Dictators never

play, they constantly make rules --


that keep them winning.


Dictators spelenTyrannen spielen
niet, ze maken steeds regels --nicht, sie erfinden Regeln --

om te winnen.um zu gewinnen.

Poem S3198
Amsterdam, 2026-07-09
In chess, the rules are fixed (Garry Kasparov) - 2015
Statement by Garry Kasparov (2015, Amsterdam): In chess, the rules are fixed, and the outcome is unpredictable, whereas in Putin's Russia the rules are unpredictable, and the outcome is fixed.
Collection: Truder
Tribute to: Kasparov, Garry 
 

It is illegal

the power of the soldiers --


Thát is illegal.


Het is illegaalEs ist illegal
de macht van de soldaten --die Gewalt der Soldaten --

Dát is illegaal.Dás ist illegal.

Poem H4621
Amsterdam, 2024-05-07
Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie) - 2005
Novel, chapter Boonyi, § 2
Collection: Sludge
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman 
 

Zywa Blown sand

Where? Is there room?
Are there wells
to use or to dig?
Where can I live, shall I
not be blown sand?

Where are you free
from other people's laws
that protect their order
with police actions
and specimils?

Laws that give the colonists
everything and take away everything
from those who do not yield for them
Laws that arm them
and brand me as a terrorist

Laws by which everything
can be condemned
as hostile, and which have even
erased the name King
from the Civil Registry

Poem 5491
Amsterdam, 2024-04-13
Specimil = Special military operation
2,000 years ago, Jewish zealots continued to resist Roman colonisation; this led to the diaspora, to escape the Shoah (total annihilation) of that time

Collection: The King
 

Blindfolded she lies

there bleeding, she has been raped --


our Lady Justice.


Geblinddoekt ligt zeBlutend liegt sie da,
te bloeden, de verkrachte --blind, die vergewaltigte --

Vrouwe Justitie.Frau Justitia.

Poem S1899
Amsterdam, 2023-09-06
Lady Justice blindfolded - 1 (Antjie Krog) - 2014
Poem "Vrou Justitia geblinddoek" - 1 (collection "Mede-wete" ("Synapse")
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie 
 

Zywa The barbarians have come

The barbarians have come
and they keep coming
century after century

We are polite, we give
them high titles
They give us their laws

in a nice speech
with eloquent words
about civilisation in our wilderness

that we nota bene no longer
need to live like savages
no longer in the wilderness

The barbarians have come
and they keep coming
century after century obedient

to the right and the interests
that threaten them with the strong arm
the hard hand, and a ripped out tongue

Poem 4501
Amsterdam, 2022-05-30
#14 "Periménontas tous Barbárous" ("Waiting for the Barbarians" (1904, Konstantínos Kaváfis)
- The barbarians, when they are there, will give the laws.
- And the emperor waits to receive their leader. He even had a parchment made to give him. On it he wrote many titles and big names for him.
- Because the barbarians will come today, and they do not like eloquence and beautiful speeches.


In the council of the league of the Iroquois are speakers (sachem) those who bring the position of their group and try to convince the others to agree with it (the Aztecs named these speakers 'tlatoani', with Moctezuma as huey-tlatoami [supreme speaker]); it is honorable to be a speaker, but there is no power attached to it, so that the settlers wrongly treated the speakers as 'chief'

Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Kaváfis, Konstantínos 
 

Zywa The representative

The representative wants my wishes
to fulfill them if possible, but first
he will solve my problems

by adding rules
that pack everything tightly
until it is easy to handle

for clean hands
He cares for me, with an office
full of official love

and occasionally with decrees
from the big chair
until they are spent

and he has to balance
in height, speaking policy
with his head in the clouds

that cover up where it goes wrong
that cover up the emptiness of the sky
and keep the chair high

Poem 3817
Amsterdam, 2021-05-17
Collection: Half The Work
 

Theft and deception

built palaces: injustice --


turned into the law.


Diefstal en bedrogDiebstahl und Täuschung
bouwden paleizen: onrecht --bauten Paläste: Unrecht --

is wet geworden.wurde zum Gesetz.

Poem S1045
Amsterdam, 2020-06-27
Economic analysis (Fouad Laroui) - 2004
Economische analyse (collection "Hollandse woorden")
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Laroui, Fouad 
 

A law that is wrong

is a lie and it will make --


citizens liars.


Een wet die fout is,Ein falsches Gesetz
is gelogen en maakt van --ist eine Lüge und macht --

burgers leugenaars.Bürger zu Lügnern.

Poem S0777
Amsterdam, 2018-08-03
Collection: On living on [2]
 

Many things exist

nameless and untraceable --


Declared illegal.


Veel bestaat naamloosUnauffindbar, weil
en onvindbaar, verboden --namenlos, verboten durch --

door nieuwe wetten.neue Gesetze.

Poem S0776
Amsterdam, 2018-08-02
The beginning of spring (Penelope Fitzgerald) - 1988
Novel
Collection: May the Might
Tribute to: Fitzgerald, Penelope 
 

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