Dutch / Netherlands
Onder mijn matras de erwt. Gedichten & portretten
(Under my mattress the pea. Poems and portraits)
Lieshout, Ted van
(text/illus.)
Amsterdam: Leopold, [2017]. – 89 p.
ISBN 978-90-258-6498-9
Family | Divorce | Grandmother | Death | Poetry
Reading age: 13+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Ted van Lieshout is a consummate artist. In this book of 35 free-verse poems and 15 photographic portraits of clay dolls, he explores, in his original and distinctive way, the mind and heart of a girl teetering precariously between childhood and adulthood. Her voice is distinctive, her tone direct, and her emotions are familiar. In the first poem, the girl plays at being mother to her dolls, which also marks the start of getting older and becoming aware of all the changes taking place in and around her. In beautiful, poetic language, she reflects on her grandmother “slowly dying”. She wonders about her relationship with her divorced parents and why she is actually here on Earth. The poems that playfully allude to the “princess” status her parents awarded her and to her longing for fairy-tale romance are particularly touching. The photographs of the white clay dolls’ heads, made with household materials and glass eyes, reinforce her feeling of being special. With this approach, Ted van Lieshout offers a kaleidoscopic gaze into a girl’s life and into the culmination of his artistry.