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Iduna Paalman
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Do I want weapons from Russia or girls who live nearby. Do I want to replant my bed, I can choose: do I want to slide or score? Do I want to trust Andrew, condense his heavily-built breath to dew, do I want fast-germinating how slowly I sprout and then something about ploughing. Why do I think of the bars I cut away for the animal and the way I stuck together the strips of his free-range head on printing paper. The copies from my cattle-breeding encyclopaedia, the fresh pastures above my bed. I want and trust, germinate and sprout mean the same thing, the most simple description of grass: food for grazers. It is easy: I’m the girl who lives nearby, the weapons are here next to me, by now I can hear what they’re saying. |
Iduna Paalman is a poet and writer. Her poetry debut Taking the snarl out of the Dog was released in 2019. The collection was awarded the Poetry Debut Prize 2020, nominated for the Ida Gerhardt Poetry Prize and the C. Buddingh' Prize, and received an honourable mention from the Grand Poetry Prize. The Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant named her literary talent of the year. In 2022, her new poetry collection Proof of Preservation came out, which was awarded the J.C. Bloem Prize in 2023 and nominated for the Herman de Coninck Prize. Iduna also writes plays, reviews and essays. Besides her work as a writer Iduna Paalman is a teacher and a moderator. |
