ALS JE NOOIT IN HAAR SCHOENEN HEBT GELOPEN

als je nooit in haar schoenen hebt gelopen
nooit met je sleutels tussen je vingers door het donker hebt
     gefietst
een extra large hoodie over je jurk hebt aangetrokken
je hakken verwisseld voor sneakers
om zo hard mogelijk door de nacht naar huis te trappen

als je nooit in haar schoenen hebt gelopen
niet weet hoe uitputtend het is om ogen en oren
over je hele lichaam te dragen
de haren in je nek je als alarmbellen
te laten vertellen
wanneer je moet maken dat je wegkomt
je altijd in je hoofd aan het rekenen bent,
hoe laat je waar aankomt,
wanneer je moet vertrekken
en of je dan nog net op tijd
niet hardlopen in het donker
niet via het park
groepjes vermijden
nooit je drankje uit het oog verliezen

als je nooit in haar schoenen hebt gelopen
niet weet hoe het is om
oogcontact te vermijden, te doen alsof je belt
stoerder te gaan lopen
een busje haarlak in je mouw te dragen
via winkelruiten in de gaten te houden
wie er achter je loopt
een omweg te maken zodat je achtervolger
niet ziet waar je woont
om dan soms het grootste gevaar
in je eigen huis te treffen
het zijn toch vaak bekenden

als je nooit in haar schoenen hebt gestaan
het gevoel niet kent geen adem meer te kunnen halen
omdat iemand opeens een deur in het slot draait
de taxi onverwachts afslaat

als je niet weet hoe het is om in haar schoenen te staan
niet weet hoe het voelt
niet gehoord, niet geloofd
niet geholpen te worden
om de volgende ochtend
gewoon weer een nieuwe dag te beginnen
de verse wonden, de schade
onzichtbaar
onder je kleding, je huid
vanachter een glimlach
de dag zien door te komen

vertel dan nooit
wat zij moet doen
wat ze moet dragen
dat ze moet baren 
en hoe zich te gedragen

hoe te bewegen
wanneer te spreken
hoe ze haar lichaam
hoe ze haar leven

maar leer de wereld van haar houden
zo hard dat ze nooit meer achterom hoeft te kijken
zo hard dat ze mag dansen wanneer ze wil
gaan waar ze wil
laat de wereld nu verdomme eens beginnen
hartgrondig van haar te houden

IF YOU HAVE NEVER WALKED IN HER SHOES

If you have never walked in her shoes
never cycled in the dark with your keys between your fingers
an extra-large hoodie over your dress
your high-heels exchanged for sneakers
so you can peddle home as fast as possible through the night

if you have never walked in her shoes
don’t know how exhausting it is to have eyes and ears
over your whole body
the hairs in your neck warning you
like alarm bells
when you need to make a quick getaway
always making a mental calculation,
what time you have to be somewhere,
when you have to leave
and if you’ll get there just in time
not to run in the dark
not via the park
avoiding groups
never losing sight of your drink

if you have never walked in her shoes
don’t know what it’s like to
avoid eye-contact, to pretend to be on the phone
to walk with more confidence
to keep a can of hairspray up your sleeve
to keep an eye via shop windows
on who’s following you
making a detour so your pursuer
doesn’t see where you live
only sometimes to face the greatest danger
in your own home
it’s often someone you know

if you have never stood in her shoes
don’t know the feeling of not being able to breathe
because someone suddenly locks a door
a taxi takes an unexpected turn

if you don’t know what it’s like to be in her shoes
don’t know what it feels like
not to be listened to, not to be believed
not to be helped
to start a new day
the following morning
the fresh wounds, the damage
invisible
under your clothes, your skin
getting through the day
with a smile

then don’t ever tell her
what she should do
what she must wear
that she would have to give birth
and how she should behave

how to move
when to speak
how she her body
how she her life

but teach the world to love her
so much she no longer needs to look over her shoulder
so much she can dance when she wants
go where she wants
just let the world start goddammit
to love her with all their heart

“Babs Gons is a writer, spoken word poet, and host. She has been a driving force behind numerous poetry platform initiatives for decades. Since 2000, she organized Palabras in Paradiso (Amsterdam) for almost ten years. These evenings celebrated the work of young and/or emerging poets and spoken word artists. Afterward, she was involved in the founding and development of the Poetry Circle. Her new website is currently under construction.

Gons made her debut in 2021 with her poetry collection Doe het toch maar. That same year, she wrote the Boekenweek poem and published a children's book titled Het Begint Met Een Droom. In 2022, she won De Johnny, a lifetime achievement award for performance poetry, and in 2024, she was awarded the Gouden Ganzenveer. She presents various programs and is the host of the musical-literary show Babs' Woordsalon. Gons also writes stories and articles and is a columnist. A selection of her columns for Het Parool was compiled in June 2022 under the title Alles Wat Je Liefhebt Wordt Mooi.

Gons is the Poet Laureate of the Netherlands from 2023 to 2025. The selection committee praised Gons as "one of the most compelling poets that the Netherlands currently has, with a voice full of fire, burning and warm, both on stage and on paper." "She is a poet who passionately and engagedly gives words to the issues of our time, in a society that she, with full conviction, connects with poetry."


Donald Gardner, poet and translator, was born in London. He studied in Oxford and Bologna and lived in New York in the mid-sixties and travelled extensively in Mexico and Nicaragua. He began writing in the early 60s and is known for his presentations of his own poetry. His first live reading was at the Poetry Project, New York, in 1965 and in 1967, he took the stage at the East Village Theatre, in the company of Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and others for an audience of 2000. His first collection of poetry, Peace Feelers, was published in London by Café Books and a second collection, For the Flames (Fulcrum),followed in 1974.

On emigrating to the Netherlands in 1979, he made a number of performance pieces, based on his own poetry, most notably Chicken with Madness, a dance-performance, directed by the Italian choreographer, Patrizia Filia. It was presented inLondon, Amsterdam and New York. Returning to more formal poetry, he published How to Get the Most out of your Jet Lag (New Haven, Ct., 2001) and The Wolf Inside (Hearing Eye, 2014). His New and Selected Poems (1966-2020), appeared with Grey Suit Editions in 2021.

Gardner was originally a translator of Latin American writers: The Sun Stone by Octavio Paz and Zero Hour by Ernesto Cardenal. He is the translator, in collaboration with the author, of Three Trapped Tigers by the Cuban novelist, Guillermo Cabrera Infante. (Of this book, Salman Rushdie wrote: ‘I don’t know why any human beings should wish to attempt a task as difficult as this – perhaps because it was there.’) A translator of many Dutch and Flemish poets, he won the Vondel Prize in 2015 for his translations of Remco Campert, In those Days (Shoestring Press). Recently he published a collection of Maria Barnas’s poetry, Night Boat and other Poems (Shearsman Books, 2025). His collection of translations of Stefan Hertmans’ poetry, Goya as Dog, will appear early in 2026, also with Shearsman.

Edit: Benne wrote this about some of Donald’s ‘New and Selected Poems (1966-2020)’ in one of our feature articles!