Zywa

He scratches off the

ticket, he is a zombie --

Alone with his fate.



Fanatiek krast hij	Er kratzt den Schein frei,
het lot, hij is een zombie --	er ist ein Zombie, allein --

Alleen met zijn lot.	mit seinem Schicksal.

Poem S3271
Amsterdam, 2026-10-04
Collapse (Édouard Louis) - 2024
Biography "L'effondrement" (translated 2026), chapter 3, paragraph 'Fact number 11'
Collection: Spirals
Tribute to: Louis, Edouard

It happened to her:

Eva is bitter, it is --

simply not her fault.



Het overkwam haar:	Es ist ihr passiert:
Eva is bitter, het is --	Eva ist verbittert, es --

zeker niet haar schuld.	ist nicht ihre Schuld.

Poem S2756
Amsterdam, 2025-07-08
In foreign parts - Chronicles (Frida Vogels) - 2024
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken", chapter 'Kees en ik' ('Neil and I') - March 23rd, 1983, Bologna (about the polyptych "The adoration of the Mystic Lamb" by Jan and Hubert van Eyck in a chapel of the cathedral in Ghent - Frida takes example by Eva and compares her brother Kees with Adam)
Collection: Helices
Tribute to: Vogels, Frida

What will my hap be,

will it be good or bad luck?

Will I be happy?



Wat zal mijn lot zijn,	Was ist mein Schicksal,
zal het geluk zijn of pech?	schickt es mir Glück oder Pech?

Word ik gelukkig?	Werd' ich glücklich sein?

Poem H5575
Amsterdam, 2025-06-03
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (Jeanette Winterson) - 2011
Autobiography (normal means: heterosexual), chapter 2, My Advice to Anybody Is: Get Born
Collection: Chance
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette

That this would be Fate

only seems so, it is more --

something from within.



Dat dit Het Lot is	Dass dies Das Schicksal
lijkt maar zo, het is veel meer --	ist, scheint nur so, es ist mehr --

iets binnen in mij.	etwas von innen.

Poem H5475
Amsterdam, 2025-05-18
You now (Griet Op de Beeck) - 2016
Short stories "Gij nu", story 'dat wat een mens dan maar het lot noemt eigenlijk een stuk van zijn eigen binnenkant is waar nog niet naar werd gekeken' ('that what a person simply calls fate is actually a part of his own insides that has not yet been looked at'), chapter One
Collection: Germ Substance
Tribute to: Op de Beeck, Griet

I get nothing but

misery for my merits --

Tears are all I have.



Niets dan ellende	Ah, nichts als Elend
voor mijn verdiensten, tranen --	für meine Verdienste, mir --

zijn al wat ik heb.	bleiben nur Tränen.

Poem S2619
Amsterdam, 2025-03-31
Flow my tears, fall from your springs (John Dowland) - 1600
Song (music 1596, 'Lachrimae pavane', for lute)
Collection: Thinkles Lusionless
Tribute to: Dowland, John

The pointing finger.

Does it point to my finger?

To my path in life?



Wijst de wijzende	Zeigt der zeigende
vinger naar mijn vinger, dus --	Finger auf meinen Finger?

naar mijn bestemming?	Auf mein Lebensziel?

Poem H4381
Amsterdam, 2023-12-19
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie) - 1981
Novel, chapter 2-1 "The fisherman's pointing finger"
Painting "The Creation" on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1508-1512, Michelangelo Buonarroti)
S0232: I point to the moon. / But the poet keeps looking -- // at my forefinger. (1999, Hugo Claus)
Collection: Shadows
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman; Michelangelo

There are dangers on

my flight from the scimitar --

Will death await me?



Welk gevaar wacht mij	Gefahren lauern
op mijn vlucht voor het kromzwaard?	auf der Flucht vor dem Krummschwert --

Waar wacht mij de dood?	Werde ich sterben?

Poem S2042
Amsterdam, 2023-12-09
Tale about Death - 600
Babylonian Talmud, sukkah 53a (c. 600 AD) >> Rumi's tale about King Solomon and Azrael, the Angel of Death (Mathnawi, book I) >> Short story in the novel "Le grand écart" (1923, Jean Cocteau) >> Poem "De tuinman en de dood" ("The Gardener and Death", 1926, Pieter N. Van Eyck), and the novel "The Golden House" (2017, Salman Rushdie), chapter (2-) 28
Islamic State
Collection: Chance
Tribute to: Van Eyck, Pieter N; Anon. [Israel]

Fate and the moon both

grow big and then become small:

one ends with nothing.



Het lot en de maan	Schicksal und Mond, sie
groeien groot en worden klein:	wachsen groß und werden klein:

je eindigt met niets.	man endet mit Nichts.

Poem S2031
Amsterdam, 2023-12-03
Oh Fortune (Carmina Burana, Carl Orff) - 1200
Song "O Fortuna" from the collection "Songs from Bebnediktbeuern", set to music by Carl Orff in 1937
Collection: Chance
Tribute to: Anon. [Deutschland]
Composer: Orff, Carl

Everything is Weight

and Counter-weight: it's Fate and --

the Wheel of Fortune.



Alles is Gewicht	Alles ist Gewicht
en Tegenwicht: het Lot en --	und Gegengewicht: Schicksal --

het Rad van Fortuin.	neben dem Glücksrad.

Poem H3972
Amsterdam, 2023-07-26
Oranges are not the only fruit (Jeanette Winterson) - 1985
Novel, part "Leviticus"
Collection: No wonder
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette

Zywa Pinball machine

Everything flows, a coming
and going of opportunities
Flags blow everywhere
but I don't put poles
of certainty around me

My work and my relationships
are fluid, my fate
is not in my hands
not even in the lines
that fortune tellers read

Pleasure for myself
idealism for all
between the flippers and
the facades of the day and
the dreams of the night

The flippers of catastrophes
and consequences bang
on the bonces of power
the wheels of money and
the cannonballs of contempt

Poem 5170
Amsterdam, 2023-05-08
Heraclitus (Ephesus, 535-475)
"Panta rhei": "everything flows" like water
"Panta chorei": "everything changes place" through the "Pyros Tropai", the "turnings of (the eternal) fire"
Collection: On living on [2]
Tribute to: Heraclitus

Don't ask for the sense

of what's happening to you --

no, you must keep heart!



Vraag niet naar de zin	Frag nicht nach dem Sinn
van wat je overkomt, nee --	dessen, was dir passiert, nein --

je moet moed houden!	du musst Mut halten!

Poem H3694
Amsterdam, 2023-01-31
Villa Ada (Jens Christian Grøndahl) - 2020
Story, § 7
Collection: On the fly
Tribute to: Grøndahl, Jens Christian

Zywa Bad tidings

God's wisdom is above all
above the impossible, above time
and the sigh of the ages
in which man exists, it is
contained in everything as miracles

in day and night, stars and planets
in donkey, bull, ostrich and vulture
the hippopotamus and the mighty crocodile
the unimaginably many ways
the animals live

and in every drop of water, dew
hoarfrost, rain, hail, snow and ice
No man can comprehend that
nor his own presence
and the course of his life

so tiny in God's hand
who needs not direct anything
for his wisdom automatically
creates - also misfortune
and the evil of men

Poem 4948
Amsterdam, 2023-01-09
Bad tidings: Job 1:13-19
Collection: A Home

Gods, eternally

they played their roles, spiritless --

Just puppets of fate.



De goden, eeuwig	Die Götter, ewig
speelden ze hun rollen, dood --	spielten sie ihre Rollen --

Poppen van het lot.	Puppen des Schicksals.

Poem S1401
Amsterdam, 2022-04-19
Circe (Madeline Miller) - 2018
Novel
Collection: Finethreads
Tribute to: Miller, Madeline

On the banks, women

in black, waiting for solace --

another future.



Dorp na dorp wachten	Dorf für Dorf warten
er vrouwen op de oevers --	Frauen in Schwarz am Ufer --

op troost en toekomst.	auf Trost und Zukunft.

Poem S1108
Amsterdam, 2020-12-13
The general in his labyrinth (Gabriel García Márquez) - 1989
War widows
Story "El general en su laberinto" about Simón Bolívar
Collection: Dream flight
Tribute to: García Márquez, Gabriel

It does not matter

whether God exists or not --

it is just as bad.



Het doet er niet toe	Ob Gott existiert
of God wel of niet bestaat --	oder nicht, macht nichts, es ist --

het is even erg.	genauso böse.

Poem H2842
Amsterdam, 2020-12-03
Leaf storm (Gabriel García Márquez) - 1955
Novella "La hojarasca"
Collection: Dream flight
Tribute to: García Márquez, Gabriel

He has got the stick,

but the dog does not return:

bitten by the ebb.



Hebbes, de hond pakt	Der Hund hat den Stock,
de stok, maar komt niet terug:	er kehrt aber nicht zurück:

de eb heeft hem beet.	im Biss der Ebbe.

Poem S1009
Amsterdam, 2020-05-01
Circumstances (Koos van Zomeren) - 2020
Novel "Omstandigheden
Collection: Actively Passive
Tribute to: Van Zomeren, Koos

Zywa Drupes

When they are at your door
you already know, it already is
too big to comprehend

Heaven does not help me
I don't understand the higher purpose
of the war, I can only hope

for an outcome that gives it meaning
We are promised soft flesh of fruit
but we are given stones to eat

The odds turn, coalitions change
and we stay behind, without help
and love we just plod on

until a disease releases us
from the hard life
we never dreamed of

Poem 2230
Amsterdam, 2019-04-27
Islamic tradition: Zaynab bint Khuzayma - 624
Collection: The Praised One

Zywa The flawless world

The green angel is everywhere
I want to take revenge on her
but the horses snort

with happiness, ears forward
I am licking the stones
but they remain hard

They rain down on me
and tear
my clothes

The men look away
I cannot believe them
too bitter is the aftertaste

of their love, too hard
around my heart the clamp
of the law they preach

as if they were green servants
of a providence
that does not allow mistakes

Poem 2215
Amsterdam, 2019-04-23
Deputies of God
Quran, Sura 18:70-82
Collection: The Praised One

Zywa Black sails, thunderclouds

Black sails, thunderclouds
flooding all the shores
all the shores of love

Attica (Aegeus and Theseus)

Everlasting love
from parents to their child
unconditional and true

But fate is ignorant
and joy makes one forget
the preconcerted sign

Black sails, thunderclouds
crying for our son who died
Is my life worth living now?

Behind the clouds, the sun shines
the hereafter beckons me: come
perpetuate your bond

Brittany (Tristan and Isolde)

Everlasting love
the poison innocence drinks
compells the soul to love

Jealousy can be a tonic too
even white hands can lie
when it comes to love

Black sails, thunderclouds
crying for my love who died
Is my life worth living now?

Trees grow out of the graves
and their branches intertwine
inseparable is their bond

Poem 2149
Amsterdam, 2019-03-12
Collection: Take a picture, now

Zywa The passenger

The captain will have been informed
because he says nothing about the situation
and that can mean anything

There are reports of peace
and cleared blockades
I must make choices

while I have a good life here
with my family that arose by itself
in the house that was assigned to me

So I just go to bed now
and before I sleep I travel
beyond the known

Left alone, I move on
     accompanied by echoes of familiar laughing voices
     that conceal the truth from me

     the voice of the guide who prefers to stay at home
     of the soldier in his worn-out uniform
     one of the three of the garrison

     who could be on duty
     who fills the cups and drinks on me
     on the health of all people

     around the tower of Belém and everyone
     at the long table with the empty seats
     from the time they were here with many

Along on foot, over a mountain
path, through a dense forest
I'm running out of food

Poem 2029
Amsterdam, 2019-01-14
The sand for the coast of Aveiro (Albert Alberts) - 1982
Novel "Het zand voor de kust van Aveiro"
Collection: Mosaic virus
Tribute to: Alberts, Albert

Zywa Berthweald

Every morning after the reveille
we hold a bicycle race
from the camp to the Meuse

At full speed I take
the last turn, right
into brand new barbed wire

invisible in the light of the sun
As proficient torturers two others
are colliding with me immediately

Flat tire, torn clothes
In a comic strip, I would be
hanging horizontally now

But I fall, rips in my flesh
gaping and bleeding
Bandages at breakfast

and then I lead my patrol again, what else
after the inscrutable providence
of a farmer who's going to pasture on the river?

Poem 1339
Amsterdam, 2017-05-10
Wellerlooi = Berthweald
Collection: Life line

Zywa Water misery

Pee carefully, girls on one side
The boys do it the farthest and nonchalantly

We sit in the gutter, how my buttocks ache!
Jerome pushes up himself, he just can not hold on no more

inclined backwards he leans upon the tiles
of the roof, but doing so his legs get tired

His mother is worried, so she begs, entreats
him: boy, take care, what if the bracket breaks?

Then, then, well, then your body will be doomed
Oh my dear boy, then I will also die of grief

But soon enough he sits astride upon the ridge
and downstairs strikes the clock again, what time it is

It takes some wrangle till René gets almost nude
He plunges in the house and grabs a lot of food

the greens are washed, the pizzas flabby, hard the wurst
A feast for all, along with drinks to quench the thirst

we are in need of water and there's no boat, oh why?
Come, action action action, otherwise we'll die!

Poem 1184
Amsterdam, 2017-03-10
Collection: Greeting from before

Zywa La vie

In the museum, we look
at the attendants: a gangster
a beach girl with sleepy eyes
and a man who's almost falling
but he startles and hobbles away
to the hall with glass tombstones

We see people wait
gloomily, enjoy
a cigar at the end
suppress the disaster at the piano
with a smile, scream to win
their case with their husbands

or cry and jump in
the lifeboats sauve qui peut
(la vie)

Poem 1129
Amsterdam, 2017-03-05
Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Friday, August 25, 2000
"Tombeaux" by Jan Vercruysse (glass tombstones)
"The sinking of the Titanic" (1912, directed by Mime Misu), film, screened in three parallel projections
Collection: Greeting from before

Zywa Well, dying

Well, I may drown
freeze to death overnight
under a tree, just

grow numb or be lucky
and get a place
to sleep in the shelter

under the hundred beds blanket
with a head hole for each
comfortably warm together

But even then, this morning
my neighbour didn't wake up
at the first, second and third gong

Floundering he went up
when the blanket was hoisted
Under the beams he hung still

a skinny body -- we watched
and for a half we each fenched
an incense stick

Poem 1094
Amsterdam, 2017-03-01
The night shelter in Hangzhou (Jan Slauerhoff) - 1930
Poem "Het nachtasyl te Hang Tsjow" (collection "Yoeng Poe Tsjoeng")
Hang Tsjow = Hangzhou
Collection: WoofWoof
Tribute to: Slauerhoff, Jan

Zywa In anyone's hands

There is no certainty
in anyone's hands
where it is going

Just sit down
at the promenade
and watch the people

Most of them are free
and bored, not really
on the way, sometimes tired

sometimes with children
who have no idea
together, on vacation

from sports, games and school
learnt in the cradle, lasting long
but nothing happens

different than usual but
licking an ice cream
just like flies

you can catch
if you are handy and fast
because they always want to eat

and like fathers and mothers
for their future only
have worrisome wishes

Poem 1084
Amsterdam, 2017-02-26
Collection: WoofWoof

Zywa The blossoms stay with me

I had to choose the richest
Otherwise they would have started a war
because of me, where is their sense?

In vain I cry
tears about myself
that don't change a thing

Nowhere between the curtains
in the inner rooms
my beauty is safe

My soul searches not knowing
what is true for the love
of my husband in my lap

Not bothered
by a eastern prince who
enchantingly plays the flute

to take me with him on his horses
of the sea to a palace on waters
that are glinting with misery

bringing ships packed full of clouds
and throwing my blossoms
back on the pebble-sand

Poem 899
Amsterdam, 2016-12-17
After: Helen of Troy
Collection: Silent walk

Hanging in the air

between dead and dead they are

alive -- their hair blows.



Hangend in de lucht	Hängend in der Luft
tussen dood en dood leven	zwischen tot und tot leben

ze nog -- hun haar waait.	sie noch -- ihr Haar weht.

Poem S0264
Amsterdam, 2014-12-05
Photo of September 11^th (Wislawa Szymborska) - 2002
Twin Towers, "Nine Eleven", 2001
Gedicht "Fotografia z 11 wrzesnia" (collection "Chwila")
Collection: Here &Now&
Tribute to: Szymborska, Wislawa

Divers in the Thames

under a red evening sun:

that's how it can go.



Duikers in de Vecht	Taucher in den Fluss,
bij een rode avondzon:	mit einer Abendsonne:

zo kan het dus gaan.	so kann es gehen.

Poem S0158
Amsterdam, 2014-03-06
Into the water, into the water! (Anna Enquist) - 1991
Poem "Te water, te water!" (collection "Soldatenliederen")
Collection: Here &Now&
Tribute to: Enquist, Anna

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