Poem
Jen Hadfield
LICHEN
KORSTMOS
Wie luistertzoals korstmos luistert
miljoenen toegewijde zwarte
en gouden oren?
Je hoort
en denkt terug
maar ik spreek
tot het korstmos.
De oortjes priemen,
schroeien en blakeren.
De gouden
mondjes vallen open.
LICHEN
Who listenslike lichen listens
assiduous millions of black
and golden ears?
You hear
and remember
but I’m speaking
to the lichen.
The little ears prunk,
scorch and blacken.
The little golden
mouths gape.
From: Byssus
Publisher: Picador, London
Publisher: Picador, London
Jen Hadfield
(United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 1978)
Nothing is permanent in the poetry of Jen Hadfield (‘I don’t know what it is / about this place that things / metaflower so readily / into their present selves’). With a meticulous, sober gaze, she watches how everything around her sprouts and grows, buds and creeps into everything else. Her poems might be about the rugged nature in northern Shetland where she lives (‘the scrambling twig / hern...
Poems
Poems of Jen Hadfield
Close
LICHEN
Who listenslike lichen listens
assiduous millions of black
and golden ears?
You hear
and remember
but I’m speaking
to the lichen.
The little ears prunk,
scorch and blacken.
The little golden
mouths gape.
From: Byssus
LICHEN
Sponsors
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère