From Jan 7th:

Ik was nog klein,

maar niet heel klein,

ik voelde aan mijn shcouders:

geen vleugels,

voelde telkens opnieuw,

maar ik had geen vleugels,

zelfs niet het begin van vleugels

     of iets wat daarop leek

waarom vlieg jij niet, vroeg iedereen

ik heb geen vleugels, zei ik

ik …

A little over five months ago, I started the following experiment: I invited my best female friends to help me compile a comprehensive and didactic approach to handling complicated relationships.

My invitation went as follows:

Subject: a little group exercise!

Dear friends,

would you like to write something for me …

The year 2009 also saw the sad disappearance of English poet and author James Kirkup.

In his memory and to bring the spiritual side of 2009 to a coda, I would like to share one of his works from 1977, best known for being censored in the UK and elsewhere …

Disclaimer: this is a post about its author. If you just want to be entertained, you can skip reading.

One more page turning. While I have spent the official “big party time” of the year quite comfortably lying on a couch, watching TV and playing video games, the occasional greeting …