Gepubliceerde boeken
Het omstandereffect van Philip Meersman is (…) een sterke verzameling brieven in een papieren fles, die breed inzoomen op de krachten en de patsers die gratis belangeloos voor niets dagdagelijks optornen tegen de wereldvreemdheid, de onverschilligheid en de medogenloze tijdsgeest. Zonder al te ver gezochte formuleringen, breuklijnen en andere dichterlijke vrijheden.
Benny Madalijns, Leraar Beeldende Kunsten en doctor in de Archeologie & Kunstwetenschappen, België
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Deze bundel is vooral een poëtische odyssee, zonder echt centrum. (…) (D)e gedichten (…) walsen, soms op gruwelijke wijze, rond een niet uitgesproken kern. Wat dat betreft zegt de titel natuurlijk ook wat ze zegt. De onreactieve omstanders zijn gelijktijdig medeschuldigen én waarnemers van dienst. Ze vormen de bril waardoor de werkelijkheid bekeken wordt. En dat zorgt voor een boeiende leeservaring.
Kurt Deswert, Schrijver en literair criticus, België
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(T)he lines in There Is Blue Somewhere are perfect companions for helping to realize that the way we go somewhere may be more important than wherever we think we’re trying to get.
Mark Wallace, Professor in the Literature department at California State University San Marcos, USA
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This impassioned, witty, elegiac book captures the performative power of Meersman’s work on the page, (…) These are unflinching poems that defy the reader to ignore the message they carry: that we must change our lives.
Jessica Traynor, writer, dramaturg and creative writing teacher based in Dublin, Ireland
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This is the endeavor that is rooted deep in the cultural heritage of Europe but free and solo in the vast ocean of our post-singularity future. There got to be Blue Somewhere.
Yasuhiro Yotsumoto, poet based in Japan
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Philip Meersman is blue. So is his newest book. (…) Like the water of life, reflecting heaven. Blue like eternity. (…) that’s what this beautiful poetry collection is about: possibility.
Sharon Mesmer, multi-genre writer and creative writing prof / techno-marm at NYU and the New School, USA
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These poems are to be read by all of us, quietly, in the mind and feel in the soul.
Rati Saxena, poet, writer, translator, editor and festival director of kritya International poetry festival, India.
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Meersman’s poems are as real as they are surreal, as rooted to the ground as they are ethereal. This collection is a quirky and unforgettable masterpiece.
Nkateko Masinga, South-African author of Psalm for Chrysanthemums currently living in Kenya
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Overflowing with imagery of toxic waste and catastrophic poverty, There Is Blue Somewhere shows modern life from its least flattering angles, much like the takers of selfies that he frequently derides. (It) gives the reader access to enjoyable slices of life from his travels, whether on the streets of Barcelona or in the back of an Indian taxicab.
Clare Healy, Arts & Culture Editor, Veto, Belgium
Philip Meersman exemplifies the best of the new poetry and the new visual poetry. Endlessly inventive, creatively confrontational, eager to transgress – these qualities keep the reader perpetually off balance, which is to say perpetually alive.
Willard Bohn, author of Reading Visual Poetry, USA
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Startling poems with invaluable insights. Like gems you gather when walking along the shore. …which have a unique color as long as they are wet.
Hatto Fischer, philosopher and poet, Greece-Germany
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The book should get a warning note: “reading this book may forever change your view of poetry”… Lightning language, wild wordplay and interesting intertextuality.
Yves Joris, poet and literary critic, Belgium
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Just as Dada broadened our understanding of art, Meersman’s work broadens our understanding if Dada. Visual poetry, sound poetry, multi-language puns, lots of humou and social concerns converge in This Is Belgian Chocolate to prove, once again, that the revolution of the word and the revolution of the world cannot but come together.
Mercedes Roffé, poet and translator, USA
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A surreal mélange of poetic sketch and journal entries that playfully rop across several surfaces… Somewhat like reading (Ken) Kesey if he were Belgian with a glass full of poetry at a coffee house.
Nico Vasilakis, artist and poet, USA
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His oracular work, often written in several languages, both partakes of and reinvents the languages with which he has come into contact via a personal touchstone of radical openness that grants readers access as co-creators/-translators. (…) he has both quietly and loudly succeeded.
Sharon Mesmer, multi-genre writer and creative writing prof / techno-marm at NYU and the New School, USA
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(Weinigen) waagden zich aan de taalrollercoaster van de man die zichzelf ziet als iemand met een lepel in zijn hoofd.
Yves Joris, dichter and literair criticus, België
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Philip verdient al lang een plaats in de wereld der letteren en hij neemt die ook vaak in, zij het meer in het buiten- dan in binnenland.
Marc Tiefenthal, dichter and literair criticus, België
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Een moderne Mozes is aan het woord, een stem die roept om recht.
Marijntje Gerling, literair criticus, Meander magazine, Nederland
Redactie: Claude Lammens en Philip Meersman, ten voordele van 12-12 n.a.v. de tsunami op 12 december 2004
Poëzie: Philip Meersman
Design: Davine Peleman
Poëzie: Philip Meersman
Design: Uit- & Weggeverij CLOACA MAXIMA, “Gesticht àls Gesticht Ter Voorkoming v/d Artistieke Randdebiliteit”
Poëzie: Philip Meersman
Design: Mario Van Der Meulen
Poëzie: Philip Meersman
Design: Filip