Zywa Sunset (Cape Sounion)

It is getting dark, we walk
away from the couples, who, just like us
have not seen the sun go down

The picnic baskets are empty
You pack up the peels and I
pretend to look past you and you

pretend I don't attract
your attention, knowing that
our skin is glowing for more
You are smoothly sculpted
like a Greek god

I brush through your hair
The sea moans under the rocks
Our room is still far away

but I can imagine you
hanging out nicely, kneadable
in the grip of my hand

Poem 4549
Amsterdam, 2022-06-23
September 24th, 1989
Collection: Take a picture, now
 

Zywa I start a storm

The fortress: I roll out my mat
in the silence of sleeping cicadas
The wind is warm, time crawls
with the sun to Naples

It's all in my head
high above the noise of life

of crowded streets and shops
where the money never rolls far
looks are leery, kisses are fleeting
and hands are groping

It is not right
I start a storm
sweep chairs from the terraces
slam doors and blow dust

like night through the city
Guy-wires and bars rattle
a dog whines and a cat
glares at the perch

in the water of the harbour, wild
from my rebellious thoughts
that lie down after all
between the snails on my mat

Poem 2433
Amsterdam, 2019-09-29
The Fortétza (fortress) in Rétimno (Rethymno), April-May 1989
Collection: On living on [2]
 

Zywa Steam cracker

It's hot down here
Bitumen grinds in the clay
smoking in the pores
of the steam cracker

The chimney fills
itself with ethylene, under
the stopper, the navel
of Mother Earth, until in

a new star month
a sacred show begins
a woman is led to the stool
a man opens the navel under her

solemnly puts it down
under the canopy and the priests
stand out of the smell to listen
with feigned attention

She is intoxicated and raves
She is in a trance of ignorance
She is getting light-headed
She is losing more and more brain cells

Poem 2374
Amsterdam, 2019-07-28
Pyrolysis ("seperating fire")
The Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi

Collection: Secrets & Believers
 

Zywa People ask for it

To the priests, it is clear
They have poured the divine answer

into hexameters and have repeated it
until they could recite it flawlessly
as the translation of the dissonances
from the mouth of their prisoner

whom they serve for show
for farmers, citizens and envoys

at a foot of the house
of the gods, the white mountain
of weak limestone
at the intersection

of hidden cracks
in which the ground has sunk

In the evening the heat rises
and my blood cools
I roam the rocks and mountain
terraces, sniffing for traces

of the sweet gas that, for centuries
has successfully defied the mind

Poem 2375
Amsterdam, 2019-07-28
The Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi
Mount Parnassus (Mountain "Of the house")

Collection: Secrets & Believers
 

Zywa The envoys of Athens

The envoys of Athens
in their comfortable carriages
democratically stripped of finery

are dignified by the inability
to make a decision, divided
by all the nuances of reason

They'll have to wait
because we don't have any news
from our informants yet

We sprinkle the goat
with lukewarm water, it does not shiver
so the god will not speak

until the stars are right again
and we are informed
about the politics of the monarchs

We save expenses nor pains
We are the dedicated priests
of a notable consulting business

Poem 2376
Amsterdam, 2019-07-28
The impotence of democracy
The priests of the Oracle of Delphi

Collection: Secrets & Believers
 

 

 
Temple (maintenance)
Vassi`, 1989-09-20
Temple of Apollo Epikourios near Bassae
Collection: Photo's 1989
 

 

 
Square (Stoa)
Athens, 1976-07-10
The colonnade (Stoa) of the Theseion
Collection: Photo's 1976
 

 

 
Diary (writing)
Kalabaka, 1969-07-10
Paul J at the Meteora monasteries
Collection: Photo's 1969
Dedicated to: Paul J 
 

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