23 January 2018. The Dutch poetry magazine Awater has just published the fine review ‘six destinations’ by Edwin Fagel on verdere bijzonderheden by Rozalie Hirs. He talks, among other things, about enumeration as a figure of style, “space” and “the body in space” as central themes, and on the absence in the presence:
“When you open verdere bijzonderheden, Rozalie Hirs’ sixth collection, a clear voice immediately starts to resound. A modest yet clear voice, which fully explodes the musicality (and semantics) of language. For example, by employing enumeration as a figure of speech in the series of bewegingslijnen. It produces a wonderful kind of precision. The opening poem is actually an explanation of how the series works and also shows why that is so […]. Those who follow Hirs’ consistent body of work know that space is a fascination of the poet, more precisely: the presence of the body in that space. The first thing that stands out in verdere bijzonderheden, compared to the earlier collections, is the consistency of form. In a way, it makes the poems more concrete, more intense. More corporeal. In a poem like “‘van roos tot enig glaswerk,” a characteristic movement takes place: the humor of the lines is surprising because the poem looks so serious, and the tone is so elevated […]. The seriousness that lurks behind that humor surprises just as much: the question of the “who” is asked more and more urgently, emphasizing an absence in the meticulous description of what is present. But this is only one of the movements, one of the destinations on the map. The modesty of the title (which suggests, after all, that the main thing is already over) is deceptive. The poems are rightfully exceptional.”
Edwin Fagel, Awater, Winter 2018