Poetry from The Literary Review
Toon Tellegen
Yes and No
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Yes has a task: it protects people. It kisses them and tucks them in, tidies up the love left lying around and sends prying eyes packing: the people are asleep, they’ve been playing, they’re tired. But sometimes Yes breaks— along one of the famous lines of unbearableness— and bleeds. Blood flows across the floor through the corridor down the stairs onto the street (‘must flow! must flow!’ whisper the silk slippers under the bed, whisper the geraniums at the window, whispers a table lamp) and the people turn their backs to each other and go on sleeping, on and on. (No keeps its ear to their door.) Translated from the Dutch by by Judith Wilkinson
No was a small word, an insignificant word. It listened to the large words: Yes and We and Always. It studied the crumbs of their thoughts that they dropped from their table. It was not a stupid word. One day it crept into the kitchen, climbed onto the sink, grabbed a knife and ate it. (Words can eat things.) It was still a small word, but no longer an insignificant word—that never again— and it returned to the room, sat under the table and listened. Translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson
There are thousands of mistakes. When we wake up in the morning we are mistaken. When we stretch out we are mistaken. When we get up we are mistaken. (When we die we are sadly mistaken.) We go outside and the sun shines down on us, birds are chirping, haste and prosperity sweep us along. Shying away is a mistake. Playing it safe is a mistake. Never missing a trick is a mistake. It is a clear day. We go for a stroll and see each other appear round a corner. We stop. We hear each other call out, see each other wave. We hesitate. Is Yes a mistake too? we wonder. Could Yes be a mistake too? Translated from the Dutch by Judith Wilkinson Editor's Note: Toon Tellegen’s poems were originally published in Over liefde en over niets anders (About love and nothing else) by Querido in 1997. |
