The Seals at Horsey Gap

Dawn

naked in the breakers

under a brittle cloud

hundreds of women surrounded

by hundreds, hundreds of women

like smooth-washed rocks

resting

on Postpartum Beach

while the gentle curve of the sea
rises towards them and withdraws

hundreds, hundreds of

newly opened women

blushing a stiff red

slushing in their abruptly emptied skins

losing blood

bodyweight doubled, moulting

women swollen

with rich golden milk

leaking an unbearable

unbearable abundance of love

women sinking

to the deep, in the deepest

self

becoming themselves

women awoken

– despite the comedown of

inexpressible pain and lost sleep –

by the most delicate vibration of the sand

torpedo-shaped

capable of anything, of murder

if their young were to be

hundreds, hundreds of women

forming from their torn and sewn tissues

a new encompassing web

resting

on Postpartum Beach.

Charlotte Van den Broeck

Translated by David Colmer

The seals at Horsey Gap

Zonsopgang,

ontbloot in de branding,

onder een broze wolk,

liggen honderden vrouwen omringd

door honderden, honderden vrouwen

als gladgewassen keien

te rusten

op Postpartum Beach

terwijl de zachte curve van de zee
naar hen toe stroomt, zich terugtrekt

honderden, honderden

pas geopende vrouwen,

stug-rood bebloste vrouwen,

in hun plotsklaps lege vel blubberende,

bloedverliezende vrouwen,

in lichaamsgewicht verdubbelde, ruiende

vrouwen volgezwollen

met vette, gouden melk

van ondraaglijk, ondraaglijk veel liefde

lekkende vrouwen

op de dieperik

afstevenende, in het diepste

zelf

zichzelf wordende vrouwen

ondanks de comedown

van onverwoordbare pijnen en slaapberoving

door de haarfijnste trilling in het zand

gewekte vrouwen

torpedovormige

tot alles, tot moord in staat

zijnde vrouwen als iemand hun jong

honderden, honderden

uit hun gescheurde en genaaide weefsels

een nieuw, dragend weefsel vormende vrouwen,

rustend,

op Postpartum Beach.

Charlotte Van den Broeck

Charlotte Van den Broeck is a Belgian poet who has published three award-winning collections of poetry, Kameleon (2015); Nachtroer (2017); and Aarduitwrijvingen (2021). In 2022 David McKay’s translation of her prose book Bold Ventures: Thirteen Tales of Architectural Tragedy (Waagstukken) was published by Chatto. As well as publishing critically acclaimed books she is renowned for her distinctive performances, which differ from UK/US versions of spoken word as theatre pieces ‘searching for the speakability and experience of oral poetry’, now presented in English as well as Dutch. Her residency was part of Flip Through Flanders, presented by Flanders Literature.

David Colmer

David Colmer is an Australian writer and translator who lives in Amsterdam. He has won many prizes for his translations of Dutch literature, including the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (both with novelist Gerbrand Bakker), and major Australian and Dutch awards for his body of work. He has translated three collections by Flemish poet Charlotte Van den Broeck for Bloodaxe, the first two combined in Chameleon | Nachtroer (2019), and the third, The Inside of a Stone, published in February 2025. His residency is part of Flip Through Flanders, presented by Flanders Literature.