Poetry from the Low Countries: Geranium by Hans Vlek

Sunday, 8 March 2015

Geranium by Hans Vlek

Geranium

From the badly-sitting
school bench in a smell of dust
old wood and piss, underneath high windows
in blistered frame, the red
of the geranium.

My grandmother slaving away above
a tub in the garden and beside
the neat tile path in a row, in the red
of which my grandpa spoke at
meetings: geraniums.

At home we had one
that never wanted to flower because
everyone put their fags out
in the pot. O lord, the sadness
of its hairy-green, bony
stem!

Geranium, splendid flower
that's not beautiful, wine
from the grocer, chicken
among the birds, jewel
of all that is cheap and nasty.

Hans Vlek [1947]

Original title: 'Geranium' - From: Maatstaf 12, maartnummer 1968 - Uitgeverij Daamen NV, Den Haag.

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Hans van den Bos

was born in Rotterdam, The Netherlands in 1948.

In the late Sixties, after National Service, he began working in a bookshop, which he took over after a number of years. The shop, under his direction, became specialised in Literature, Modern Art and Architecture, containing one of the largest collections of poetry in the whole of The Netherlands.

He was invited, in the 1990's, by the former director of Poetry International, the late Martin Mooij, to display his poetry collection on a book stall at the annual festival in Rotterdam. In 1997 he closed the shop and 5 years later emigrated to Ireland, where he is presently busy as a writer and translator of poetry.

Contact: JohannesvandenBos@protonmail.com

Hilary Reynolds

Hilary Reynolds is an English/Dutch classical singer, music teacher and choral conductor, who was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela in 1954.

She studied singing and piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London and, after graduating in 1978, moved to The Netherlands, where she pursued a career as a concert singer and vocal coach. In 2002, she moved to Ireland, together with her husband, Hans van den Bos, where she had been invited by the Head of the Music Department of University College Cork to take up a post there teaching Vocal Studies, Art-Song and Opera.

For a number of years, she has collaborated with Hans van den Bos writing theatre shows and plays and assisted with translations of his own work as well as of other poets, including translations of Russian poetry by Anna Achmatova.