DUTCH TRANSLATION IN MAGAZINE CLH

Every now and then Albert Hagenaars translates work by British poet Neil Leadbeater. The poem below was published in the Bucharest based multilingual magazine Contemporary Literary Horizon in December 2017.





THE EARLY ARRIVAL OF POEMS

For the most part
they are the unexpected night landings –
rarely the scheduled flights.

These are the planes from Rio, São Paulo,
Caracas and Lima
who come like ghosts in the middle of the
night.

And with them come
the rufous motmots and the horned
screamers,
the acrobats in the tree-tops;
the raucous call of the mealy parrot,
the nine-banded armadillo and a
dusky Jacobin.

One by one I call them in.


© Neil Leadbeater – From: ‘Librettos for The Black Madonna’
White Adder Press, 2011





DE VROEGE AANKOMST VAN GEDICHTEN

Meestal
landen ze onverwacht, ’s nachts -
zelden volgens de planning.

Het zijn de vliegtuigen uit Rio, São Paolo,
Caracas en Lima
die als geesten opdoemen in het holst
van de nacht.

En daarmee komen
de scharrelaarvogels en de gehorende
hoenderkoetens,
de acrobaten in de boomkruinen;
de rauwe kreet van de grote amazonepapegaai
het negenbandig gordeldier en een
kapduif.

Ik roep ze tot me, één voor één.


© Dutch translation: Albert Hagenaars





 

Contemporary Literary Horizon, no. 62.

Neil Leadbeater

PROFILE
Neil Leadbeater (1951, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom) is an author, essayist, poet and critic now living in Edinburgh, Scotland. His work has been published widely in magazines and anthologies both at home and abroad. Besides ‘Librettos for the Black Madonna’, his publications include ‘Hoarding Conkers at Hailes Abbey’ (Littoral Press, 2010, England);Librettos for the Black Madonna (White Adder Press, 2011, Scotland); ‘The Worcester Fragment’ (Original Plus, 2013, England); ‘The Loveliest Vein of Our Lives’ (Poetry Space, 2014, England); ‘The Fragility of Moths’ (Romania, 2015); ‘Sleeve Notes’ (Romania, 2016) and ‘Ports of Call’ (Romania, 2016). His latest publication is ‘Finding the River Horse’ (Littoral Press, 2017). With Sally Evans he co-edited the Anthology of Scottish Poets (Bibliotheca Universalis, 2016, Romania). He is a regular reviewer for several journals including Galatea Resurrects (USA) and Write Out Loud (UK).




Click here for more information about Contemporary Literary Horizon