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Rutger Kopland, Memories of the Unknown. Read it.
But you will want to know why.
Read it because the poems are so sharp and beautiful that they hurt. Read it because the pain feels good, even when it makes you cry. Read it because the sadness and longing takes you through to something new and different and wonderful.
An Empty Spot to Stay
Go now into the garden, dear, and lie
in an empty spot where the grass grows tall.
That’s what I have always wanted to be,
an empty spot for someone, to stay.
Deceptively simple.
And you don’t want to miss lines like this:
My topography is too enigmatic
to describe, too evident
for words, I am because I am.
Or like this from a poem inspired by a painting by Mondriaan:
he died and saw everything, saw everything and he died.
I have never read any other poet who begins a serious poem:
When I was still a horse in a meadow
Nor have I read anyone who has made tears spring to my eyes so easily no matter how many times I read the poem:
this is happening here: a garden in the evening
and what you don’t hear and don’t see — the places
where we dug holes
and filled them up again, weepingI tell this because I do not want to be alone
before I am.
It is a shame that only a fraction of Kopland’s poetry has been translated into English from Dutch. My friend Cath told me about this collection and I am ever so grateful to her for it. Many poems will be going into my personal poetry anthology. You can read more about Kopland at Poetry International. The article describes his poetry as evoking “a wistful, almost nostalgic atmosphere of a lost paradise,” but I didn’t find his poetry to be wistful or nostalgic nor did I get a sense of lost paradise. Loss, yes, loss of love, pets, people, but not paradise. I get the sense that paradise was never known to begin with and the longing and desire in so many of the poems is for something never experienced and perhaps impossible to experience.
Poetry International has a number of Kopland’s poems online that you can read. Be sure you don’t miss In the Morning, Time, Under the Apple Tree and What is Happiness.
Thank you! for such a nice post. Will definitely pursue
this poet.
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booksandbuttons, thanks! I hope you enjoy the poetry!
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I’ve not heard of this poet so thank you for the intro! I like the snippets you shared and will have a look at Poetry International (by the way, great site!)
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Iliana, isn’t he wonderful? I hope you enjoy him. And yes, I just found Poetry International. I think I will be spending some time there!
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I have never heard of this writer, but now — someone to watch for.
Isn’t it just terrific when you discover a poet that truly is able to speak through to you? It’s wonderful.
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Cipriano, he is the most well known poet in the Netherlands, there were even rumblings about a Nobel Prize but he died in 2012. I do hope he somehow become more widely known because his work is certainly deserving of it. And oh yes, I love discovering a new poet!
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Thanks for sharing. I see that Memories of the unknown has also been translated to French. I’ll check it out.
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Smithereens, how wonderful the book has been translated into French! I hope if you read it you enjoy it!
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Your words moved me. I only wish he could have read them.
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Cath, thank you! I know he is one of your favorite poets so I am glad you like what I wrote. Thank you for introducing me to him. He truly is wonderful.
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Stefanie, how exciting to find a Dutch poet through you! I will look for him in the library. I’ve been really lazy about reading Dutch recently and these beautiful poems are inspiring.
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Helen, isn’t it funny how things happen sometimes? This particular collection is in both Dutch and English and the translator collected the poems from various published books of Kopland’s. You will probably be able to find Kopland’s books without any trouble in Belgium and I hope you enjoy him should you read him!
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Those are lovely. So nice when words like this make such an impact–the reason why I love reading and books!
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Danielle, Glad you enjoyed them! Books like this definitely reinforce why I love reading so very much.
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I shall join the “thanks for sharing this, I’ve never heard of this poet chorus”. Love those excerpts you shared, particularly the last one. The garden!
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whisperinggums, glad you enjoyed them! Kopland has lots of pieces that take place in the garden in this collection and a good many that don’t but that are still nature related in some way but they all are fresh with really interesting insights without a worn out metaphor in the bunch.
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