Zywa

The relinquishment,

and having to live with it:

scar of wounded love.



Afstand moeten doen	,
en daarmee moeten leven:	und dann zum Leben damit:
gewonde liefde.	verletzte Liebe.

Poem S2700
Amsterdam, 2025-06-06
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (Jeanette Winterson) - 2011
Autobiography (normal means: heterosexual), chapter 15, The Wound
In memory of father
Collection: Inwardings
Keyword: Missing: absence
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette
Dedicated to: Ineke J, Hans J, Ruud J, Lucy J

Zywa My other father

I get to know
my other father
by making trips

with you and wherever
we are you know something
about him to tell

and so I see
besides the memories
myself in other mirrors

Light falls on features
I know but that now
seem to cast other

shadows in this cave
of my thoughts, longing
for the warmth of the sun

Poem 5595
Amsterdam, 2025-01-24
Don't leave me alone (Renate Dorrestein) - 2008
Essay "Laat me niet alleen", chapter "Step Four: Let's stop for a moment and consider cross-generational relationships and their intrinsic value in Western civilization":
Nowadays I sit as a passenger next to big Ee in my own car: she drives. We go to the beach together. We go buy a pair of jeans. We go for a sandwich in the city. We go to the casino. And in everything we do, I can tell her something about her mother.
Allegory of the cave (375 BC, Plato, dialogue "Politeia" ["Republic"], VII 514a-520a)
Collection: Inwardings
Keyword: Identity: mirror
Tribute to: Dorrestein, Renate; Plato
Dedicated to: Ineke J, Hans J, Ruud J, Lucy J

Zywa Warm feet

Peace, in a bed
in Amsterdam, kneeling
or with clenched fists

eternally awaited, preserved
in hearts and thoughts
about people who behave
differently than you wish
people who have to take care

of their well-being and can
only dream their visions
cannot realise these even
with combined efforts
The world is too big for that

Close by you can smell the wind
and go along with the seasons
Close by you can, within
the limits of your needs
safely open up to another

Poem 5586
Amsterdam, 2024-12-26
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 'Bed-In for Peace' at the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam, March 24th-31st, 1969, during their honeymoon
Collection: Summer birds
Keyword: Peace: non-violent
Tribute to: Lennon, John
Dedicated to: Ruud J

The older you grow,

the better you understand --

what it is, 'the past'.



Hoe ouder je wordt,	,
des te meer je begrijpt wat --	desto mehr weiß man, was die --
'het verleden' is.	'Vergangenheit' ist.

Poem H5099
Amsterdam, 2024-11-30
Collection: Greeting from before
Keyword: Past: discover
Dedicated to: Ineke J, Hans J, Ruud J, Lucy J

Zywa Icon of our time

More and more, we speak picture
language with digital icons of Home
Heart (in the colour of the moment)
Envelope, Clock, Arrow and Bin

but icons of paint and blood travel
with us in their world of gold leaf
as portraits of the life
we like to live

thoughtful and attentive
like a busty bird
showing its feathers

and not camouflaging itself
in the attire of its neighbours
colleagues or pictograms

Poem 4899
Amsterdam, 2022-12-27
With acrylic paintings on canvas, by Ada Breedveld (Dordrecht 1944)
Also for Carla B, Jeanette vdZ, Harry S and Philip L
Collection: The Yellow House Museum
Keywords: Identity: example, Language: signs
Dedicated to: Ineke J, Hans J, Ruud J, Lucy J, Yuk Lin M

Zywa Heir

The stone is smooth, always cool
always the same blue
and at home in my pocket

We arrived and we are on the way
We live and stay
at this hotel today

The view is wonderfully boring
You hear the trains rush
over the passing track

Jeanette has taken off her travel clothes
She's reading, it's too early
to go down for dinner

We're doing well together, there's enough
to do, in between the breaks, enough
to see in nothing special

if you have an eye for it
and give caring attention
to others

as heir of a piece of world

Poem 4070
Amsterdam, 2021-10-30
Hotel by a Railroad (Edward Hopper) - 1952
Painting
Collection: NightWatch
Keyword: Care: earth / environment
Tribute to: Hopper, Edward
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Jeanette vdZ

Zywa Not just in between

By bike, I came to Poppel
and Cleves, abroad
Friends lived in Gendt

I got firm thighs and calves
school was in the city
college in another city

Then my world no longer fitted
in a circle of an hour's travel
but in Amsterdam it was again

like in my childhood, everything
nearby, the world big enough
to move in it under my own power

New friends within reach
and occasionally new neighbours
but family members scattered

across distant regions, sometimes travelled
in call and engine time, never just
together in between

Poem 3287
Amsterdam, 2020-11-25
13 km Van Musschenbroekstraat 4 in Tilburg to Poppel
15 km Bongerdstraat 82 in Beek (Berg en Dal) to Gendt
18 km via Kranenburg to Cleves (40 km to Kevelaer)
13 km from Amsterdam Oud-West to Zaandam
15 km from Amsterdam Oud-West to Gaasperdam
Collection: Migration
Keyword: Together: connected
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Lucy J, Johan A, Louisa B, Afke B

The tall meadow cress

is swaying above the grass --

And I swing along.



De pinksterbloemen
wiegen hoog tussen het gras --	wiegt sich hoch über dem Gras --
En ik schommel mee.	Und ich schaukle mit.

Poem H1423
Amsterdam, 2016-05-03
Collection: Pending rain
Keywords: Nature: flowers, Calm: harmony
Dedicated to: Ruud J

Footer
Amsterdam, 1989-06-16
Ballpoint pen on paper
Festive booklet at the wedding
Collection:
Keywords: , Graphic
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Jeanette vdZ

Ruud and Jeanette
Amsterdam, 1989-06-15
Ink on paper
Festive booklet at the wedding
Collection:
Keywords: , Portrait
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Jeanette vdZ

Ship lamp
Beek (Berg en Dal), 1983-12-05
Jigsaw work, iron wire, and glass
Collection:
Keywords: , Santa Claus
Dedicated to: Ruud J

Perpetual student
Beek (Berg en Dal), 1972-10-11
Oil paint on hardboard
35x45cm
Collection:
Keywords: , Painting
Dedicated to: Ruud J

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