Lady in a window

This colourful gable stone on the wall of one of the buildings in the narrow St Jansstraat in Deventer (the alley I showed you yesterday) pictures a lady looking out of a window, and it refers to the presence of prostitution at this location in the past (presumably). I mentioned yesterday that Deventer is one of the oldest cities in our country, however this gable stone is rather 'new' as it was made by sculptor Ton Mooy (1948).

The poetic lines are by J.C. van Schagen (1891-1985), a Dutch poet who died in Deventer. The lines "eens halve kous heet nu St. Jan / maar wat er bleef dat af en an... / wat ik u brom u keert weerom" are really difficult to translate as the first two are hard to understand for me even in Dutch. The bottom line however ("let me tell you, you will return") apparently refers to the fact that the St Jansstraat is a dead-end street.

The red chairs

When you take a seat in either one of these red chairs inside the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, a mechanism in the "lamps" is activated; on the left a voice starts reading poetry ('fersen' in Friesian language), and on the right you can hear a song ('music' is 'musyk' in Friesian).

bus stop

This bus stop in the (only) village on Schiermonnikoog gives you the chance to read while you wait. It shows a poem written by Jacob Fenenga, which is part of the Taalroute (lit. Language route) that shows poems on 10 different public spots on the island.

"Unfortunately" the poem is written in the Friesian language, and that makes it very difficult to understand if you are not familiar with it. But I like the idea of publishing poems this way!

briny kiss

On the island of Schiermonnikoog. I don't know the name of the author!

This is the translation (I must say it sounds better in Dutch where it rhymes):

briny kiss

briny mouth

and

briny legs

briny sea

and

briny toes

briny love

briny genes

--

Gezien op Schiermonnikoog. Ik weet niet wie het geschreven heeft!

U is for Up the stairs with poetry

Het kunstwerk 'Het theater van de natuur' (zie mijn post van gisteren) staat op een kunstmatig aangelegde heuvel, en de trap er naar toe bestaat uit 15 treden met elk een gedicht. Deze zijn geschreven door Nederlandse dichters, die hiermee een ode brengen aan het landschap rond de rivier de Ruiten Aa in Westerwolde. Kees Stip was in 1996 de eerste.

The art object 'Nature's theatre' (see my blog post from yesterday) is located on an artificial hill, and you need to climb 15 steps to reach it. Each of these steps has a poem carved out, written by Dutch poets who celebrate the landscape around the river the Ruiten Aa in Westerwolde. Kees Stip was the first in 1996.

Elk jaar kwam er zo een gedicht bij, tot en met de 15e tree, die vorig jaar gereed kwam met het gedicht 'Achterop de fiets bij mijn moeder' van Jan Mulder. Hiermee is het kunstwerk definitief voltooid. Andere dichters met een gedicht op de trap zijn onder meer Rutger Kopland, Lévi Weemoedt en Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer.

Each year a new poem was added, and the 15th and last step was finished last year by Jan Mulder with his poem 'On the back of my mother's bicycle'. With this the art object is completed. Other poets with a poem on the stairs are for instance Rutger Kopland, Lévi Weemoedt and Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer.

Linking to ABC Wednesday.