On the occasion of poetry

Dear Marsman

Lieke Marsman was Poet Laureate in 2021 and 2022. One of the reasons the committee appointed her was because of her 'appealing combativeness'. She more than lived up to that. These were turbulent years: the world is on fire and growing uncertainty divides society more than ever. Marsman found the words to focus on the left behind and the forgotten, to expose the veiled language behind which politics conceals itself. This collection contains the poems and essays she has published in NRC in recent years . It is an ode to poetry, to the beauty and healing power of language when it is used in a targeted and sincere way.