Ebbe Tim Ottens
With his edgy poetry style this Liberal Arts and Sciences student won Campus Poet election during the Online Open Stage Night. He convinced both the jury and audience with his reflections in the poem 'Campus life? Campus live!' and his metacritical Dutch performance on poetry itself called 'Hoe men goede poëzie acht te schrijven'.
Poetry by Ebbe Tim
Campus life? Campus live! (4-2-21)
Can one make virtue of necessity
If digitalization is no longer optional (was it ever?)
This poem is for those force fed their bitrate
Whose latency determines their success
And not because academic excellence is reflected in this numerical scale
But because reductionism is easily exportable
Don't drown in your despair however
For now is the time for doing
Don't leave your success in the hands of a bureaucrat
Write what is worth reading, say what is worth listening to and change what is worth believing in
Lounging through lockdown (18-12-21)
It’s that time of year, the virus has taken prevalence over what once was considered our regular lives, and we must all return to our little spaceships, looking at life from a distance.
So, grow your hair out
Take up improvisational living room ballet
Burn incense!
Listen to the sound of an egg frying
Embrace your melancholy
I believe there to be great value in dealing with adversity through embracing it. There is great beauty in tragedy, in embracing our moods. I believe we should empower these feelings, when feeling melancholy listen to King Krule, Chet Baker or anything that allows you to feel more intensely. Decorate your living space in a way that allows you to dream away a little.
Reality is a perspective that we should feel comfortable leaving every once in a while.
Find an aesthetic that excites you
Create an atmosphere that takes you away from it all
Lend from music, writing, film, eachother and allows yourselves to feel it all
As crude as another lockdown is, I refuse to participate in a gloomy world
I will create my own little reality, at least within these four walls that will confine me for the time being
Read a book, take a bath, sleep in a tent inside your kitchen
Explore your house, every nook and cranny, alienate yourself from it so that you may experience the profound joy of wonder again
Find your groove, your curve, your 10m2 choreography
Get to know yourself: write, create, think, build, break, dance, sink
So that you too may resurface in a million different ways