De kunst van het verdwalen: over Tulpenwodka van Astrid Lampe

Abstract

Astrid Lampe's poetry is known for being hermetic. The poems are said to be closed linguistic constructs, which the average reader can hardly or not at all access. In her collection Tulpenwodka, you need not be deterred by this perception. The poet and winner of the 2024 P.C. Hooft Prize sets out a number of recognisable themes in her opening poems. This immediately gives you a thread to follow through the forest of Lampe's language. The question remains whether it is an enchanted forest or rather a haunted forest, and how bad it really is to become lost.