Yentl van Stokkum
Yentl van Stokkum
if I'm being honest
I am rarely surprised by developments
Quick introduction
Yentl van Stokkum (1991) is a poet, playwright, and performer. After studying Writing for Performance, she was selected for several talent development programs, including the Slow Writing Lab and Wintertuin. She has written for, among others, HNTJong and Silke van Kamp, with whom she was nominated for the BNG Bank Theater Prize for the Play Chimo zei Lila. As a poet, she has performed at various festivals such as Lowlands, Poetry International, Dichters in de Prinsentuin, Oerol, and De Nacht van de Poëzie. Her poetry debut Ik zeg Emily (I say Emily) was published by Hollands Diep in 2021 and earned her the C.C.S. Crone Stipendium.
Yentl is part of the editorial team of the literary magazine De Revisor and, together with Joost Oomen and Stefanie Liebreks, curates the popular Instagram account @poezieiseendaad. Their jointly compiled anthology Voor alle dagen was published by Uitgeverij Podium. Her second poetry collection Winterbloeiers was released in 2023 and was nominated for the J.C. Bloem Poetry Prize 2025.
That the words "bewitching" and "butterfly-like" immediately spring to mind when reading the poetry of Yentl van Stokkum (1991) requires no explanation. Read half a poem by van Stokkum and you'll know what I mean. Still, let me offer a little explanation for those who have yet to be given the pleasure of discovering her work. Because by "butterfly-like", I do not mean "frivolous" at all, and "bewitching" does not mean "dark" - van Stokkum does something magical in her poetry; she gives you light and darkness at the same time.
Van Stokkum's work cannot be separated from her performance - which is equally bewitching and butterfly-like. When she reads her poetry aloud, she mesmerizes her listeners with a low, sing-song voice, a touch of irony, a mysterious smile. Her poems are experiences: a clear tone draws the listener in, and once you're in, you remain on the edge of your seat.
In her debut collection Ik zeg Emily (I say Emily), a poet visits the grave of Emily Brontë, the 19th-century writer, and becomes obsessed, possessed. What boundary remains between the poet and the writer of old, which rituals and exorcisms are blurring the lines? "I carved her name into the headboard of every bed I've slept in," writes van Stokkum, possibly alluding to the myth that Emily Brontë carved her initials into a tabletop, "the headboard of every bed in which i had sex / every bed in which I was born."
Her second collection Winterbloeiers ("Winter-blooming") is just as sultry and mysterious. It depicts a sweltering summer that has lost all innocence; heat in this collection is a warning sign for a planet in decline, and at the same time it's love - always love - that stirs the heat and gives it meaning. What does the future look like when you're mourning both the climate and a lover?
"Van Stokkum attempts to reconcile that vast, intangible and inevitable future with everyday life, which simply keeps on going," wrote the Dutch newspaper Trouw about the collection. It's the love poetry of today: you can no longer detach it from the world in which it manifests; there is always the oppressive threat of environmental disaster, no weather condition is harmless anymore, no forecast is innocent. And it is precisely that loss of innocence that van Stokkum reflects in her other themes: longing, incantation, obsession. Everything influences everything.
Van Stokkum's background in playwriting is evident - it gives her poems a compelling narrative voice and characters who feel as though they are standing right next to you. Her poems perch on your lap, nestle up to you, address you as "babe" and huddle up with you. That's van Stokkum's work in a nutshell: she wants contact, response, connection. This isn't poetry for those who wish to hide - this poetry speaks directly to you, reader, whether you like it or not.
The full version of this essay on Yentl van Stokkum's poetry can be found here.
Bibliography
Poetry
Ik zeg Emily, Hollands Diep, Amsterdam, 2021.
Winterbloeiers, Hollands Diep, Amsterdam, 2023.
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