Sequenza - Marleen de Crée

Marleen de Crée needs no introduction in Belgium. She is one of our well known poets and has quite an oeuvre to her name. Next Friday, March 15, in den Hopsack in Antwerp her bilingual book Sequenza will be presented. It will be an interesting and varied evening. Expect video poems, reading in two languages: the Dutch original and the English translation. There will be music. The title of this book of poetry refers to composer Luciano Berio and for those who don't know technically what a Sequenza is, Vlad Weverbergh will perform that evening Sequenza IXa on the clarinet. Frank De Vos will be the troubadour with two songs and will read one poem in Dutch. Intro by Annmarie Sauer.

The presentation starts at 8.30 in Den Hopsack is in the old part of town: Grote Pieter Pot straat 24, Antwerp 2000.
It will be a worthwhile, even a memorable evening.

Sequenza ISBN 9783842341449
world internet books

  

November salon 12b

A small but select group of poets participated in last nights salon 12b. From the former poet laureate of Antwerp, Peter Holvoet-Hanssen, to poet Rudy Witsy who with Tony Rombouts presented their latest book 'Duo', from  German poet, Fred Schywek to American busker, singer songwriter Ken Post performing with Ingeborg a surprising dialog between Anaïs Nin and Jack Kerouac. Beautiful anti war texts were read by Willem Persoon. A video by swoon was also much enjoyed. Poetry by Rose Vandewalle was read from a current translation project. Roger Nupie opened the night with some thought provoking poems. Great stuff all of it. The audience was attentive, enjoyed the cake by Rose, the cheese pie by Hakata and the goulash soup by Fred. Uncyia from the Leonard Peltier chapter brought some postcards to be signed for his release. Thus beauty and commitment went hand in hand during the whole evening.

Rose's

(Kleine Nachtmusik)

The room

suddenly tilts and turns        

caches me

in its grabby arms

its hands ablaze with longing

arouse me

with each of its fiery tongues

envelops me transports me

the room

scorching breath

whirlpool and spiral

the room

oh it spins and stalls

soon in higher gear

drags me down in its fall

ends in a plunge

a prodigious shivering plunge

Johan de Boose interviews Marleen de Crée

A chill, a touch of blue and two days gone by. Thursday noon in the Permeke library in Antwerp, a captivating author in his own right Johan de Boose and Marleen de Crée held a very interesting conversation. I have known Marleen's work since over 30 years and the talent of the interviewer dug out some interesting information and insights new to me. It must be challenging and wonderful to be interviewed by someone who knows "the metier", the necessary skills as well as the interviewee. Then the answers can open new perspectives. When one listens to Marleen it all seems so logical and as it is supposed to be. This isn't quite the right formulation since she is also strong willed and has an original mind of her own. All this packed in the beauty of her sonnets and rondeau's. She perverts, changes these traditional forms: strange punctuation, no rhymes, no open lines... You name it, she has done it. I now also know how the musicality of her verses came about. She went to a good boarding school where they had a choir. She had a very high soprano voice and so she sang in the choir. Their school won most contest because of this soprano voice. At home too there was a lot of singing, and many books. She started reading the books on the top shelf and worked her way through all the books. One could say that was her classical period. She adores Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu and all the poetry by Rainer Marie Rilke. She would joyfully reread them, but so little time, so many books to read and write. Here you find 3 wonderful video-poems made with Marleen's poems, a happy collaboration with Swoon Bildos who is invited to many Video festivals to showcase his work.