Arnold Jansen op de Haar
An acclaimed poetic journeySample Passages
Yugoslav Requiem
yugoslav requiem
it’s not what I’ve seen
it’s what I’ve not seen
it’s always looking round at where you’ve been
the man at the road-block
demands a cigarette
at home he beats his wife
today for the first time she puts
her headscarf on
she thinks of her son
her muslim man who works in the fields
listens intently to the sky
his father taught him that
he also learned how you kill someone
who used to be your friend or neighbour
and about četniks hitler and ustašas
and this land is mine
and I’m in charge
I work the clay
the you lot and they
the we and them
the we know our own kind
it’s not what I’ve heard
it’s what I’ve not heard
it’s the tone of a word
…..
© Arnold Jansen op de Haar 2002
© Translation: Paul Vincent 2009
This poem was featured in Arnold Jansen op de Haar’s performance at the Poetry Cafe.
You can also listen to the author reciting yugoslav requiem on YouTube.
Interested? So why not buy Yugoslav Requiem
Girls of Sarajevo
GIRLS OF SARAJEVO
the city where children
play their ebony war
their mothers cut wood
too tired to die
in rebuilt churches the faltering
faith in progress slumbers
in the ruined ice stadium
old applause hangs like cobwebs
but in the suburbs the tanks
still lie
like tortoises on their backs
and in the evening sky there are
dream stockades of nameless girls
their high heels catch
in the gaps in the pavements
sometimes they take money in alarm
and embrace the man passing by
with their dimmed bird’s eyes
with the broken wings of their words
with a sudden glance that strikes home
with peroxide hair flaming like straw
– for their fuming fathers are dead –
listlessly they eat their bread of charity
a rose of barbed wire twists in a womb
when the miss election jury asks
are you a virgin
they say the prettiest girls have disappeared
into the nights they go careless and charming
with their ripe summer lips
but the dead bridegroom’s scent pervades their hair
© Arnold Jansen op de Haar 2002
© Translation: Paul Vincent 2009
This poem was featured in Arnold Jansen op de Haar’s performance at the Poetry Cafe
Interested? So why not buy Yugoslav Requiem
Yugoslav Requiem
yugoslav requiem
it’s not what I’ve seen
it’s what I’ve not seen
it’s always looking round at where you’ve been
the man at the road-block
demands a cigarette
at home he beats his wife
today for the first time she puts
her headscarf on
she thinks of her son
her muslim man who works in the fields
listens intently to the sky
his father taught him that
he also learned how you kill someone
who used to be your friend or neighbour
and about četniks hitler and ustašas
and this land is mine
and I’m in charge
I work the clay
the you lot and they
the we and them
the we know our own kind
it’s not what I’ve heard
it’s what I’ve not heard
it’s the tone of a word
…..
© Arnold Jansen op de Haar 2002
© Translation: Paul Vincent 2009
This poem was featured in Arnold Jansen op de Haar’s performance at the Poetry Cafe.
You can also listen to the author reciting yugoslav requiem on YouTube.
Interested? So why not buy Yugoslav Requiem
Girls of Sarajevo
play their ebony war
their mothers cut wood
too tired to die
in rebuilt churches the faltering
faith in progress slumbers
in the ruined ice stadium
old applause hangs like cobwebs
but in the suburbs the tanks
still lie
like tortoises on their backs
and in the evening sky there are
dream stockades of nameless girls
their high heels catch
in the gaps in the pavements
sometimes they take money in alarm
and embrace the man passing by
with their dimmed bird’s eyes
with the broken wings of their words
with a sudden glance that strikes home
with peroxide hair flaming like straw
– for their fuming fathers are dead –
listlessly they eat their bread of charity
a rose of barbed wire twists in a womb
when the miss election jury asks
are you a virgin
they say the prettiest girls have disappeared
into the nights they go careless and charming
with their ripe summer lips
but the dead bridegroom’s scent pervades their hair
© Translation: Paul Vincent 2009
