Island Getaway by Kirsten Bett

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Photo taken by Kirsten Bett on 21 June 2021


Eilandverlangen or Island Longing is something I relate to. We went to Terschelling on Monday 21 June, and on the window of the ferry building in Harlingen, I saw the above poem with that very title by Gerda Posthumus. It's perfect because it always looks different. Blue skies would have made it easier to read but the grey background and rain gave it a more poetic atmosphere, wouldn't you agree?

It's in Dutch because the poet and the location is in the Netherlands. The north of the Netherlands is made up of the Wadden Islands. They are part of Unesco World Heritage. Below you can see the ferry connection to Terschelling. Gerda Posthumus is the island poet of Vlieland, the island to the southwest of Terschelling -- that ferry also leaves from Harlingen.


I adore the Wadden islands as I am an island lover. I would not want to live on one but if I am in a rut, if I need to clear my mind, there is no better destination. Of course, you in the UK probably live on a big island, as I did too when I lived in New Zealand. But I am talking about islands you can easily walk or cycle around in a couple of hours. The ones that give you that island feeling and start healing you the moment you step off the ferry. 

I will try and translate the poem for you. Sorry for the marks on the text but I wanted to make it suitable for viewing on your mobile as well as put the lines next to each other...
What this poem most brings home to me, is the rythm of the sea reflecting all that happens on the island (and to you). If that doesn't calm the mind, what will? And how brilliant to put that poem on a window, when you face the island you cannot see yet but where you long to be. Why would you take the ferry otherwise? Oooh, that reeks of the beginnings of a story.

As soon as I saw the poem, I wanted to blog about it. I am back on mainland now. Totally refreshed, processing my beta-readers' feedback on My name is Wilma. But I will get back to an island soon, hopefully Vlieland, to take a tour with their island poet, and write a few of my own. 

How about you? Are you also infected with island longing? Maybe you live on an island that you can walk or cycle in a few hours?



About the author

Kirsten Bett is writing her first book  My name is Wilma, a personal fiction book from the point of view from her cat Wilma. Wilma emigrated to New Zealand with Kirsten, Wim and their other cat Sailor in 2007. In 2017 they settled in the Netherlands again, but this time not in the busy west. They chose to live in Leeuwarden, Friesland in the north of the Netherlands. 

Kirsten writes a blog Pondering Paws about places, characters and places in the book. She also posts blogs about her other love, poetry.



Comments

Griselda Heppel said…
What a beautiful poem. And beautifully translated, too. I tried to read it in Dutch (with my cursory understanding of the pronunciation) and loved the sound of it. The Wadden Islands look wonderful and I love the idea of hopping from one to another, walking or cycling around each.

Have you read Tove Jansson's The Summer Book? I read it a few years ago, expecting it to be lighthearted and summery.. and it was anything but. Yet so much better for that, because it depicted the genuine harshness of island living, in all its bleakness and irresistibility.

Thank you for introducing me to Gerda Posthumus.
28 June 2021 at 18:45
Kirsten Bett said…
Hi Griselda,

Thanks for your kind words and I am going to read The Summer Book. Great suggestion, thanks! Kirsten
28 June 2021 at 20:03
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