The gods think they are

the elite, but popular --


is their behaviour.


De goden wanenGötter sehen sich
zich de elite te zijn --als Elite, verhalten --

Volks is hun gedrag.sich aber als Volk.

Poem S2370
De Koog, 2024-09-20
Requiem for a friend (Han Voskuil) - 2002
Novel "Requiem voor een vriend", chapter 1951-1956, September 16th, 1954 - Amsterdam, Han Voskuil
Collection: Elude
Tribute to: Voskuil, Han 
 

I'm afraid, free will

is rare, it's a luxury --


for the happy few.


Helaas, vrije wilDer freie Wille
is schaars, het is een luxe --ist rar, er ist ein Luxus --

voor weinig mensen.für die Wenigen.

Poem S2288
Amsterdam, 2024-07-27
Frankissstein: a love story (Jeanette Winterson) - 2019
Novel, Methinks, wrote Byron
Collection: Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the years 2010-2019
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette 
 

Finally I live

in a palace, as a queen --


so isolated.


Eindelijk leef ikEndlich lebe ich
in een paleis, als een vorst --in einem Palast, als Fürst --

zo geïsoleerd.völlig isoliert.

Poem S2264
Amsterdam, 2024-07-12
Shame (Salman Rushdie) - 1983
Novel / Exposition with stories, part 4, chapter 10 The Woman in the Veil (burqa)
Collection: Shadows
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman 
 

Please forget the facts,

they belong to the elite --


which is suspicious.


Vergeet de feiten,Vergiss Fakten, die
ze zijn van de elite --gehören zur Elite --

en die is verdacht.die verdächtig ist.

Poem S2130
Amsterdam, 2024-02-20
The Golden House (Salman Rushdie) - 2017
Novel, chapter (2-) 22
This is a post-factual time

Collection: Wind
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman 
 

In the palaces,

it was normal at the time:


graceful seriousness.


In de paleizenIn den Palästen
was het toentertijd normaal:war es damals ganz normal:

de sierlijke ernst.anmutiger Ernst.

Poem H4470
Amsterdam, 2024-01-27
The Grand Duke's Ball (Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck) - 1590
Composition for organ (or harpsichord), SwWV 319, on the theme of "Ballo del granduca" (1590, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck), performed on January 27th, 2024 by recorder ensemble The Royal Wind Music in the Organpark (arrangement Hester Groenleer)
Collection: org ANP ark 
Composer: Sweelinck, Jan P. 
 

Create enemies,

then the elite can go on --


stealing from the state.


Schep een vijand, danSchaffe Feinde, dann
kan de elite blijven --kann die Elite weiter --

stelen van de staat.den Staat ausrauben.

Poem S1911
Amsterdam, 2023-09-11
A Change of tongue (Antjie Krog) - 2003
Kleptocracy
Tale, part 4

Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie 
 

The rich people feed

each other, so the hungry --


have to do the same.


De rijken voedenReichen speisen sich
elkaar, de hongerigen --gegenseitig, Hungrigen --

moeten dat dus ook.müssen das auch tun.

Poem S1897
Amsterdam, 2023-09-06
(Bertolt Brecht) - 1930
Bertolt Brecht, quoted in the poem "Die hiefel en die fiefel" ("Ole and Axel", Antjie Krog, collection "Verweerskrif" ["Body bereft", 2006])
Collection: Wean Di
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie; Brecht, Bertolt 
 

The laws are asleep,

with the rich, while injustice --


sleeps among the poor.


De wetten slapenGesetze schlafen
bij de rijken, het onrecht --mit den Reichen, das Unrecht --

slaapt bij de armen.schläft mit den Armen.

Poem S1901
Amsterdam, 2023-09-06
Lady Justice blindfolded - 7 (Antjie Krog) - 2014
Poem "Vrou Justitia geblinddoek" - 7 (collection "Mede-wete" ("Synapse")
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie 
 

Zywa The reins of fate

After today's four steps
I'm sitting in socks by the fireplace
My heavy boots are standing straight
and my back is still rattling

I am a henchman
I push the boundaries
of the ladies in love
and the rich gentlemen

I leave horse turd behind
and take the scent of freesias with me
The water in the bucket sloshes
like yearning love

I don't travel alone
We are armed
The papers are precious
Sealed letters

Beginning and maintaining
of relationships and major interests
Between the stops, the reins
of fate are in my hands

Poem 5168
Amsterdam, 2023-05-08
Four steps: four postal stops
Postilions (post-coachmen) wear heavy boots, to protect against getting jammed; these boots are named after the average distance between the posts (postal stops, relays): "bottes de sept lieues" ("seven-league boots")
Postillon d'amour = Post-coachman of love

Collection: Migration
 

Am I elitist

if football is new to you --


and I explain it?


Ben ik elitairBin ich elitär,
als voetbal nieuw is voor jou --wenn Fußball neu für dich ist --

en ik uitleg geef?und ich erkläre?

Poem S1728
Amsterdam, 2023-04-08
I'll call you when I'm dead - Conversations with Armando (Cherry Duyns) - 2023
"Ik bel je wel als ik dood ben - Gesprekken met Armando" ("I'll call you when I'm dead - Conversations with Armando"), 2011-2018, Cherry Duyns
Collection: Stall
Tribute to: Armando; Duyns, Cherry 
 

While we eat our fill

the elite get the fattest --


from all our labour.


We eten ons volIch esse mich satt
en de elite wordt vet --und die Elite wird fett --

van onze arbeid.von meiner Arbeit.

Poem S1593
Amsterdam, 2022-12-07
(Luigi Pirandello)
Story " "
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Pirandello, Luigi 
 

Zywa Room in heaven

Wishing to live
in the city without
its burden, above

the chimneys, cleanly
swinging in grandma's chair
in front of the bay window

seeing the dormant mouths
of the pocked roofs
wake up without

having to smell their poison
and then also breathe it
out of solidarity with everyone

who has to live fast
in the stone world
where everything is hard

Poem 4084
Amsterdam, 2021-11-01
Room in Brooklyn (Edward Hopper) - 1932
Painting
Collection: NightWatch
Tribute to: Hopper, Edward 
 

Zywa Twilight of the gods

As a baby, I was taken
to a friendly temple, and there
I safely followed the royal drama
for life and death

It was an act of desperation
by my father
to break the insatiable power
of the priests

with a twilight of the gods
which ended their worship service
and declared it invalid, super-ceded
by a higher concept

of the divine, and as a king
he could not be a puppet
of the priests, but the sun
was beyond his reach

The Creator was more earthy, older
and would have been a better choice
my choice
after they murdered my father

I saw how the conflict intensified
Akhenaten, my youngest brother
persevered, he couldn't help
but to be king or not to be

Poem 3801
Amsterdam, 2021-05-10
As a baby, Crown Prince Thut-mosis (Moses) is brought into safety in the Temple of Ptah (the Creator) at Memphis in the Nile Delta
To break the power of the Amun priests, Pharaoh Amen-hotep III introduces the monotheistic worship of Aton (the sun, the abstract divine), but in 1351 BCE he is killed

Collection: A Home
 

The court is reserved

for the nobles and the cat --


who is a Lady.


Aan het hof levenAm Hof verweilen
edelen, en ook de kat --Adlige, und die Katze --

die een Freule is.die edle Freifrau.

Poem H2783
Amsterdam, 2020-09-30
The Pillow Book (Sei Sh?nagon) - 1002
Diary "Makura no S?shi" #7
Collection: Shelter
Tribute to: Shonagon, Sei 
 

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 Golden chromosomes

Magical powers bubbling up
from retorts of cellar alchemists
or vibrant in the blue blood

of sons of sons of grand princes:
old whispered secrets
and the dream of mastery

but only disappointments
have been found, poisoning
and the immortal superstition

in golden chromosomes
which want to live exclusively
once awakened

from their generation-
long slumber, germinated
in the age of germination

Gold mined in the golden age
Justice to be won in a new age
And grace in the age of grace

Poem 2227
Amsterdam, 2019-04-26
Islamic tradition: al-Hassan ibn Ali, Husayn ibn Ali - 625
Birth of the heirs (625-627) al-Hassan ibn Ali (2nd imam) and Husayn ibn Ali (3rd imam)
Collection: The Praised One
 

Zywa Full barns

We still pretend

we have it well arranged
with parliaments, judges and
a constitution of our ideals
but the farmers have stayed

and we are their servants
who grow capital, harvest
and squeeze it to many zeros
in the backyard of the slaughter

We want full barns
for the winter, but we have to
pay dearly for it to the farmers
who write the plans

with rings of self-confidence
on their clean hands
in the high state-rooms
of the front building on the avenue

Poem 2115
Amsterdam, 2019-02-22
Collection: Mosaic virus
 

Even gentlemen

wish to live with dignity:


just common, sometimes.


Ook een heer van standAuch ein Herr von Stand
wenst menswaardig te leven:möchte in Würde leben:

soms geen heer te zijn.manchmal kein Herr sein.

Poem S0509
Amsterdam, 2017-07-17
Tom Puss and The Lumps (Marten Toonder) - 1955
Comic strip #67 - "Tom Poes en De klonters", tier 2654
Collection: Puss & Lord
Tribute to: Toonder, Marten 
 

Zywa
Keyword
Elite
GermanDutch5-7-5
PencilPumiceRainLoves
CompressedBirdsIflessPhoto
TributesDedicationsComposersHome
Attention is like sunshineMention © Zywa when using texts,
drawings, designs, paintings and photos
Search word:  CTRL-F