Foto: Theo Huijgens
International visitors
Joz Knoop (30th December 1957, Rotterdam Overschie) developed the jozzonet (mirror verse) in 1990, which he elaborates on in the years following. The results of this research may be found in a trilogy, of which he completed the final part in the autumn of 1997. In 1993 he won the Gorinchem performance contest and in 1994 the Rotterdam Award.
The poem ‘For Sevim’ is a first step in getting away from the jozzonet. This poem wins him the 1997 Dunya Poetry Prize. In 1998 his 3rd volume of jozzonets appeared under the title Limit Reaching Zero (Limiet nadert nul), in which a large, pungent flower Amorphophallus Titanum takes centre stage.
Everything Turns (Alles draait) is the first product of Jozoon productions, his very own publishing house. In May 2000 he was also chosen as poet of the year by the audience of the Iamb Foundation (Stichting Jambe) in Delft. In the years after 2000 he concentrates on performance, which resulted in winning the poetryslam in Amersfoort.
In march of last year he published his poem in 7 parts with the title of “Landschap” (Landscape) in a new poetry journal called BARKING DOGS and in july in the same journal “Voor een vrouw die er staat” (For a striking woman). These poems were published in dutch and translated in english by Corentine H.M. Steijger.
Jozzonets
Day off
Original: Snipperdag
Translation from the Dutch jozzonet
I don’t have much to do today.
Life passes lazy soft.
Hours are drinking from daylight
under a sky of glass.
Clouds are passing peacefully slow
above the people in hurry.
No one can make me worry.
Today I move in speed of clouds.
No one can make me worry
about the people in hurry.
Clouds are passing peacefully slow
under a sky of glass.
Hours are drinking from daylight.
Life passes lazy soft.
I don’t have much to do today.
Empty day
Inspired on music by Bloemfontein
www.bloemfontein.ca
The longer now
on the clock of
immaculate patience
must be a moment of
spun out silence
caused by
this sea of minutes.
This day off
seems endless.
This day off
this sea of minutes.
caused by
spun out silence
must be a moment of
immaculate patience
on the clock of
the longer now.
Ghostfish
In dark water
full of poison
Ghostfish
swims alone
life is now
impossible
here in this
deadly zone
there is no fish
to be eaten
Ghostfish needs
no food
there is no fish
that he needs
his loneliness
feels good
A simple poem, based on a drawing by Ramon van der Rassel aka Monk