What it is by Esther Jansma and translated by Francis R. Jones

This is poetry from Netherlands.

What it is by Esther Jansma translated by Francis R. Jones is published by Bloodaxe Books. This is a Book originally written in Dutch. This was published in 2009.0 and has the ISBN of 9.781852247805E12.

What it is, translated from the Dutch by Francis R. Jones, brings Esther Jansma’s Dutch-language work into English through Bloodaxe Books. Published in 2009, it is best approached as a book of encounter rather than as a book to solve. Jansma’s title sounds plain, almost stubbornly so, but that plainness opens a deep field of perception, evidence, memory, and naming. I would not read this as a puzzle with a hidden answer. Read it for pressure, for texture, for the place where a line suddenly becomes stranger than its apparent subject. The book matters because it keeps the translated poem alive as encounter, not summary, and because Netherlands enters the shelf through music rather than report.

If you’d like to see international poetry continue and gain traction, consider requesting this work from your local library, or purchasing it from places like Open Books (a poetry only bookstore), Asterism Books (an independent press distributor), or bookshop.org to connect you with your local bookstores.

Check out more of the always in-progress translated poetry index here.