Slippery Slope, A

In this collection of new poems, the internationally-acclaimed Dutch writer Toon Tellegen confronts the challenges of old age with both humour and urgency. Remembering his youth, relationships, and the importance of his art to him, he reflects on decisions once taken and the regrets some caused him. Striking an extraordinary balance between the absurd and the lyrical, his poetry dances around finalities, never resting for long in any state, resisting the absolutes with which it plays. We enter a world where abstractions have voices, where angels spoil for a fight, where fairy tale and everyday life interlock.

‘Instead of offering us purely introspective musings, Tellegen is able to create a kind of disarming theatre. It may seem childlike, but it works on every page, leaving the reader astonished and intrigued by the most mundane utterances. He achieves this tension between the strange and the familiar through an ingenious build-up of suspense and a highly original use of personification and imagery. This is Tellegen at his best.’ – Dirk de Geest, mappalibri.be

On the Other Shore

In your mind, always be on the other shore

in reality you’re on this shore,
well-disposed and level-headed, engaging and reasonable,
deprived of everything that makes life bearable
and unbearable

the river is wide, you will drown, but swim across,
swim across.

– Toon Tellegen