Stijn Vranken is known as the Night Poet of Antwerp. His story for Radio Books begins with a confession: “I murdered a man.” What follows is a spine-chilling tale of art and mortality with a dose of full moon madness.

Stijn Vranken - 'Living Shouldn't Get to be a Habit'

Flemish poet Stijn Vranken was born in Leuven in 1974. Best known for his performance poetry, he co-founded De Sprekende Ezels (The Talking Donkeys) – a popular monthly poetry evening in Antwerp. He has performed in numerous other venues and won the Antwerp City Poet Prize in 2003 and the Flemish Poetry Performance Prize in 2004.

He writes for the theatre and is also working on a children’s book with illustrator Inge Bogaerts. In 2008 Vranken published his debut collection of poetry ‘Vlees Mij!’ (Meat Me!). One cycle of nine poems is called “Leven is dodelijk” (Living is deadly) which could be an alternative title for his Radio Books contribution.

Emerging life

The story’s unsettling opening line is delivered by Peter De Laet, a Dutch and English teacher turned performance artist. In the tradition of such storytellers as Edgar Allen Poe, Daphne du Maurier or Stephen King, the story carefully unfolds layers of tension from the very start.

“We all know the beauty of the beginning. The sweet smell of fresh, emerging life, the spring, the swelling and bursting of blossom, the awakening of new boys and girls. The first look in unseen eyes, the intensity of a first touch, or even merely the breaking of any dawn. The new.”

Memento mori

The Latin phrase ‘Memento mori’ (Remember you will die) has been an important element in art from the still life painting of the Dutch Golden Age to the Mexican festival celebrating the Day of the Dead. Memento mori was also an important literary theme in the Jacobean cult of melancholia. Vranken brings the concept into the 21st century.

Why did Peter De Laet murder the mysterious stranger who knocked on his door one evening? What were the contents of the envelope left conspicuously on the coffee table? And how does an artist’s manifesto figure into the crime – if, indeed, a crime has been committed?

“Death is an art. Dying is an art. Not the first art. But the final, the ultimate.”

‘Living Shouldn’t Get to be a Habit’ by Stijn Vranken was translated by Michael Blass. The story is read by David Swatling and Michael Blass.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of the Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.