F. Starik
(Apeldoorn, 1958) is a poet, writer, singer and artist. He studied photography and mixed media. In 1987 his official debut appeared, Nepvuur (Fake Fire), swiftly followed with the controversial anthology Maximaal. In 1993 he published his novel in letters, Mijn leven als museum (My Life as a Museum). He has worked as a visual artist and a singer for several years. From 2002 the volumes Simpele ziel (Simple Soul), De grote vakantie (The Big Holiday, 2003), Rode vlam (Red Flame) and De verdwijnkunstenaar (The Disappearing Act Artist), both in 2004, appeared. Since 2002 Starik has been in charge of the Poule des Doods (Poule of Death), a group of poets of various make-up who write and recite poetry for lonely burials. The book Eenzame uitvaart (Lonely Burial) with the poems appeared in 2005.
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The last journey
It happens a number of times a year in our country: a funeral where no one turns up. There are no surviving relatives or they show no interest in the deceased. The coffin is lowered into the ground under the watchful eye of the civil servant of social services. Enough, some poets thought. Now they write poems for these lonely funerals. Frank Starik, Neeltje Maria Min and Anneke Brassinga on the power of poetry. Dutch spoken.
The child
There is a mother in our life, she is
the ground and knows why we were born,
wherever we go she leads the way, where even
we didn't dare to walk - on
untrod earth in the underworld
as if she were laid to rest there,
as if she turned a hundred and nearly became our kid.You follow her as if she summoned:
Klara, daughter, come you're dearly missed.
Was there no man or animal to talk to?
The longcase clock struck every quarter, chat-
tering refrain of silence. Twelve weeks
you were an orphan - twelve centuries?
Now rest in peace, be reunited permanently.[Anneke Brassinga]
