Goodness is steady,

beauty is fleeting, it lasts --


the blink of an eye.


Goedheid is blijvend,Güte: beständig,
schoonheid is vluchtig, ze duurt --Schönheit: flüchtig, sie währt nur --

maar een ogen-blik.einen Augen-Blick.

Poem S2725
Amsterdam, 2025-06-19
Poem-fragment E.58 (Sappho) - -650
From the "Lyra Graeca" (1922-1927, John Maxwell Edmonds)
Collection: On the fly
Composer: Sappho 
 

She painted her nails:

her toes look like little gnomes --


with scarlet red hats.


Gelakte nagels:Lackierte Nägel:
haar tenen zijn kabouters --ihre Zehen sind Gnomen --

met rode mutsen.mit roten Mützen.

Poem H5173
Amsterdam, 2025-01-17
The Saint of the Impossible (Arnon Grunberg) - 1998
Novella "De heilige Antonio", chapter 14
Collection: Glimpsed
Tribute to: Grunberg, Arnon 
 

His beautiful voice!

Could he perhaps be gargling --


honey every day?


Wat een mooie stem!Oh, seine Stimme!
Zou hij misschien dagelijks --Könnte er vielleicht jeden --

honing gorgelen?Tag Honig gurgeln?

Poem H5061
Amsterdam, 2024-11-10
The reading club (Renate Dorrestein) - 2010
Roman "De leesclub", chapter Five
Collection: Glimpsed
Tribute to: Dorrestein, Renate 
 

Nine knife cuts across

her face have liberated --


her from her beauty.


Negen messnedenNeun Messerschnitte
in haar gezicht verlossen --im Gesicht befreien sie --

haar van haar schoonheid.von ihrer Schönheit.

Poem S2059
Amsterdam, 2023-12-23
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie) - 1981
Novel, chapter 2-6 "My tenth birthday"
Collection: Shadows
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman 
 

Heavenly beauty

is sometimes like a legend --


even unseen true.


Hemelse schoonheidHimmlische Schönheit
is zoals een legende --ist wie eine Legende --

juist ongezien waar.ungesehen wahr.

Poem H3923
Amsterdam, 2023-07-02
The wrinkles of Esther Ornstein - The history of a neglect (Simon Vestdijk) - 1959
Novel "De rimpels van Esther Ornstein - De geschiedenis van een verzuim", chapter 3-5 (AD 1922)
Collection: Inmost [1]
Tribute to: Vestdijk, Simon 
 

The smooth arrows, there,

straight in his naked body --


look so satisfied.


De gladde pijlen,Die glatten Pfeile
recht in zijn naakte lichaam --in seinem nackten Körper --

lijken tevreden.wirken zufrieden.

Poem S1757
Amsterdam, 2023-05-10
Saint Sebastian - The history of a talent (Simon Vestdijk) - 1939
Novel "Sint Sebastiaan - De geschiedenis van een talent", chapter 3-4; novel "Kind tussen vier vrouwen" (1972), § 5 (AD 1908)
Collection: Inmost [1]
Tribute to: Vestdijk, Simon 
 

Like a precious stone

in the landscape of her skin:


the eye of the cow.


Als een edelsteenWie ein Edelstein
in het landschap van haar huid:in der Landschaft ihrer Haut:

het oog van de koe.das Auge der Kuh.

Poem H3490
Amsterdam, 2022-10-08
Cow - III (Rutger Kopland) - 2008
Poem "Koe" - III (collection "Toen ik dit zag")
Collection: Moist glow
Tribute to: Kopland, Rutger 
 

My abraded knee

is bleeding, I keep looking --


So beautiful red!


Mijn geschaafde knieMein Knie, aufgeschürft:
bloedt, ik blijf ernaar kijken --ich schaue auf die Blutung --

zo mooi rood is het!Sie ist so schön rot!

Poem H3408
Amsterdam, 2022-08-09
The colours of Anna (Sander Kollaard) - 2021
Novel "De kleuren van Anna", § Red
Collection: No wonder
Tribute to: Kollaard, Sander 
 

We like each other,

your big nose, my port-wine stain --


are not to be spurned.


Wij zien elkaar graag,Deine Großnase,
jouw grote neus, mijn wijnvlek --mein markantes Feuermal --

versmaden we niet.verschmähen wir nicht.

Poem H3234
Amsterdam, 2022-03-23
Collection: Dearme
 

Kneadable muscles,

a supple body, firmly --


posing nude in clay.


Kneedbare spieren,Knetbare Muskeln,
een soepel lichaam, stevig --geschmeidiger Körper, fest --

poserend in klei.posierend in Ton.

Poem H3054
Amsterdam, 2021-10-04
Visual artist Lotta Blokker
"Lotta Blokker - The Hour of the Wolf" (2015, Frans Weisz)

Collection: Take a picture, now
Tribute to: Blokker, Lotta 
 

The coal woman bathes

with something translucent green:


genuine Fairy-soap.


De kolenvrouw wastDie Kohlenfrau wäscht
zich met zeep, doorschijnend groen:sich mit durchscheinendes Grün:

echte Feeënzeep.echte Fee-Seife.

Poem H2932
Amsterdam, 2021-04-11
Last Friends (Jane Gardam) - 2013
Novel
Collection: Shelter
Tribute to: Gardam, Jane 
 

Zywa #Beauty [1]

All people look at me
but no one sees me
Their looks stop at their fantasy

That's how it is to be almost a goddess
inhuman, an image, an avatar
around my body

concealing that I exist
and preventing me from dying
although everyone wants to kill me

for what It has done
in its creative drive
from which I was born

As if I can do something about
the way men and women see me
and what follies they commit

for the phantom with my name
which is immortal and naked
looking fixedly at them

so that their weapons fall
and they reconcile
with their dreams

Poem 3155
Amsterdam, 2020-08-30
"Hele-na" = "Mistress of Sunlight"
The most beautiful woman in the world, daughter of Zeus, wife of "Menelaus" ("Vigor of the people"), Paris en "Deiphobus" ("God-fearer")

Collection: Imprints Masks
 

Zywa Mirror on the wall

The world reflects everything
from everyone, but luckily
we see very little of it

Except, unfortunately, the queen
who gains in beauty every day
But young men don't see it

They shout: the princess
is more beautiful - their fantasy
of daily pleasure, a dream

of effortlessly becoming king
So Helen does not trust herself
She looks in the mirror

that lies a false truth
she walks to the lake
(guards follow her remotely)

Her eyes search the water
her lips talk to the wash of the waves
her hands reach for a golden fish

Poem 2534
Amsterdam, 2019-12-08
Ye Xian (Yeh-Shen) and Snow White
Collection: Changing Times
 

Zywa Empathy for the Stars

After our working day we look
at the Beautiful World, where
duties and rules do not apply
and the Stars can shine

We look up to them
We see that it exists
and that is a comfort, especially
if there is something to gossip about

There may be more
than admiration, entertainment
conveniences and wealth, but
that doesn't buy me anything

Certainly not happiness
if one is not as rich
as the Stars are
made by us

Poem 2378
Amsterdam, 2019-07-29
Collection: Lilith's Powers
 

Zywa Washed white

Heaven has captured me
in beauty, mama said:
you know, people
always talk

bad about a beautiful woman
with a loving man, you are powerless
No one hears what you say
unless you cry and plead guilty
Then they believe you immediately

Heaven has captured me
in holiness, no man is allowed
to come near to me, I am an example
I have become a story

and I must wait inside
till I'm old enough, washed
white as someday the stone
will be white again, on the banks
where it all has begun

Poem 1857
Amsterdam, 2018-10-02
Islamic tradition: Aisha bint Abi Bakr - 627
Aisha stayed behind on the way, and was brought home by Safwan
Collection: The Praised One
 

Our bygone beauty!

My heart goes out to today's --


teenage boys and girls.


Zo mooi waren wij!So schön waren wir!
Mijn hart gaat uit naar de jeugd --Mein Herz ist bei den Jugend-

van tegenwoordig.lichen von Heute.

Poem H1997
Zandvoort aan Zee, 2018-01-30
Collection: Take a picture, now
 

I am old, but still

I am a supermodel --


like an Antique car.


Ik ben wel oud, maarIch bin alt, aber
nog steeds een topmodel, net --immer noch ein Topmodel --

als een oldtimer.wie ein Oldtimer.

Poem H1978
Amsterdam, 2018-01-19
Supermodel (Quirien van Haelen) - 2005
Poem "Topmodel" (collection "Testosteron") - The pin-up model and the Chevrolet Bel Air
Collection: Being my own museum
Tribute to: Van Haelen, Quirien 
 

Zywa Yes, but
pure

I can't just dress
as I want, even at home in my skin-
coloured shirt I close the curtains

so every now and then I must go
to the busy part of the beach
to see in many strange eyes
that I am beautiful, a pretty safe
making men and women curious

but only to fantasies
do I show myself, not to be undressed
and touched, but for
fantasies about yes-but and how
I would be on other days, a matter

of attention and sensing
how caring and prudent I am -
and then losing sleep over it

Poem 1237
Amsterdam, 2017-03-23
Collection: Eyes lips chest and belly
 

Zywa Venus was afraid

Oh Venus, you most beautiful
why didn't you dare
to lie politely –
what everyone would see-through?

Had let Mother win
who after all lives in the heart –
mothers deserve love
and honour more than anyone

Had let Reason win
waking in the head, or sleeping –
it definitely is the highest
possession a person owns

You, who keep bellies awake
with desires and satisfies them
with insatiable pleasure –
were you afraid to be forgotten?

You have nothing to lose and yet
you bribed the prince with promises
and you warn people
to avoid beauty

to hide it under clothes
and behind closed doors
where time creeps in their skin
weakening their flesh and eating it

Poem 898
Amsterdam, 2016-12-17
Paris rejects Power, Wisdom and Fame
Collection: The Yellow House Museum
 

Cows, gazing and square:

no man would make them like that --


cowpower beauty!


Hoekige koeien:Eckige Kühe:
geen mens zou ze zo maken --kein Mensch würde's so machen --

koeiemachtig mooi!Scheiße, kuhig schön!

Poem H0959
Amsterdam, 2014-05-29
Collection: The Praised One
 

Her face, translucent

above the sheets, and her eyes --


gray-bluish flowers.


Boven de lakensÜber den Laken
haar gezicht, wit, haar ogen --ihr Gesicht, ihre Augen --

grijsblauwe bloemen.grau-blaue Blumen.

Poem H0840
Amsterdam, 2014-03-06
Blue flowers (Myriam Simonis) - 1991
Poem "Blauwe bloemen" (collection "Zuilen van albast")
Collection: SoulSenseSun
Tribute to: Simonis, Myriam 
 

Beauty: a flower,

two people in love, or three --


high bar releases.


Schoonheid is: een bloem,Schön: eine Blume,
en twee verliefden, of drie --zwei Geliebten, oder drei --

vluchten aan het rek.Flüge am Turnreck.

Poem H0335
Amsterdam, 2012-08-08
Epke Zonderland, Olympic champion in the high bar (August 7th, 2012)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum
Tribute to: Zonderland, Epke 
 

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