‘Without love you are nowhere’ was the title of the gentle title poem of one of the late collections of poetry, from 2003, by the youth poet Karel Eykman. He died last Tuesday at the age of 86, his publisher reported Friday. “If I could still so much / in beautiful sermons / deliver my speeches / and knew wise words in every area / but did not have love / then it was more / a little clatter of drums / chatter and clattering / had I not love”, began the poem – a free and contemporary interpretation of the chapter on love from the Bible book of Corinthians, in which the apostle Paul tells about Jesus.
Karel Eykman (Rotterdam, 1936) did just that, in his own way: his reading of the Bible has always inspired his work. After training as a theologian, Eykman worked for several years as a youth minister, which resulted in him editing Bible stories for children for the IKON children’s television. That resulted in the children’s bible Word by word, which he published in the 1970s and which was one of a kind. The project was not undisputed: according to some Christians, with its modernization it strayed too far from the original text and meaning. The book became a bestseller (400,000 copies sold), garnered international success and lasted for decades. Eykman left the church, but “I never let the Bible take me away,” as he once said.
I write to let children retain the taste for resistance
Karel Eykman
Humor and shape retention
Word by word Without it being a preconceived plan, Eykman established his name as a skilled and careful lyricist, who immediately sensed effectively what tone to strike against young people, without being simplistic. Humor, shape retention and gentleness characterized his children’s poetry, which has been awarded several times, such as the Golden Granger for Love sickness (1983). He was also part of Het Schrijverscollectief, together with Willem Wilmink and Hans Dorrestijn, among others, which wrote texts for prominent children’s television programs such as The Stratemaker at sea show, JJ De Bom formerly The Children’s Friend and Uncle Willem’s movie.
This collectivity suited Eykman: in addition to his own writing – in which he invariably championed the position of young people, to make them more resilient – he was an important booster for his colleagues, especially in children’s poetry. He has been involved for many years since its foundation in the late 1970s The Blue Checkered Smocka children’s newspaper with adult ambitions, which was part of Free Netherlands. There Eykman showed himself to be a pioneer for children’s poems “that do not give in easily, that want to say more with few words, that ask for rereading,” as he once said. The space that innovative poets such as Ted van Lieshout, Remco Ekkers and Leendert Witvliet were given there made a major contribution to the coming of age of the genre.
The core of Eykman’s conception of literature was modest activism, with the aim of protecting maladjusted children from the compulsion of conformism. That is why he himself wrote clearly and accessible, for a wide audience, but especially for outsiders. “I write to help children retain a taste for resistance,” he once said in an interview. “Not with great deeds, but secretly, in a roundabout way.” That detour always brought him back to the basics: love, its driving force, which he had also placed central in the Bible. The Corinthian-based poem “Without love you are nowhere” concluded with the lines: “It is love that sees/how to start again/that can conquer every sorrow/even death.”‘
Also read this article from 2003 about Eykman’s bundle Without love you are nowhere