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Paul Bogaert (c) Tineke de Lange
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Paul Bogaert, born in 1968, makes the unpoetic poetic in his poems. He uses various language registers in unexpected contexts. A superconsciousness and his way of analysing create alienation effects. His strong language, compelling choice of words and bizarre logic coupled with his ironic and critical tone make Bogaert a contemporary poet who gets under his readers’ skins.
So far he has published five books of poems. The first, Welcome Hygiene, appeared in 2006 and earned him the Prijs voor Letterkunde Poëzie of the Province of Vlaams-Brabant. This was followed in 2002 by Circulaire Systemen, a collection in which the poet deals with everything that turns and creates language machines in a distanced, pseudo-scientific tone. His collection AUB (2006) deals with such themes as giving and taking and includes guest appearances by various undesirable persons. The collection Slalom Soft (2009) comprises 29 poems which can also be read as one poem. In 2010 he was awarded the Herman de Coninckprijs and in 2011 the three-yearly Vlaamse Cultuurprijs Poezië. His most recent collection of verse Ons verlangen appeared in 2013 and deals with all the things we human beings do to each other.