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Hans Verhagen 1939 country: Netherlands Engels |
Hans Verhagen (1939) started as a poet in the turbulent 1960s, with collections whose titles remained part of collective memory for a long time: ‘Stars, circles, bells’, or ‘Dozens of sunsets’. As editor of the neo-realist periodical Gard Sivik, he opposed the accepted poetry of the time, wishing instead ‘A poem as lyrical as the full moon / of a hutted camp’. It all sounded quite provocative, especially in his readymades about illnesses that were still taboo at the time, as in the cycle ‘Kanker – Cancer – Krebs’, with the famous line, found in the street: ‘A painless lump / can be more ominous / than a painful one.’ Gradually, however, the neo-realist emerged from the hippie and provo period as mostly a romantic. Under the influence of social changes and an interest in the softer values of life, his work began to show signs of an increasing sensitivity and positive attitude to life: ‘Sunsets. Sunrises.//And we are happy with tooters and bells,/with flowers and bees,/with colours and impressions.’ Meanwhile, he also made his mark as a television producer (of the famous programme The Hole of the Netherlands). In 2003, his collected poems were published. ‘Eternal flame, out’ – a suitable title, for the poets of the following generation also still always seemed to be addressing him. In the meantime, he has already embarked on a kind of second poetic life. The poems of his most recent collection ‘Mother is a Robber’ display a fascinating mix of the old hardness and the new responsiveness to human enterprise, watered down by a generous pinch of human shortcoming: ‘Beauty that comes alone is a pitiful spectacle / You want no traffic with such creatures / but even so get involved’. It would seem to be a new kind of realism, though not of facts this time but of emotions, by means of which he demonstrates his durability as a poet. Rob Schouten Translated by John Irons Not al of the information about this poet has been digitalised. For more information contact info@poetry.nl |