Look –
my words
smell of ammonia and stain without
authority.
Reject official sanctioned
LANGUAGE
write
Dutch
like Afrikaans
TALK
with bad accents
in distasteful
indelicacies
giggle
like young girls
pretend to be
dumb child
and
wiggle
your
ass.
Language Notes was originally published in Dutch as 2 taalnotities, Amsterdam 1985, together with other notes in (ander werk), teksten van kunstenaars in Nederland, Akademie voor Beeldende Kunsten | kaAp, kunst actualiteiten Arnhem produkties, Arnhem, 1988, p.33; and is included in Marlene Dumas, Sweet Nothings. Notes and Texts, first edition Galerie Paul Andriesse and De Balie Publishers Amsterdam, 1998; and second edition (revised and expanded) Koenig Books London, 2014.