Zywa

Zywa Climate Turn

We have moved
although that won't help
against the refugees

who will follow us
as homeless people
What will be the difference

between us and our guests
if we, willingly or unwillingly
share the rooms and the food?

Necessity unites
but then everyone must have
their privacy, otherwise, you will

as in a large family
only want to escape
from one another

Poem 6105
Amsterdam, 2026-08-14
Collection: On living on [2]

Living first-hand is

a whole lot easier with --

secondhand items.



Eerstehands leven	Lebe aus erster
gaat gemakkelijker met --	Hand und benutze Waren --

tweedehands spullen.	aus zweiten Händen.

Poem H6351
Amsterdam, 2026-07-09
A free life (Mariët Meester) - 2025
Autobiographical story "Een vrij leven", chapter XVI - Winter 1990, Barcelona
Collection: Patterns
Tribute to: Meester, Mariët

Zywa Droppings

There is manure in the museum
where holiness smelled
when it was a chapel

You can smell the art
And see it, of course
Touch it if you like

There are flies
constantly adding art
to the walls

Low to the ground
an ever-denser pattern
of dots, small droppings

An image of life
Flying around together and
leaving behind droppings

Poem 6075
Amsterdam, 2026-07-07
A free life (Mariët Meester) - 2025
Autobiographical story "Een vrij leven", chapter VIII - May 1983, Groningen
Collection: Summer birds
Tribute to: Meester, Marriet

The postman always

mir immer Tagliatelle --

The elastic bands.



De postbode stopt	Der Postbote bringt
tagliatelle in mijn bus --	mir immer Tagliatelle --

De elastiekjes.	Die Gummibänder.

Poem H6344
Amsterdam, 2026-06-27
Going into a dark house (Jane Gardam) - 1994
Story "Telegony", part 1 - "Going into a dark house" (1994, Jane Gardam), collection "Going into a dark house"
Against the wastage of elastic bands
Collection: Patterns
Tribute to: Gardam, Jane

There is a high pile

of trash lying by the sign --

No dumping of waste.



Er ligt een stapel	Da liegt ein Haufen
rotzooi voor het bord Afval --	Müll vor dem Schild Verboten --

storten verboden.	Schutt abzuladen.

Poem S3169
Amsterdam, 2026-05-31
Back then in Odessa (Heinrich Böll) - 1950
Story "Damals in Odessa" (collection "Heinrich Böll, 1947 bis 1951")
Collection: Patterns
Tribute to: Böll, Heinrich

Zywa Melancholy [1]

Only the enthusiasts know
anything about it, the others walk
past it and damage it
They do not know what they are doing

In the evenings, they sometimes watch
a documentary about something
that no longer exists, but it does
not change their point of reference:

it is from before their time
there is no future in it
So they let the disappearance
happen stealthily, only

synthetically does something remain
of what once bloomed every year:
a scent, a poem
some photos and film

fragments

Poem 6006
Amsterdam, 2026-05-01
Collection: Greeting from before

Zywa In the tree

On the mutilated side
branch I don't have to be
intoxicated by the resin

to see the twilight
of people everywhere
in the tree, their cables

chopped through the roots
their plastics sown
in the earth and the sea

and to hear the cries
that stick in my breath
the sadness of ignoring

the consequences of what we think
we need, oh, how soberly can I live
so as not to be complicit?

Poem 5701
Amsterdam, 2025-10-25
The tree: the world tree Yggdrasil, the evergreen and poisonous (common) yew (taxus), which can live for thousands of years, the symbol of prana (life force), which perishes (Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods) with the supreme god Odin
Political satire "Het geschenk" ("The gift", 2025, Gaea Schoeters)
Collection: Changing Times
Tribute to: Schoeters, Gaea

The neighbours have left,

their garden is drying out --

so I water it.



Ik pak de gieter,	Die Nachbarn sind weg,
de buren zijn vertrokken --	und ihr Garten ist trocken --

hun planten staan droog.	also gieße ich.

Poem H4583
Amsterdam, 2024-03-26
Area 19 (Esther Gerritsen) - 2023
Novel "Gebied 19", chapters 1-1, 1-2, 1-8
Area 19 is a part of the visual cortex in the brain
Collection: Stream
Tribute to: Gerritsen, Esther

Poor lives revolve

around money, deposit,

ransom - of conscience.



Een arm leven draait	Die Armut dreht sich
om geld, statiegeld, losgeld --	um Geld, Pfandgeld, Lösegeld --

van ons geweten.	unsres Gewissens.

Poem S1880
Amsterdam, 2023-08-23
O fragile earth a mass for the new covenant (Antjie Krog) - 2020
"O brose aarde - 'n misorde vir die nuwe verbond" - 6. Dies irae
Collection: Stall
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie

The poor form a crowd,

they're clenching their misery --

into disaster.



De armen drommen	Die Armen drängen
en ballen hun ellende --	sich, ballen ihr Elend in --

samen in rampspoed.	Unglück zusammen.

Poem S1881
Amsterdam, 2023-08-23
O fragile earth a mass for the new covenant (Antjie Krog) - 2020
"O brose aarde - 'n misorde vir die nuwe verbond" - 6. Dies irae
Collection: Stall
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie

Sometimes civilised,

refined and choosy, sometimes --

a barbarian.



Soms ben je beschaafd,	Mal zivilisiert,
verfijnd en kieskeurig, soms --	gewählt und wählerisch, mal --

ben je een barbaar.	barbarisch... bist du.

Poem S1834
Amsterdam, 2023-07-28
The PowerBook (Jeanette Winterson) - 2000
Novel, chapter "OPEN HARD DRIVE"
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette

I am all sorts, and

in all that I am, I am --

a true gardener.



Ik ben van alles,	Ich bin Allerlei,
en in alles wat ik ben --	und in allem, was ich bin --

ben ik een tuinier.	bin ich ein Gärtner.

Poem H3950
Amsterdam, 2023-07-14
Collection: Life line

Zywa Seed vaults

Sometimes a new beginning is
scorched wood in black sludge
or in burned ground

after a devastating flood
a rapid conflagration, or
human stupidity

Then awakens the earth
of Earth
and her seed vault opens

Everything comes into bloom again
in our presence
but we know ourselves

and we dare not
rely on it completely
We are sons of Noah

we build it
in concrete: banks
full of seeds, safe

for everyone?

Poem 4264
Amsterdam, 2021-12-28
See the drawing "Seed vault" by Joost Swarte with the article "Sowing for Apocalypse", 2007, in The New Yorker
Collection: On living on [2]
Tribute to: Swarte, Joost

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
Tribute to: Hopper, Edward
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Jeanette vdZ

Zywa Heavenly dew

When people pray, they pray
for rains of righteousness
dewing from the high heavens

that quench their desire
and redeem their souls
in the midst of life

from which they suffer
reaching for an angel
of comfort and encouragement

a helping hand
even if it can only help
to help others together

and to greet the flowers
that shoot up where it was not possible
and to greet the flowers
that shoot up where it was not possible

Poem 3293
Amsterdam, 2020-11-30
Date of death of Kees J; every year at the end of the Advent, he sang in the church the song "Rorate" (Isaiah 45:8): Rorate caeli desuper, et nubes pluant justum (Heavens, drop down dew from above, and clouds, rain the just)
Collection: The King
Dedicated to: Kees J

Red Sahara sand

covers the littering, it's --

smoothening the world.



Rood saharazand	Roter Sahara-
bedekt het zwerfafval en --	sand bedeckt die Vermüllung --

strijkt de wereld glad.	und glättet die Welt.

Poem H0311
Amsterdam, 2012-07-09
Collection: PumicePieces


Brownies
are old and experienced

I too respond sensibly to others

I am wise :
I have an eye for the context
I am thoughtful
I highlight aspects that give food for thought
(Huis- en Bosgeesten)

Pencil	Pumice	Rain	Loves
Compressed	Birds	Ifless	Photo
Tributes	Dedications	Composers	Home