«Now windmills stick out of the snow instead of pomegranate trees

they grind white whispers into green voices

singing of the cold as the surest refuge»

(an excerpt from a poem written by Ulyanovsk poetess Gala Uzryutova)

Poets and translators from twelve Unesco Cities of Literature cities have jointly written a poem in one year. The poem is titled 'These are waiting days' after the first words of the opening stanza written by poet Yentl van Stokkum for World Poetry Day 2021 (March 21) and translated by poet and translator Mia You. A year long, Utrecht Unesco City of Literature published a new stanza every month. Now the poem is back in Utrecht, where Yentl van Stokkum and Mia You have made a final stanza.

Writer and audio artist Wietse Leenders made an audio piece of the complete poem, incorporating the original audio recordings in the original language of each of the poets, followed by an English translation. The audio piece is almost ten minutes long and can be heard in full on cityofliterature.nl and https://soundcloud.com/user-765794804/dit-zijn-wachtende-dagen-these-are... from World Poetry Day 2022 onwards (21 March).

The poem was initiated by Utrecht Unesco City of Literature as a way to bring poets and translators into contact with each other during the corona pandemic and to conduct a poetic research into what happens when we listen carefully to each other. In the present time it can be read or heard as a powerful call to continue doing so and to connect.

Utrecht has been an UNESCO City of Literature since 2017, making it part of the global network of UNESCO Creative Cities. UNESCO created World Poetry Day in 1999 to celebrate linguistic diversity through poetic expression. Utrecht’s contribution is one of a vast number of activities shared with and through the UNESCO network worldwide.

Read the poem here: https://www.cityofliterature.nl/en/cities-of-literature-chainpoem/

Listen to the audio piece here (embargo until March 21): https://soundcloud.com/user-765794804/dit-zijn-wachtende-dagen-these-are...

Share the audio from 21 March onwards with this link: https://soundcloud.com/user-765794804/dit-zijn-wachtende-dagen-these-are...

Muziek/Sound design: Wietse Leenders

Mastering; Dennis Gaens

Voice over: Christiana Steenstra

Read the last stanza of the poem here (embargo until March 21)

wat adem ik in nu het donker is koude koffie de stenen het zout ik heb het een en ander

geplant ik zou vruchten kunnen oogsten ze bewaren in de palm van mijn hand naast de

levenslijn mijn vingers eromheen vouwen alsof dit een einde is alsof ik verlang naar dat punt

what I breathe in now that it’s dark cold coffee stones salt I have planted 
a thing or two I could harvest these fruits save them in the palm of my hand fold 
my fingers around the lifeline as if this were an end as if I longed for that point

Poets and translators from Edinburgh, Wonju, Melbourne, Odessa, Heidelberg), Manchester, Bucheon, Durban, Dunedin, Nottingham, Ulyanovsk made a contribution to the poem.

Participants:

Edinburgh: Colin Bramwell

Wonju: dichter Kim Jong-ho, vertaler Sung Eungee

Melbourne: Evelyn Araluen

Odessa: dichter Anna Streminskaya, vertaler Anzhelika Kuznetsova

Heidelberg: Dichter Miriam Tag, vertaler Rod Rojas

Manchester: Rory Dickinson

Bucheon: dichter Kyungsook Ko, vertaler Eun-Gwi Chung

Durban: Adiela Akoo

Dunedin: Annie Villiers

Nottingham: Ioney Smallhorne

Ulyanovsk: Gala Uzryutova

Find more information about the poets and translators here https://www.cityofliterature.nl/en/cities-of-literature-chainpoem/