Salena Godden: ‘This city is a pigeon, hobbling with one mangled foot’

During the Winternachten festival this Saturday, seven writers shared their story about their ‘Secret City’. Mircea Cartarescu, Rodigro Hasbún, Hanna Bervoets, Piotr Ibrahim Kalwas, Olga Grjasnowa, Maarten van der Graaff and Salena Godden wrote about the city they don’t see when they walk out the door, but encounter once in a while, suddenly, unexpectedly. They wrote fiction, or stayed closer to their actual lives. Salena Godden, whose work hasn’t been translated into Dutch yet – unfortunately –, is a wellknown British poet and performer. The fact that she climbs the stage quite regularly showed in her powerful and spirited performance. The British poet Salena Godden ©Marc Brester/AQM Salena Godden: ‘My Secret City’ This city is polluted. It’s a broken needle. This city is going in circles, a downward spiral, to wake each morning to make the same mistakes. This city is in a hurry and it doesn’t listen to the cries of the hungry and poor. This city is a pigeon, hobbling with one mangled...