Els Moors

Els Moors Poems

then I came home
I threw my heavy bag
off of me in the corridor
you stood waiting for me
...

the sky is an arch within which
the city pigeon limps through
the litter in the street
the grey trees stand at the window
...

the water floating by is the water
I can see
the boat in which I lie rocks
with my legs over the side
...

on the roof of the house with the wind vane
a heron takes off on a steep incline
all the guests walk slowly to
the pond that is filled to the brim
...

I am the gardener with an alibi
and a purple ski suit
I am maintaining the premises
on which the golf balls are hit
...

on my way to a house
where a cat is waiting for me it's muggy
my lungs groan under the weight of
tiles floors and then some rocks
...

if I follow something on the street: an ice cube footprints
mushrooms shoot like pistols out of the ground
a waitress lies buried in bed she says
...

the girl stretches her legs and
points at the bird that has dared
to venture the closest to her
...

the horse is not a horse
but it stands in the wings
and I pat its mane
...

if I touch an abyss I don't understand
I live I am illuminated I'm burning
under the sun just like the sun I am
just like the sun
...

julio am I that woman?
hair long and loose, fallen back
onto the bed? my garden is in full bloom
and I'm right in the middle of it
...

the trees with their gnarled trunks and broad crowns
were an invitation to take a walk
the path followed the trees
and I followed the path
...

all the newspapers do is
accept messages
and once they're there
and set the tone
...

oh my mother
and her incredible desert colours
tomorrow she'll shift along
until she's found the shade
...

if someone lays apples
at my feet I become an
imminent deity
...

I accept that I was created
and touch me I'm one hundred percent
sea anemone
...

people as weary as machines
yawn so wide they weep
from sleepiness you tumble in
...

angel laid out a new body for me

fired by a bullet scorching through my temple

borne by snow
...

het water is het voorbijdrijvende water
dat ik zie
de boot waarin ik lig deint
met mijn benen over de rand
vaar ik bijna tegen een oever

er staat een boom op een vlakte achter me
er hangt een hoge lucht boven ons

met het hoofd in de nek
wacht ik op een echo
tegen de muren van de huizen
waar ik aan voorbijga
waar zij samen voor de ramen zullen staan

waar rode en groene pijlen een voor een
naar boven worden gesleept
...

de lucht is een boog waarbinnen
de stadsduif op een poot voorthinkt
tussen het vuil dat op straat ligt
de grijze bomen staan achter het raam
er staat een stoel voor
een vensterbank waar hij op zit

hij gebruikt een hoek van de tafel
om de veren te verwijderen
en alleen het gele vel blijft over
welwillend
laat ik me de slaapkamer in slepen

de wijn is een paarse rand rond de lippen
om de mond als de telefoon gaat

hang ik niet nietsvermoedend aan zijn hals
...

Els Moors Biography

Els Moors (1976) received a warm welcome from Flemish and Dutch critics alike, as the first young Flemish poet to have appeared on the scene for a long time. Her debut Er hangt een hoge lucht boven ons (There is a tall sky above us; 2006) was nominated for the C. Buddingh’-prize and was awarded the Herman de Coninck prize for best poetry debut, where the jury described it as a, ‘debut of one’s dreams’. In There Is A Tall Sky Above Us a rather peculiar ‘I’ describes the ongoing amazement about a rather peculiar world. Important within this world are men; men who are constantly coming and going. In ‘de witte fuckende konijnen’ (the white shagging rabbits), the cycle at the heart of the volume, Moors convincingly shows that the urge is omnipresent and all consuming, showing man’s inner beast. One could say that the volume contains a high quantity of Sex and the City style within its pages, but this comparison would be misplaced. Moors’ humour has a bitter quality and is in no way expressed in one-liners. More often than not, the humour is found in the absurd nature of a situation or in the disruptive nature of an observation. Small, everyday scenes are dissected and then screwed back together again. There is a constant menace at work.)

The Best Poem Of Els Moors

[then I came home]

then I came home
I threw my heavy bag
off of me in the corridor
you stood waiting for me

those were steps
I made beside you on the ground
one by one
someone bombed the station

a Rumanian shot
another Rumanian with a gun
last year a man lay in this street
blood stayed behind on the pavement

before you leave I gaze after a tram driving away

without us nothing could begin
without us it everything's been done

Translated by Willem Groenewegen

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