The Dutch Riveter: MI SKIN by Dean Bowen, translated by the Poet

my skin my cast iron skin my equator skin my cast iron
equator skin my skin my scarring skin my grey scarring
skin my grey skin my asylum seeker skin my skin my
colourblind skin my smoke skin my colour smoke skin
is burning       my burning skin my cursed skin my cursed
skin      is burning       my skin my prayer skin my prayer
marshmallow skin my cloud marshmallow skin my
burning cloud skin my skin my marshmallow      skin
is burning       my skin my unreeled skin bare my bare
unreeled skin my capitulate skin my skin my blues skin
my limpid skin my limpid blues skin my skin my blues
is burning skin & my skin      is a home       my rust
skin       my skin rusts      my rust skin     is burning

oxidises

my skin oxidises my neutral skin my black neutral skin
my pinched off black neutral skin is burning             my
picked skin my dry skin my dry skin       is
burning        my matured skin my matured skin is
laundered skin my laundered skin is skin my becoming
skin my malleable becoming skin my language skin       is
malleable      my skin      is burning      my miracle skin
my annotation skin my annotation miracle skin my
mirror skin my splinter skin my mirror splinter skin my
magic conjuring skin my #blackboymagic skin my black
skin is conjuring skin and boys are       burning

By Dean Bowen

Translated by the Poet

Read The Dutch Riveter here or order your paper copy from here.

Buy this title through the European Literature Network’s The Dutch Riveter bookshop.org page.


Dean Bowen is a poet, performer and psychonaut. He works at Perdu, an Amsterdam-based literary platform focused on poetry and experimentation. He won the first Van Dale SPOKEN Award and his debut collection Bokman was nominated for the C. Buddingh Prize.

Category: TranslationsMarch 2021 – The Dutch Riveter

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