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literature

Video Poem: Houston We Have a Problem by Lotte Dodion

By Tom Christiaens, translated by Paul Vincent
4 November 2019 2 min. reading time Moving Verses

Ons Erfdeel vzw and Poëziecentrum vzw asked nine youngsters from the Low Countries to create poetic films based on their favourite Dutch-language poem. Younes Laaguidi (b. 1995, Dortmund) made a film after the poem Houston we have a problem by Lotte Dodion, from the anthology Kanonnenvlees, published by Atlas/Contact in 2016. The video poetry project Moving Verses is made possible with the support of the Dutch Foundation for Literature.

Houston we have a problem

darling
I know you want more space
but how many planets do you need concretely
how many light years must I be away from you
so you can float again

you no longer want to carry me with you
you want to be weightless again
an insignificant dot among so many others

it is another
another sun to circle
don’t you know then that we’re all the same
just as exhausting just as scorching
just as much pain in instalments

you don’t have to plant any flags
conquer any heavenly bodies
here take mine
I am gravity
I’ll keep your feet on my ground

but if I you push me out of place
if you need to discover outerspace
take off go jump over the moon
be forgotten

Younes Lotte Younes Laaguidi / Lotte Dodion

Houston we have a problem

liefste
ik weet dat je meer ruimte wilt
maar hoeveel planeten wil je concreet
hoeveel lichtjaar moet ik van je verwijderd zijn
opdat jij weer kan zweven

je wilt me niet langer met je meedragen
je wilt weer gewichtloos zijn
een onbeduidende stip tussen zovele andere

is het een ander
een andere zon om rond te draaien
weet je dan niet dat we allemaal dezelfde zijn
even vermoeiend even verschroeiend
evenveel pijn op termijn

je hoeft geen vlaggen te planten
geen hemellichamen te veroveren
hier is het mijne
ik ben zwaartekracht
Ik hou je voeten op mijn grond

maar als jij per se de ruimte wilt
als je denkt te zijn vastgeroest in je baan,
loop naar de maan
word vergeten

Tom Christiaens

editor the low countries and deputy editor-in-chief de lage landen

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