Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Rogi Wieg

THE LETTERS

What goes beyond understanding, goes over one’s hat, 
a light, woolly cloud of information and so forth.
I have the status of an expensive, strange,
magnificent rose, smelling of shit. Should

I therefore go on with creating? To do nothing
is not a future, collecting sunshine, chasing the dresses off women
and slowly growing older, narrower as the shinbone
of a dead toadstool. I must carry the letters.

Everything I have ever, or never, made is a box for blocks 
with crooked blocks. It goes over my hats
why I, creator of flowers, hand over to you 

a rotten rose. Oh beautiful, pleasant life,
I’ve produced refined, nuanced horror.
What goes beneath my understanding is what I’ve written.

DE LETTERS

DE LETTERS

Wat het verstand te boven gaat, gaat boven de hoed,
licht wollige wolk van informatie, enzovoort.
Mijn status is die van een dure, ongehoord
schitterende, naar stront ruikende roos. Moet

ik daarom verdergaan met scheppen? 
Niets doen is geentoekomst, zonneschijn innen, vrouwen de rok opjagen,
en langzaam ouder worden, smaller als het scheenbeen
van een dode paddestoel. Ik moet de letters dragen.
 
Alles wat ik ooit, of nooit, maakte is een blokkendoos
met scheve blokken. Het gaat mijn hoeden te boven
waarom ik, schepper van de bloem, een stinkende roos

aan u overhandig. O schoon, gemoedelijk leven,
ik heb verfijnde, genuanceerde gruwel gemaakt.
Wat mijn verstand ten onder gaat heb ik geschreven.
Close

THE LETTERS

What goes beyond understanding, goes over one’s hat, 
a light, woolly cloud of information and so forth.
I have the status of an expensive, strange,
magnificent rose, smelling of shit. Should

I therefore go on with creating? To do nothing
is not a future, collecting sunshine, chasing the dresses off women
and slowly growing older, narrower as the shinbone
of a dead toadstool. I must carry the letters.

Everything I have ever, or never, made is a box for blocks 
with crooked blocks. It goes over my hats
why I, creator of flowers, hand over to you 

a rotten rose. Oh beautiful, pleasant life,
I’ve produced refined, nuanced horror.
What goes beneath my understanding is what I’ve written.

THE LETTERS

What goes beyond understanding, goes over one’s hat, 
a light, woolly cloud of information and so forth.
I have the status of an expensive, strange,
magnificent rose, smelling of shit. Should

I therefore go on with creating? To do nothing
is not a future, collecting sunshine, chasing the dresses off women
and slowly growing older, narrower as the shinbone
of a dead toadstool. I must carry the letters.

Everything I have ever, or never, made is a box for blocks 
with crooked blocks. It goes over my hats
why I, creator of flowers, hand over to you 

a rotten rose. Oh beautiful, pleasant life,
I’ve produced refined, nuanced horror.
What goes beneath my understanding is what I’ve written.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Prins Bernhard cultuurfonds
Lira fonds
Versopolis
J.E. Jurriaanse
Gefinancierd door de Europese Unie
Elise Mathilde Fonds
Stichting Verzameling van Wijngaarden-Boot
Veerhuis
VDM
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère