The Golden Goose: Festival closing ceremony

In the Grimm fairytale ‘The Golden Goose’, a girl wants a feather from the golden goose that the boy Dummling is carrying. She tries to pluck it out, but gets stuck fast. When her sisters try to help, they also become stuck. The procession continues, with more and more people becoming stuck fast to each other, until the procession goes past the castle of a despondent princess. Seeing the unusual group, she bursts out laughing, and in the end, Dummling marries her.

Zwaan kleef aan (The Golden Goose) is also the name that Henny Vrienten gave to the associative way of reading, in which one poem suggests another and so on. In 2009, an anthology dedicated to this concept was published. 

Poetry International borrows Vrienten’s idea: Jon Fosse ( Norway) began the chain with a poem by Georg Trakl. His choice was sent to Nyk de Vries (Friesland/Netherlands), who thought of a poem by Ester Naomi Perquin, which was then sent on to Katia Kapovich (USA/Russia), who was reminded of a poem by Joseph Brodsky. This poem was sent on to the next poet, and so on. In this closing event at the festival, the resulting chain of poems will be read by the festival poets.

With Dutch and English subtitles. Presented by Jan Baeke.

•   Friday 18 June, 21.30 hrs, Main auditorium