Porta-shower <3
At 12 o’clock when I open the door
of our mobile bathroom
– a porta-shower on the pavement –
along with the rays
of the sun 7 children’s faces
tumble into view.
‘Did you just have a shower?’ ‘Why here?’
‘Is your bathroom broken?’
‘Yes, that’s right, it’s being done up!’
‘Ohhh, how annoying. . .’
‘No way, not at all,’ I say
from the top step of the porta-shower
‘because now I can grrreet you!’
They crack up at
my rolling r’s and my pink bathrobe.
Ohhh, it’s so liberating
to be laughed at like that
in the middle of the day
by children in the sunshine
who’ll have quite a story to tell at home.
Frisian and Dutch poem: Eelke Veltman
Eelke Veltman (2001) studies Cultural Anthropology, is the Regional Poet of Noardeast-Fryslân (2025-2027), and writes poetry for stage and paper. In his work, he explores the larger wholes of which we small humans are, have been, or can be a part. His language bears witness to loss and decay, but there is also an eye for the surprising openings that emerge from this. Currently, he is reflecting on donkeys, nostalgia, and memories. Eelke has published in (literary) magazines Ensafh and de Moanne, among others, and performed at Dichters in de Prinsentuin and the Explore the North Festival. He was selected for the deBuren Paris residency in 2025 and was one of the winners of the Tony Feitsma Prize.
English translation: Laura Watkinson
Laura Watkinson is a lover of languages and a literary translator from Dutch, German, Italian, and Frisian into English. She has translated work by authors including Cees Nooteboom and Tonke Dragt and lives in a tall, thin house in Amsterdam with her husband and their cat. She is currently putting the finishing touches to Cricket, her translation of Annet Schaap’s Krekel into English, and about to embark on translating a graphic novel by Judith Vanistendael.
Illustration: Redmer Hoekstra
Redmer Hoekstra (1982) graduated as a visual artist and illustrator from the Zwolle Academy of Art in 2009. He finds great inspiration in philosophizing about reality, the workings of things, and the movement of animals. His associative mind combines very different forms in fascinating ways. Redmer uses a laborious and artisanal technique. He creates pen and ink drawings on paper with fineliners, using extensive hatching. The drawings are as realistic as possible, enhancing the viewer’s sense of alienation and wonder.