arts, literature

Lin An Phoa: Posing Is More Than Adopting a Pose and Holding It

Eighteen young Flemish and Dutch authors drew inspiration from the collection held by the Mauritshuis in The Hague. They looked at seventeenth-century paintings through the lens of an alternative history which they then brought to life in short but powerful texts. Lin An Phoa wrote a poem in response to Govert Flinck’s painting Girl by a High Chair from 1640. ‘turn your heart away, find your best angle’

Posing Is More Than Adopting a Pose and Holding It

it calls for a calm disposition
clenched hands tend to communicate restlessness
that’s the trouble with a motionless body
nothing remains hidden under a thin layer of skin 

glass skin is your skin at its healthiest
so dewy it’s almost reflective & everybody wants it
call it the western world catching up

it is a slow process but good news
you can learn to do it: try not to freeze
move slowly find a pose that tells us who you are

tip: look each other in the eye avoid the white of the eye and double chin
turn your heart away, find your best angle
shift your weight to your back foot

never show everything it is not
as if they love you

tip: remain grounded in reality but at the same time echo a tone
that is hopeful and positive

you are young so that works well
your language white and sweet
you’ve learned to add a pinch of sugar
to camouflage the bitterness

still you say nothing you know
your words never taste of their native soil
& you get used to it
after a while your mouth becomes hollow & you get used to it

they look at you and forget your name & you get used to it
you’re standing here but there’s no need to stay, baby girl
I dare you: explode
leave a void where your body was
they will write about it in glowing terms

• deBuren
• Mauritshuis