The sixth of 7 Antwerp CityPoems this week, ending in an in-depth interview with the people behind the Antwerp programme.
Antwerp CityPoem: Heen en terug (Back and Forth), Tjitse Hofman
Back and Forth (literal translation, not poetic)
If you carefully
look around you
Then you will see
yes you will see
How beautiful
it actually
That how beautiful
it actually so
What more would
you want
Where would you
still want
That it so
and whereto
You are
there already.
About the author
Tjitse Hofman (Assen, The Netherlands, 1974) lives in Groningen. After several loose publications, he had his debut collection in 1999. His second collection was published in 2003.
Original text in Dutch
Heen en terug
Als je goed
om je heen
Dan zie je wel
ja zie je wel
Hoe mooi
het eigenlijk
Dat hoe mooi
het eigenlijk zo
Wat wil je
dan nog
Waar wil je
dan nog
Dat het zo
en waartoe
Je bent
er al.
- Antwerp (1) - Boerentoren in love
- Antwerp (2) - on the river Schelde
- Antwerp (3) - Nasr on poverty
- Antwerp (4) - on 500,000 beer mats
- Antwerp (5) - on 30,000 door hangers
- Antwerp (6) - UtopiA
- Antwerp (7) - ZOO
- Antwerp (9) - soul of Antwerp
And check the presentation of Michaël Vandebril of the City of Antwerp who is behind these projects on the Inspiring Cities CityPoems & CityPoets Salon of 2006, including video presentation about the projects of Antwerp.
Inspiring Cities Museum of CityPoems
Inspiring Cities has collected many citypoems over the years, as well as organized salons with citypoets and cities doing special projects. We have two criteria for what a citypoem is: the intention must be poetic, and it must be in the public realm of cities. Shapes, form and locations can and do differ.
The Museum of CityPoems has citypoems from cities all over the world. From Alhambra to Zonnebeke, from Taipei to Lima.
Got one yourself? Mail us your pictures (free of rights) and description, and we will publish.