Kathryn Pentecost reading ‘Baby Elephants’

Je bent dikker

Said my aunty

Je bent dikker

Like your mum

Je bent dikker

Since I saw you

Outside of Rotterdam

Je bent dikker

She’s an elephant

A little bit like you

Je bent dikker

It’s Australia

That’s made you fat, you two!

Je bent dikker

Than expected

What do you think of that?

Je bent dikker

For a woman

Who wasn’t usually fat

Je bent dikker

I’ve stayed slim

By smoking cigarettes

Je bent dikker

Than in the Indies

If we all still lived there yet

Je bent dikker

It’s the food here –

Hot chips and all those pies

Je bent dikker

In these mountains

I’d never thought of flies

Je bent dikker

You are pasty

The sun is much too weak

Je bent dikker

Not like Java

Forgive me, alsjeblieft

Je bent dikker

In the country

Than if you lived in town

Je bent dikker

Did I tell you?

Does it ever get you down?

Je bent dikker

Said my aunty

Dikker, dikker – much too fat!

Je bent dikker

You and Myrlie

Eating much too much of that!

Je bent dikker

Did I say?

Nothing lekker is for you!

Je bent dikker

It’s my custom

To tell you what is true

Je bent dikker

Like the others

The van der Poels at home

Je bent dikker

It’s so grappig

That this is a fat poem!

Glossary

Je bent dicker – You’re fatter

alsjeblieft – sorry

lekker – nice, tasty or yummy

grappig – funny or humorous

Kathryn Pentecost is a graduate of Charles Sturt University (NSW) and the University of South Australia. In 2014, she was awarded a doctorate for her PhD thesis which explored family history in colonial and postcolonial Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies). Her large and complex ‘van der Poel’ clan from the Indies spoke many different languages, and her poem explores the connection and disjuncture (in a humorous way) between family members who were separated geographically after World War II and the Indonesian independence. Kathryn currently writes for The Indo Project – whose community identify as ‘Indo’ (including various combinations of European and Indonesian languages and cultures).