Erachter
Moeder zit te breien in haar stoel
Het tikken van de naalden
Soms vergeet ze hoe ze het moet doen
De stilte valt
de kamer valt
Stil
Stilstaan op een hoogpolig tapijt
De zachtheid voelt
als tinteling
Voel niet het warme oppervlak
ten spijt
Het koude zweet
breekt mij in twee
Er in, erachter
Het voelt zo dichtbij vanachter
De kamer wordt een ritueel
en ik zeg niets, blijf doodstil
De dingen die ik achterlaat zijn veel te mooi
De toekomst maakt het de moeite waard
Ik weet het goed
Ik doe het goed
En dit zal niet de allerlaatste keer zijn
Het is een kleine stap
Het is een grote grap
Er in, erachter
Het voelt zo dichtbij vanachter
De kamer wordt een ritueel
en ik zeg niets, blijf doodstil
De dingen die ik achterlaat zijn veel te mooi
Hereafter
Mother’s knitting in her favorite chair
the ticking of the needles
Sometimes she’ll forget just what or where
stillness falls
the walls themselves
will
Standing on an old deep-pile rug
its softness feels
like tingling
I do not feel it warming me, despite
my cold, cold sweat
breaking me in two
Here’s in, there’s after
it feels so, so close, hereafter
the room becomes a sacrament
and I stay silent, don’t lament
the things I choose to leave behind are way too real
The future will make it worthwhile
I know this well
I’m doing well
And this will surely not be a loose ending
My need to invoke
It is one big joke
Here’s in, there’s after
it feels much too close, hereafter
the room becomes a sacrament
and I stay silent, don’t lament
the things I chose to leave behind are way too real
Translation Benne van der Velde
Martijn van Dijk. Thank you for allowing me to translate your beautiful songs! ‘Giswerk’ is criminally underrated/overlooked and its re-evaluation is more than deserved. Happy to be able to help make this happen. + I’m still grateful for your gorgeous rendition of my Dutch re-write of Jeff Buckley’s timeless Lilac Wine.
Martijn. The very first time I heard this crazy talented musician play and sing I was at some venue in Schiedam with partner in crime Gino, both stoned out of our minds, and I think Gino took me there for this exact reason. To hear this then young man perform. Must have been 30 years… Anyhow, stoner mind blown. Martijn and me became friends, and over the following decades we made some awesome stuff both together and as members of The Ongeboren Idee!
Martijn went to the Willem de Kooning academie, and after graduating taught there for years. Another couple of those ago he switched from active teaching to a lead backoffice job at the same institution. He’s been making music and being a podium animal for most of his adult life and hosted the Sunday jam sessions at The Grauwe Hengst for… at least a decade. In 2018 he released Giswerk and In 2021 he got his diploma as a sound engineer.
In 2024, though, he fell head over heels in love with improv theater and recently joined a second improv group, as one does :) You go, mate! Just don’t forget to also keep making music okay? Cheers.
The other tracks of his EP as published in this issue: