SPEAKING SHAETLAN

SPEAKING SHAETLAN

Here’s the trick:

pretend your mouth is full of stones.

 

Feel the dead weight pressing

        on your tongue,

 

the way this opens

your throat, turning your mouth

 

into a cave,

a wide darkness.

 

Then (and this is crucial)

let them

drop

 

still spit-warm from your lips

and watch

 

how they could shatter

on impact

 

anything

which they struck,

how they could break

 

like bone,

or bread.


 

PARLANT SHAETLAN

Voici le truc:

Faire comme si ta bouche est pleine de cailloux.

 

Sens le poids mort s’appuyer

sur ta langue,

 

La façon dont ils ouvrent

ta gorge, transformant ta bouche

 

En une grotte,

une grande obscurité. 

 

Et puis (et c’est crucial),

laisse les

tomber

 

Encore chauds de tes lèvres,

Et regardes.

 

Comment ils pourraient se briser

par l’impact

 

Tout

Ce qu’ils touchent,

Comment ils pourraient casser

 

Comme des os,

Ou du pain.

Traduction : Tanya Laurijssen


 

SHETLANDS SPREKEN

Dit is de truc:

doe alsof je mond vol stenen zit.

 

Voel het loden gewicht drukken

            op je tong,

 

en hoe dit je keel opent,

waardoor je mond

 

een grot wordt,

een grote duisternis.

Vertaling: Alex Hijmans


 

  • Instituto Cervantes Brussels
  • Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union
  • Vlaams-Nederlands Huis deBuren
  • Commission européenne
  • It Skriuwersboun
  • Embassy of Sweden
  • Camões Instituto de Cooperação e Língua Portugal
  • Embassy of Ireland
  • Polish Institute - Cultural Service of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Brussels
  • Leeuwarden Europan Capital of Culture 2018
  • Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity
  • Permanent Representation of the Republic of Estonia to the European Union
  • Hungarian Cultural Institute Brussels
  • Ambassade du Luxembourg à Bruxelles
  • Embassy of the Republic of Estonia in Belgium
  • LOFT 58
  • Mission of the Faroes to the EU
  • Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU
  • Etxepare Euskal Institutua
  • Danish Cultural Institute
  • Czech Centre Brussels
  • Romanian Cultural Institute in Brussels
  • Greenland Representation to the European Union
  • Greenlandic Writers Association
  • MuntPunt
  • Spain Arts and Culture - Cultural and Scientific Service of the Embassy of Spain in Belgium
  • Lithuanian Culture Institute
  • Scottish Government EU Office
  • Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union
  • LUCA School of Arts
  • Orfeu - Livraria Portuguesa
  • Austrian Cultural Forum
  • Yunus Emre Institute
  • Embassy of the Republic of Latvia to the Kingdom of Belgium
  • Istituto Italiano di Cultura
  • Swedish Institute
  • Embassy of Andorra
  • Ville de Bruxelles