The jury consisted of Elke Brems (chair), Piet Joostens, Xavier Roelens and Sieglinde Vanhaezebroeck. They summed up Bogaert's anthology as follows:
In the anthology 'The Slalom Soft,' Paul Bogaert examines our society in the 'closed, immense complex' of a subtropical swimming paradise, a heated cloche over 'a commotion of limbs and meeting techniques'. People long for paradise, but that longing results in a close, stuffy, banal resort. Where an accident then takes place. The lifeguard, the guardian of the system in which the swimmers put their confidence turns out to be only human, too. His 'convoluted choreography with the long scoop net' is not enough to save someone from drowning. The rules that appear to hold the organisation together do not help to keep it on its feet.
With this, his fourth anthology, Paul Bogaert confirms his great talent. He exposes the routine character of our society with the sharpness of a filleting knife: The trite language, the superficial interaction, the apparent safety of the cloche we have placed over ourselves. Contemporary anxiety, longing and the desire to control: Those are the themes of this anthology. We recognise our own monotonous life and the clichés we used to justify the situation.
Paul Bogaert does not hurl accusations at social wrongs from the sideline or from an ivory tower. He shows both sides of the coin, from an insider's point of view. As the reader, you are manoeuvred into an awkward position. The double irony provides you with the opportunity to put things into perspective and then you are immediately confronted with that urge to rationalise. The undertone is cool, but on the surface the sparks are flying. There is sweating and itching, panting and puking, swallowing and gagging. In the swimming paradise you are at closer quarters with your fellow man than you would like to be.
Bogaert's language is light and playful. He touches on Van Ostaijen and Goethe, but draws just as easily on the jargon of brainstorming advertising executives and hollow, mass communication. He also uses his website and a live performance with a speaker and two actors to give that language an extra life, providing new access routes to his poetry. The jury praised not only the consistency of 'The Slalom Soft' but also the anthology's place in an increasingly strong body of works.
Poems by Paul Bogaert are translated into German, French and English, among other languages. You can read a few samples on Poetry International Web and LyrikLine.org.
