuated poems. Please embolden your titles.

d) Please send  a short biography (up to 25 words) in the body of the e-mail and your poems by Microsoft Word attachment. Social media handles too.

e) Special e-mail for this edition is winterbough@outlook.com This e-mail only.

Read the rest of the guidelines right here! I (Benne) have submitted 2 poems. Join me, with up to 3? Cheers!

Twitter: @blackboughpoems      Fb: BlackBoughpoetry    Instagram/ Threads: Black Bough poetry

Also on Bluesky

Puzzling Poetry (This addictive game helps players to understand poetry by solving puzzles)

For the poet and the reader, a poem is a kind of word puzzle. In the ‘Puzzling Poetry’ game, verses by a range of Dutch and Flemish poets make up the playing field. Players have to find the locations of words, the connections between them, and their rhythm. As they do, in a way, they rewrite the poems!

Studio Louter developed the app with the Dutch poet Lucas Hirsch in response to an open call for literary games issued by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the Creative Industries Fund NL and Gamefonds. “Playing with words unexpectedly leads to a new, focused way of reading,” the selection committee said.

Suzanne Meeuwissen, senior policy officer at the Foundation for Literature, stated that the collaboration between games and literature is ‘relevant and exciting,’ especially given the technological developments. “The literature takes place outside of the book through technology, and focuses on a new and younger (reading) audience. It also enriches the process for game developers, as the literary scenarios and storylines add a new and often times surprising layer to a game.”

‘Puzzling Poetry’ is a game in which the player is presented with deconstructed poems by Lucas Hirsch and other poets, with as end-goal the recreation of these poems. Next to the meaning of the words, the challenge is to pick up on rhythm and graphical relativity. “Playing with words leads to an unexpected, concentrated way of reading,” according to the selection committee.

In October of 2016, Puzzling Poetry got presented at Buchmesse in Frankfurt. Versions are now available in several languages, and Studio Louter has developed a special edition for children, ‘Puzzling Poetry Treasure Chest’. Download ‘Puzzling Poetry’ here: iOS 

Credits!

Content Design
Studio Louter & Lucas Hirsch

Interactive Media Production
Studio Louter

With the support of
Nederlands Letterenfonds, Stimuleringsfonds voor de Creatieve Industrie, Gamefonds, Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, De Arbeiderspers, De Bezige Bij, Polis

Poems
Lucas Hirsch
Miriam Van hee
Ruth Lasters
Remco Campert

About ‘BACKLIT’ by Liz Robbins (and how this 2025 RATTLE Chapbook Prize Winner bruised a poetry hang-up of mine)

Rattle organizes the largest and most prestigious annual chapbook poetry prize there is. Period. By quite a margin, too. Submitting a manuscript comes with a yearlong subscription to the printed zine, 4 issues in total, and included with every issue is one of those winning chapbooks. 10000+ people get a copy this way. … Yeah. Madness. I’ve entered my manuscript this and last year (duh!) and as a result read through a couple of those winners. Out of genuine interest, sure, but just as much on the lookout for what made these volumes stand out to the judges to be honest? How these poets sold themselves, and their work… So, when I read that this specific poet, Liz Robbins, interviewed several sex-workers and had based the entire volume on their stories, I felt… cheated? This wasn’t fair… You can’t do that. Not unless you’ve had to… stay afloat that way yourself. Bet SHE hadn’t. You write about what YOU know. There’s unwritten rules and all? Couldn’t possibly really feel… personal, this. I started reading the first poem and must admit I gloated. Tricks. All tricks. Too… explanatory, while not really piercing skin. Got pleasantly high on being right, then wanted to perpetuate said high so I kept on reading:

Okay. … Damn. That one did hit home. Hard. How’s there no choice at all. Not really? Family, however dysfunctional, or even destructive, is everything. And we CAN trust our family to be the first to screw us up! Surely, though, they couldn’t continue to all be this good, could they? Spoiler: they don’t. Not ALL of them, but, a bit like within a family, there’s usually a dim one, or the opposite brainiac, an over-bearing presence or one that doesn’t care enough, and when you’re particularly unlucky someone that loves any excuse to ‘toughen you up’? Usually this occurs under the guise of love, but sometimes not even that:

I believe these 2 poems alone justify the entire chapbook, and it winning said poetry prize. It’s hyper personal, and yet equally as… detached. And maybe, just in this case, the poet not going through what she writes about herself actually helped with getting to this level, I mean, the things we do for love and to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror, eh? It’s dirty work, for sure, but work that needs doing none the less. Better learn to survive! Better learn to hide those weak-spots as good as you can. As you must. For allowing yourself to come across as vulnerable is dangerous, as so many of these girls (and boys) know all too well. Hence the sarcasm. All they can do is hope that they can keep accessing those hidden parts of themselves when they’re alone. To be able to remind themselves these feelings exist at all…

I’m still of the opinion that the best poetry comes from personal experience, and like I said, there are quite a few poems in there that do miss the mark, for me at least. Those written in 3rd person, for example, miss the heart wrenching detachment I was talking about earlier, making the exceptions to this formerly unshakable rule of mine even more incredible. And me fucking jealous. Couldn’t write them like that myself if I dared to... And I don’t. For more about the other two winners of the 2025 Rattle chapbook competition, follow this link? Cheers.

Artists take risks for all of us. ARC (Artists at Risk Connection) supports at-risk artists and defends artistic freedom!

Their Mission

ARC works to protect artists and cultural workers at risk due to their creative expression, often tied to their identities or roles within their communities. By providing vital resources and support, ARC helps them navigate challenges such as persecution, censorship, harassment, threats, and violence from both state and non-state actors—whether targeted for their art or their broader impact on cultural, social, and political issues.

Founded in 2017, ARC was incubated under PEN America, the U.S. chapter of PEN International. ARC is now an independent organization, officially registered in France as an association under French law (Loi 1901) since October 2024, and as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the US since early 2025.

Who they support

Artists

ARC’s definition of “artist” is inclusive, encompassing those who work across any creative field or medium, including visual artists, musicians, cartoonists, filmmakers, performance artists, dancers, writers, and more.

Cultural workers

“Cultural workers” include those who work within the cultural or creative sectors, contributing to the production, management, or promotion of culture and the arts.

Safety guide for artists

(The Safety Guide for Artists explores topics such as defining and understanding risk, preparing for threats, fortifying digital safety, documenting persecution, finding assistance, and recovering from trauma.)

Creative expression is a universal right that artists use to entertain, relate, speak out, expose, and encourage dialogue. But when others, especially those with political, economic, or social power, feel challenged or threatened by this, they may try to harm or silence artists. ARC strives to protect and empower these at-risk artists to work securely.

Stand with Artists Under Threat!

Around the world, artists are censored, harassed, imprisoned, and attacked simply for expressing ideas or for who they are. When artists are silenced, we all lose voices essential to a freer, more just society.

Your contributions ensure artists at risk are not left to face these threats alone. It enables ARC to deliver timely, life-saving support and to strengthen the resources, networks, and infrastructure that help artists stay safe and continue their creative work. All donations provide unrestricted support for ARC’s mission and core operations.

Please donate right here! Thank you.

How I managed to blame Jim Morrison’s poetry for having to grow up

Last week I finally began to write this feature about the poetry of Jim Morrison. Mostly because I’m a magazine’s parent now and that zine needs to be spoon fed content on a regular basis to stay alive, and hopefully even thrive. Priorities, he? + I’ve always been a gigantic fan, so, loving feeder that I also am, I went online and found a (as rebelliously illegal) link to his Lost Writings part 1. Which got me all riled up, and to be honest, quite sentimental too?

Some background

In 1995 I broke up with my first girlfriend in the worst possible way. She did not see it coming, and it broke her heart. I broke her heart, not being able to explain to myself (let alone to her) why, and instead of trying to then figure that out + maybe start working through some of the shit that I’ve been carrying with me my whole life, I, like so, so many other disturbed 20-something-or-others turned to rigorous self-medicating… And poetry. Made completely new friends, who shared my lust for (often drug-fueled) self-expression and we started to submerge ourselves in any and all music, poetry and art we deemed worthy of our truly amazing powers of observation…, like binging ‘The Wall’ for weeks on end. On one of these evenings (must have been 1996) Gino introduced me to The Doors. Blew my fucking mind right then and there. We started making freak tapes, incorporating ‘An American Prayer’ into those wherever we could and must have watched the movie  more times than we did Apocalypse Now (which is saying a lot). What really got to me, though, was Jim’s poetry. The sheer… freedom of it was intoxicating, making it just as irresistible as the weed and hasjies had become. And soon after that about as necessary as well, helping me shape (and therefor look at) myself in ways I could live with...

From an interview in a 1998 issue of Barflyer magazine about our (Gino, Sander and I) very first poetry exhibition: ‘There are plans to record a cd in the style of Jim Morrison’s “An American Prayer” … Benne (who bears a resemblance to the Doors singer)…’

Skip to 25+ years later

Needless to say, it played a rather huge role during those re-formative years, and when I started putting together what I wanted to become a true tribute, a full on 12 course feast of recognition and praise I… couldn’t? I read through it wanting nothing more, unable to believe what I had just read, or rather, hadn’t, so read through it again. Scouring for the signs of brilliance that had once captivated me to no end… Still nothing. And again…  What the fuck? First all warm fuzzy from thinking about a misty but friend filled past, and now this. At which point I became real life like emotional because

I find most of it sucks balls now?

I’m not talking about the music, or the lyrics in combination with that incredible music. As a front man and performer, he was in a league of his own, true enough. Brilliant. Genius. Haunting. Haunted. Me and millions like me wanted to BE him, kidding ourselves that we could fake a fraction of the presence Jim commanded on stage. So, I tried yet AGAIN, and my hardest to like this one for example…:

… I mean, sorry, but what the fuck even IS that? And so cocky, so bloody sure of himself… Jim’s intuitive, free form associational way of writing rubs me COMPLETELY the wrong way now… Somehow. Getting riled up again…! Here’s another doozy:

Why does this infuriate me so goddamn much! Lazy! Throw your first thought on paper and call it poetry why don’t you! Or wait, this fucking one:

… Sod this.

After having to put it aside for a few days to cool off

I had a good talk with my wife yesterday. About this piece. During which I gave her every reason as to why I’m so affected by all of this? I’d come prepared this time. Newly discovered and therefor profusely bleeding generational gap, Herman van Veen albums featuring lyrics by Rob Chrispijn because craftmanship is key and me growing into that philosophy myself over the decades, and quite a few dismissals of poems of his an sich, using any and all tools I had learned studying Writing For Performance. I made my case. It was a very solid case. Showing her different articles and discussions about this very topic, why they matter and where I stand in relation to those expertly put together pieces and opinions. She listened, smiled, totally agreed (!) and then added a few thoughts to the mix herself… Conclusion: I am angry mainly because I eventually DID have to grow up? It’s resentment, is all. Pure and simple. Thanks, my love. So, there you go!

Fucker.

Going Dutchtube!, nr. 2 (Vrouwkje Tuinman reads her poem ‘Iemand die ik liever mis’/‘Someone I would rather go without’ in Dutch & English)

I’ve been scouring the internet for Dutch poetry, translated into English, to maybe showcase here for a couple of months now, and have been loving every second of it. That includes YouTube, obviously, and boys oh boys, there are some beauties out there! Plus, not unimportant, linking and then highlighting such a video here on Double Dutch magazine is A LOT easier copyright wise? So much so that we at Double Dutch magazine decided to start a whole new segment: Going Dutchtube!, for which we’ll pick one of those videos at a time and give ‘em some much deserved extra fondling. Doing this also enables us to include poets and translators we admire but who are notoriously hard to get in touch with, for example, or, again, whose poetry is a real pain in the butt to get the rights to. Win-win, eh? We sure think so. This time we’ll be linking to a reading by leading Dutch poet Vrouwkje Tuinman, after a Loose Muse show at The Farrago Poetry Cafe on Wednesday, 9th May 2012 in London. Technically a bit shaky but an excellent poem! Filmed and edited by John Paul O'Neill.

Why I’ll never come face to face with lyricist/poet/writer Rob Chrispijn!

Answer: never meet your heroes. Period. It really IS that simple. And my greatest hero this man most certainly is. Having been stoned for 15+ years, and zoning out to his brilliant lyrics being sung by Herman van Veen on most evenings during that smoke filled period in my life will do that for you. I know the albums on which they collaborated by heart. Making this a ‘feature’ article containing very few words, + me about his biggest fan ever from a respectable distance. Have been for decades now, which suits me just fine? The few times I’ve asked him if he wanted to publish a poem in a magazine I edited in the past, he’s always been nothing but friendly and willing. Even writing me a personal letter in 2002, which I still cherish. Some people I idolize, and some I just blatantly dismiss. Sue me. Idolizing this specific lyricist just makes the world a bit more beautiful? Obviously I have and (spoiler!) will use every opportunity to mention him/showcase his work here on Double Dutch, adding a few extra English language links mentioning mr. Rob Chrispijn to the interwebs every time while doing so. Oh, and this is what made me want to write this tiny piece now:

a few days ago a friend/lover from waaaay back when sent me this pic (thank you!) from the Wintertuin festival edition 2025’s brochure. She had invited Mr. Chrispijn to my official poetry debut party in 2005, held at the the same venue. I’d forgotten that! Further reminding me about:

me reading Mr. Chrispijn’s ‘Te hooi en te gras’ at the 2006 Wintertuin festival. Full circle indeed because here’s another Spoiler for our issue nr. 2 

Cheers :)

ZOEGLOSSIA - a Community for POETS with Disabilities

About Zoeglossia

Zoeglossia is a literary organization seeking to pioneer a new, inclusive space for poets with disabilities. Much like its forbearers Canto Mundo, Kundiman, Cave Canem, and Lambda Literary, Zoeglossia strives to create an open and supportive community that welcomes and fosters creativity. Through the creation of an annual retreat, poets from all backgrounds will have the opportunity to learn and develop from prominent, established writers, who also have disabilities. These retreats, which individuals will attend over a period of three years, will promote professional development among this shared creative community.

Their vision for the retreat centers around emerging writers coming to campus for three days of intensive work. The three-day retreat will admit approximately eight poets, who will be mentored by two prominent poets with disabilities. A third writer will be responsible for delivering a keynote lecture and panel participation. All attendees—teachers and students—will present their literary writing at a series of readings open to the public. Teachers and returning poets will provide panel discussions on professional and literary issues, as well as one-on-one conferences with the emerging writers. Much like Canto Mundo, writers, once admitted will be encouraged to attend three times over the following year to earn the prestigious title of "Fellow."

Their POEM OF THE WEEK section

Throughout the year, Zoeglossia invites a poet to curate the Poem of the Week. If you would like to guest curate, have questions, or want more information about POTW, please email poemoftheweek@zoeglossia.org.

Their Board Members

Michael Davidson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego. He has written extensively on poetry and poetics (The San Francisco Renaissance, Ghostlier Demarcations, Guys Like Us, On the Outskirts of Form) and more recently on disability issues: Concerto for the Left Hand (University of Michigan), Invalid Modernism (Oxford University Press), and Distressing Language: Disability and the Poetics of Error (New York University Press, 2022).  He is the editor of The Collected Poems of George Oppen and has published eight books of poetry, the most recent, Bleed Through: New and Selected Poems (Coffee House). 

Deaf, genderqueer poet Meg Day is the author of Last Psalm at Sea Level (Barrow Street, 2014), winner of the Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award. A recipient of the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship and an NEA Fellowship in Poetry, Day’s recent work can be found in Best American Poetry 2020 & The New York Times. Day teaches in the MFA Program at North Carolina State University. www.megday.com

Orchid Tierney is a poet and scholar from Aotearoa New Zealand, who now lives in Gambier, Ohio. She is the author of the collection a year of misreading the wildcats (The Operating System, 2019) and six chapbooks, including my beatrice (above/ground press, 2020) and ocean plastic (BlazeVOX Books, 2019). Her scholarship, reviews, and poetry have appeared in Jacket2, Venti, Fractured Ecologies, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Y22 Individual Artist Excellence Award. She is an assistant professor of English at Kenyon College and a senior editor at the Kenyon Review. orchidtierney.com

Donate?

Zoeglossia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization seeking to help writers with disabilities explore and nurture their creative spirits through poetry. As a non-profit, all of our funding comes by means of grants and donations.

They are grateful for their most recent funders: Poetry Foundation ($15,000), Ford Foundation ($25,000), Amazon Literary Partners/Academy of American Poets ($5,000) and Mellon Foundation ($25,000).

If you would like to express your commitment to strengthening the voices of poets with disabilities, please consider donating via the donation button below.

About a Black Bough Open Mic session (and how that got me admiring the poet Paul Short)

On the 12th of November I finally did it. I worked up the nerve and participated in my first online open mic in the English language. Ever. Black Bough Open Mic it was called, hosted in the most friendly and professional manner possible by Matthew Smith from blackboughpoetry.com, a publisher based in Wales.

Rewriting my Dutch poetry in English is one thing, but actually reading the results of those labors out loud is quite another. For those of you who follow me and my creative endeavors more closely (thanks as always and yet again!) that might come as a surprise? But it isn’t. Not really. I Might have a history in slam poetry and hundreds of performances to my name yadah yadah etc, I never got around to sing my English songs in front of an actual audience. And around the time I could have started doing so, when the worst of that fucking pandemic had come and gone, I had found myself yet another new thing/medium/obsession to hyper focus on? Still sorry about that, Martijn (music/production/alotofpatience)! … Enfin.

 I heard some great poetry that night! Met some talented people. Felt welcome and got pleasant feedback on my work. Greatly appreciated! I can recommend joining one of their sessions. I sure intend to do so again, if I can find the time. You know what, I’ll keep you all informed about the next one, I promise.

At each of those open mic sessions the organizer/host shines a light on one poet, featuring said poet by letting them read a few more poems than the rest of the participants and highlighting his/her/their/its creative career by drawing attention to websites/bio’s etc. This evening that poet was Mr. Paul Short. And to be honest, he blew me the fuck away? So much so I reached out to him the next day, asking if he would mind if I wrote my own ‘feature’ about him. Guess what his answer was :)  I’m happy I decided to ask him because scouring his website these last few days to be able to do so (and him justice) I learned some stuff that warmed me up to him even more. Did you know, for example, that Paul is a classically trained chef (got myself a cooking diploma as well…) or that he’s a working-class poet? (Mate!)

So, there’s my real reason for this little piece (surprise!), and here goes:

The turkey’s too large,
another midnight axe job;
tin foil hysterics.

Or:

well-folded laundry
stacked high on the armchair 
– reminders you’re gone.

To start with, Paul’s written a lot of haiku’s. These 2 I consider to be his best. And yes, that’s because there’s some… friction to be found. This poet excels, at least in my not so humble opinion, in writing what is essentially positive imagery, I mean I really had to delve deeper to get to the kinds of subjects/feels we at Double Dutch magazine are generally more interested in? Which says less about him, true enough, and so, so much more about us. … Me. But hey, that’s the route we went, are sticking with, and you’ll be happy to know that to our satisfaction delving a bit deeper did NOT disappoint. His more vulnerable/rough-around-the-edges kind of poems hit all the harder for it. Here’s a good example:

Crimson Treacle

she wears a noose of silver
around her throat
St. Christopher lays flat
feigning protection

the blood on her chin
cloys like syrup
but her tongue
tastes like rust and copper

she exhales pleasure
sensually chewing
torn tendons and soft flesh
against carefully crafted teeth

arrogantly
she smirks
allowing more treacle to comfort her chin
gargling on voracious words
‘if he had a silver noose around his neck
he may have survived remained intact, but doubtful’

muscle memory
precise and purposeful
dismembers her lust
as she dismembers and disembowels

she showers
in his carotid crimson treacle
relishing the flavour and feel
as she splits sinew and bone
feeling righteous purity

the crescendo of violence
always anticlimactic
plastic wrapped bundles of body and tissue
a food parcel to sate her appetite
a bitter sense of home economics

Read the rest on his website!

It’s his first attempt at a horror poem and does not disappoint. ‘A bitter sense of home economics’ indeed. Or this one: 

Question The Campaign

Meeting Minutes for Monday 1 March between CEO & Head of Campaigns

“What’s our campaign this week?”

“Maybe – tackling food poverty?”

“That’ll raise the charity’s profile and brand, yeah?”

“We’ll use some vloggers to tell people how to eat and budget properly and create some hashtags, perhaps?”

“How about telling people to use Food banks?” 

“Do you want to spend big on this campaign?”

“No, No – I’ll just get the PR team to send some free stuff to the vloggers and buy their weeks shopping how much do you reckon that’ll cost?”

“We’ll tell the vloggers they’re ambassadors for this campaign, they’ll love that and a week’s shopping and some of that promotional fairtrade stuff lying in the warehouse, total outlay under £1000?” 

“Sounds great, can you make sure we get the social media team and the vloggers to add the JustGiving links?”

“To the food banks?”

“No to our charity, we can get Legal involved to get a disclaimer put in so we can say a percentage of donations will go to the Food bank can’t we?”

“Of course, just wanted to make sure, should I give you the metrics in a couple of weeks?”

“That’s great, so is that it?”

Read the rest on his website!

Being one of Paul’s more experimental poems, it sure ticks all MY boxes. My absolute personal favorite, however, I’ll copy paste in its entirety because it’s… allowing me in, to a point where it feels like I mustn’t make a sound, and again, hidden on a website filled with so much Christmas spirit that’s a rare find. Making me feel like I earned that, somehow. Propelling the whole experience described into just darn brilliant: 

The Armchair

Cenotaph of my loathe-quarry
lurks in the corner
ominous obelisk of misery-grey fabric
stained by stagnant-self
              arms grubbier than a plagiarist in an inkwell.

It haunts my body
memory-foam cushions twisted
around my depression
               like an alligator in death-roll.

                        If perching, it’s only for seconds
dread at comfort swallowing me whole
or falling over the feet clumsily
                                 delivering self-recrimination
that plunges me into that dark brutal chasm
                                                           - again.

The armchair is a sound-hollow
negative echoes only
so I stay silent near its plinth
                     ⁃ yet sometimes the pride in victory
my eyes hold
is loud enough to drown
                             past despair.

… Thank you, Paul. Really. Want to read more of his poetry? You can do so right here!

Paul’s certainly no stranger to getting published, like in Stymie Online Journal for example, or The Dark Poets Club, The daily Drunk, Flight Of The Dragonfly, on podcasts such as Eat The Storms and in 2021 he came third in the Black Bough Poetry’s #BBMicro2 contest. He also read his work on BBC Radio Newcastle and BBC Radio Tees, and here’s an interview with him by writer Allan Parry. Read his enthusiastic piece about a Black Bough Open Mic session from a couple of months ago under this link. Oh! And! Answer his call to submit poetry for an anthology he’s putting together? + He’s got an active presence on X, Instagram and Facebook. … So much to like…

 I saved the biggest reason that turned me from a new fan of his more… frictionous  work (at least) into a straight up admirer for last, though. I mean, a lot of us not yet famous enough poets put in the needed leg work to get noticed, to get published, and many of us become experts in getting rejected. A lot. I know I did? But that’s okay. Hurts, sure, but is part of the hustle. The grind. There are so, so many people out there shooting for the same cluster of stars… Nothing high fucking brow about that. There are a lot fewer of us who will admit to this, sure, but that’s okay too. After our first year as a free to submit to mag, we fully intend to start asking a nominal reading fee, for example. See if we can recuperate some of the costs, complement our income a bit this way, or by organizing a paid writing contest, maybe even starting our own paid open mic…? All that is totally valid. Makes sense, even. … Where was I. … Oh yeah. What I’m trying to say is that when I come across a fellow poet who’s trying to get his writing out there, applying said elbow grease, filling his website with all he has to offer, which is a lot, BUT, in addition to this then turns out to ALSO spend a lot of time highlighting other poets and their work for no discernible reason other than being a true fan of poetry in general…, that’s just fucking special. And for me more than justifies this little piece about him! Cheers.

Support persecuted and harassed writers: support the PEN Emergency Fund!

AIMS

PEN International

PEN (an abbreviation of Poets, Essayists, Novelists/Playwrights, Editors and Non- Fiction Writers) is a worldwide organization of and for writers, who feel strongly about freedom of expression and the free exchange of literature. More than 140 PEN centers exist in well over 100 countries. The main office is located in London.

PEN Emergency Fund

Based in the Netherlands, the now globally operating PEN Emergency Fund was founded by the writer A. den Doolaaard in 1971. It supports seriously persecuted writers and journalists, sometimes living in exile, with a once-only allowance that helps them (and in special cases, their families) to make ends meet when, for instance, they need to flee the country immediately or require urgent medical attention following abuse. Every year dozens of writers throughout the world are provided with aid. The fund operates in close collaboration with experienced investigators at PEN International. Its day-to-day board consists of two volunteers who, in very urgent cases, are able to transfer money even as early as the day on which the request has been made and approved. There are no costly salaries, no costly buildings and the fund’s overhead costs are low: which means that all of the money donated by you will end up going directly to these seriously threatened champions of free speech.

In 2024 the fund was able to help 82 authors in distress.

PEN Emergency cooperates with: PEN International http://www.pen-international.org/ and PEN Netherlands http://pennederland.nl/

PEN Emergency Fund is among others supported by Stichting Lira Fonds http://www.lira.nl/

More about PEN

Donate right here!

Going Dutchtube!, nr. 1 (David Colmer reads the poem 'The Disappointing Fairy' by Annie M.G. Schmidt)

I’ve been scouring the internet for Dutch poetry, translated into English, to maybe showcase here for a couple of months now, and have been loving every second of it. That includes YouTube, obviously, and boys oh boys, there are some beauties out there! Plus, not unimportant, linking and then highlighting such a video here on Double Dutch magazine is A LOT easier copyright wise? So much so that we at Double Dutch magazine decided to start a whole new segment: Going Dutchtube!, for which we’ll pick one of those videos at a time and give ‘em some much deserved extra fondling. Doing this also enables us to include poets and translators we admire but who are notoriously hard to get in touch with, for example, or, again, whose poetry is a real pain in the butt to get the rights to. Win-win, eh? We sure think so. Starting said segment off, therefore, is the esteemed writer and translator David Colmer, who’s reading his magnificent translation of De mislukte fee by the Dutch writer, poet and full on icon Annie M.G. Schmidt on the excellent channel Translators Aloud. Enjoy!

The Rattle Chapbook Prize (edition 2026)

I’ve entered mine! Like I did last year. Why, do you ask? It is the most prestigious one out there I could find. With an unmatched possible exposure. It’s like buying a lottery ticket, with virtually no chance in hells to win the jackpot, DUH, but sending your work in anyways at least allows you to dream on :) In their own words:

Rattle Chapbook Prize

We’ve always loved chapbooks for their brevity and intensity. At a few dozen pages, a great chapbook is the perfect reading experience for the 21st century—not too long, not too short: They’re the Goldilocks zone of the poetry world. So we wanted to do for chapbooks what we’ve done for poems with the Rattle Poetry Prize—provide a fair, fun, and friendly way to make the most of what they offer. The idea for this project came from our conversation with Jan Heller Levi, where she described how the Walt Whitman Award launched her career: “It was wonderful, but it was also a bad introduction to the world of poetry publishing. [Fox laughs] As if every publisher is going to send out 5,000 copies and your book will be everywhere.” Every publisher can’t do that—but Rattle can.

While most chapbook contests offer maybe $500 and 25 copies of your chapbook, we’re going to give a few poets something special. Every year, three winners will receive:

$5,000.

500 copies.

Distribution to Rattle’s 8,000+ subscribers.

In a world where a bestselling full-length poetry book means 1,000 copies sold, the winners will reach an audience more than seven times as large on the first day alone—an audience that includes hundreds of other literary magazines, presses, and well-known poets. This will be a chapbook to launch a career.

And maybe the best part is this: Every Rattle subscriber will receive a copy of each winning chapbook. Beginning in 2018, each quarterly issue of Rattle includes a bonus chapbook delivered to every subscriber, most of which being selected through this annual competition. Visit the Rattle Chapbook Series page for a full list of selections.

DEADLINE:
January 15th (11:59 p.m. EST)

Information

Code of Ethics

Winners

2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016

So. Yeah. Sure sounds jackpotty to me! Wanna have a go yourself? Let’s dream together. Here are the Guidelines.

Beauty is truth but ugliness means well (some personal thoughts about Donald Gardner’s poetry)

Just to get this out of the way: this is not a review of Mr. Gardner’s work in the broader sense. My English simply isn’t good enough to confidently convey what I think about his poetics, and my understanding of his place in the international literary landscape is woefully inadequate to do him, or it, any justice. But I strongly feel I want to do SOMETHING after reading through the volume he sent me after a very friendly back and forth during us (Onno and mine) putting together our very first issue of Double Dutch magazine, and, more specifically, Mr. Gardner’s shared little corner in it. His ‘New and Selected Poems’ struck more than one chord with me, and I really want to tell you which. 

Truth be told, though, before we decided on asking our current Dutch national poet laureate Babs Gons for a contribution I didn’t know about Mr. Gardner, or his work, at all? Only that he was the one who had translated her verse into the English language. I guess that’s one of the perks of starting a literary and art magazine, eh? Feeling richer for it already! Even if it did cost me 50 bucks. Making him the only paid contributor to our magazine so far. Money very well spent, mind you, because it warmed me up to him a bit. Fortune favors the bold, no? He asked, and I was willing to. It’s that simple. He further wrote to me how he preferred to change to informal communications between us a.s.a.p., which is highly appreciated, but by searching for more relevant information about him and slowly learning about why he’s become the cultural icon that he is, I found that addressing him in any other but a polite way since then became anything if not harder? Sorry sir! But maybe I am just old fashioned that way. Me, I don’t see anything wrong with being polite. It’s a way to show respect, nothing more. And respect his work, that I have come to do during these last few days. Here’s a first example of why:

Originally published in the volume ‘Peace Feelers’ (1969)

Apart from containing THE most beautiful sentence in all of his ‘New and Selected Poems’ (for a hint see the title of my first ever piece of this kind in English), there is a… vulnerability and confiding honesty on show here that makes the reader feel like a good acquaintance being told about this unfortunate episode the day after. Over a cup of mheh but scorching hot coffee. Out of a not so very clean mug. After reading it I almost felt lacking for not being there to help him get back on his feet and wanting to know how he managed to do so at all. This might not be a unique story telling technique, but it IS done perfectly. The same, seemingly shameless intimacy rings true in this one:

Originally  published in the volume ‘The Wolf Inside’ (2014) 

Having been published 45 years later than ‘Indirections’, ‘The unwelcome dinner foto’ proves two things (at least to me): not only does Mr. Gardner continue inviting us over, knowing full well that our (the average readers’) loyalty as someone who can be trusted with such one on ones tends to be a fickle one at best, especially when it’s called upon for decades, but also, and maybe even more impressive, that the bond suggested has now grown to a point where he doesn’t feel the need to make a lot of work of hiding the rather obvious reason he decided not to go to this reunion. A reunion he, I think, very much did WANT to go to initially. It’s just… They just HAD to put that part about the deadline and having to pay otherwise in there, didn’t they? Rubbed him the wrong way. Fuckers. And in the end he showed ‘em by not going. Which is regrettable, maybe, in hindsight, and could have been handled more… maturely, yeah…, sure! But fuck THAT, eh? … Friend?

Yes, …, sir, and thank you? Thank you very much for this little masterclass. The next one I want to mention is a poem I intend to include in our issue nr. 1, seeing as it classifies beautifully as a verse that we love to showcase: heart punching and angry, but without… explicit anger as such, if that makes any sense? In this poem my by now imaginary friend of old has gotten older still and is tired. So, so tired. Too tired to raise his voice. I imagine him calling me on the phone, completely spent, talking quietly, just wanting to hear a friendly voice for a bit and telling me:

I want to get on the first plane, since half a continent has come between us over time, bring some of my wife’s special homemade, dark roast, slow filtered, Himalayan brew and… be there for the guy?

It doesn’t matter, not one bit, if these were the actual last words the poet’s mother spoke before she died, if the poet broke a hip or just bruised it, or maybe didn’t take a dive in the shower at all. That discussion is the most boring one in all of poetry. Furthermore, I’m fully aware, believe me, that I’m projecting all kinds of intentions on mr. Gard-, Donald’s verses. It’s obvious I chose a couple that spoke specifically to my taste and preferences when it comes to style and technique. But that’s just it about being able to read such a well put together overview of one’s entire career, isn’t it? I feel allowed to. Encouraged. I feel I’ve earned it. And that’s brilliant. My specific friend from between these two covers might not be perfect, I mean he never asks about ME, ever, can be petty, obsessive, and has a tendency to contemplate himself into some severe depressions if he’s not careful, but at the same time he’s inherently good hearted, and, which is truly the most important and in every day (some claim real) life seems to get increasingly rare these days: I believe. He. Means. Well.

I’d like to end what’s becoming a wholehearted praise of his work with one of… Donald’s uncollected, early poems. I haven’t mentioned him moving to the Netherlands in 1979, and decided not to include poetry that touches on his time in this tiny country of ours, while, believe me, there are a lot of beautiful examples of those to choose from. These, however, are not what define the poet in this case, or his work. For me, that is. What DOES however, and again, highly personal in no small part, is our kinda shared… route, you might say, through Poetry? Be it on levels that couldn’t further apart in international scale and cultural importance, true, thanks a lot, but still! I pretty much started out slamming my poetry, with some Nation wide success (having studied ‘Writing for Performance’ for two years and rightfully getting kicked out of said university way too soon for being stupidly stubborn), before signing my first publishing deal in 2005. Donald too started out speaking his mind on stage, in the 60s that is, and happened to do so with contemporaries the genius likes of which included other Icons like Ginsburg and Gregory Corso. … Helps me relate even more, is all? I can picture us now, Donald, you as loud as the youthful are still very much supposed to get fortunately, up there on stage, in those 60s, roaring fire of the truly righteous in your eyes, getting into that… quintessential beat rhythm and proclaiming your fucking heart out while Allen and I, the guy you met that very night, are standing in a corner, smoking a joint and nodding, ours closed, to every emphasized syllable: