Antwerp City Poet Yannick Dangre writes confrontational poem about Ukraine (Antwerp)
Yannick Dangre, one of the five new Antwerp city poets, has been guided by current events for a new poem. “Our flexible future even seems to have been lifted from its hinges, we too have been scrapped by the eye of madness,” we read in his poem, published ‘Ukraine’.
Since the beginning of February, Antwerp has had a group of five new city poets: Yannick Dangre, Lotte Dodion, Ruth Lasters, poets collective Proza-K and Lies Van Gasse. They are instructed to use their word skills every two years to inspire city dwellers and to inspire hearts and minds. A task that they grasp immediately. For example, if the occasion calls for it, they plan to write current affairs poems.
And then the situation in Ukraine cries out for such a first topical poem, according to city poet Yannick Dangre. “As city poets, we like our purchase with what is happening now. I couldn’t help but get into the pen.”
Read his poem below:
Ukraine
In the east lies a country unto itself
waiting, but others don’t wait and thunder
there are places inside, there are families
like windows, streets tear apart, craters strike
in a kind.
We hear it this far and feel ancient fears rustle
under our skin. For a moment our flexible future seems
lifted from her handles, we too, creepy through the eye
of the madness. Then we’ll be back here, safe
stored in our amnesia.
Soon another father will fall to pieces and we’ll watch
away from recognition, from the splintered son,
of the deflation of mother and daughter
like a meat vodka.
In the east lies a country across
by falling ourselves.
Yannick Dangres