My toes on the ledge,

thinking how scary it is --


before I do it.


Tenen op de rand,Die Zehen am Rand,
bedenken hoe eng het is --sich zunächst davor scheuen --

voor je het gaat doen.bevor man es tut.

Poem H5570
Amsterdam, 2025-06-01
With a photo of a diver in the Jacob van Lennep Canal, on the Jean Dulieu Bridge (July 26th, 2013, Amsterdam) - Jean Dulieu is the author of 'Paulus de boskabouter' ('Paulus the woodgnome')

Diver

Collection: Local inconveniences
Dedicated to: Lotte W, Madelief dK 
 

I'm leaving, without

a cookbook, because I'll do --


things differently.


Eindelijk thuis weg,Endlich weg, ohne
zonder kookboek, want alles --Kochbuch, denn alles werde --

ga ik anders doen.ich anders machen.

Poem H5448
Amsterdam, 2025-05-08
The androgynous potato (Renate Dorrestein) - 1991
Text "De androgyne aardappel", contribution by Renate Dorrestein in the "Literair Kookboek" ("Literary Cookbook", 1991), included in her own collection "Dagelijks werk - Een schrijversleven" ("Daily work - A writer's life", 2018)
Collection: Lack
Tribute to: Dorrestein, Renate 
 

Zywa Discovering myself

New school, it just goes
like that, not all of it
by itself, how to approach
and will it go well?

Is there anyone who knows
who can encourage me
who can look inside me and
sees that things will be okay?

I want this, so apparently
I know this is my path
I must trust myself

when it's hard and every
now and then dare to do
what my classmates don't do

Poem 5589
Amsterdam, 2025-01-10
Collection: The light of words
Dedicated to: Lotte W 
 

Exploring the world,

you better not be afraid --


of getting lost there.


Wie de wereld wilDie Welt erkunden,
verkennen, moet niet bang zijn --keine Angst davor haben --

er te verdwalen.sich zu verirren.

Poem H4306
Amsterdam, 2023-11-25
Lost among the notes (Gözde Köse) - 2021
Composition "Verdwaald tussen de noten" for piano, arranged by René van Münster for eight cellos, performed by the Cello Octet in the Meervaart Theatre in Amsterdam on November 25th, 2023
Gözde Köse is born in 2008

Collection: Migration
Tribute to: Köse, Gözde 
 

There's something I should

do right now, but I don't know --


don't dare to know what.


Ik moet nu iets doen,Ich soll jetzt etwas
maar ik weet niet, ik durf niet --tun, traue mich aber nicht --

meer te weten wat.mehr, zu wissen, was.

Poem H3830
Amsterdam, 2023-05-25
Back to Ina Damman - The history of an adolescent love (Simon Vestdijk) - 1934
Novel "Terug tot Ina Damman - De geschiedenis van een jeugdliefde", chapter 3-3 (AD 1915)
Collection: Inmost [1]
Tribute to: Vestdijk, Simon 
 

Zywa The Mounted Child
(End of spring)

Hair brushed smooth
snorting with confidence
looking out at the world

Old issues
to settle, entrances
to force, risks to take

Manoeuvring
through the day, peeping
for opportunities

for good works
in my mind already
performed a hundred times

Resting next to my horse
trusting in my strength
my moral strength

Poem 4135
Amsterdam, 2021-11-23
Collection: The Yellow House Museum
 

You must leave the nest,

even if you can't fly yet --


then you'll have to hop.


Je moet het nest uit,Geh raus aus dem Nest,
ook als je niet kunt vliegen --auch wenn du nicht fliegen kannst --

dan hup je maar weg.dann sollst du hüpfen.

Poem S1156
Amsterdam, 2021-04-14
Gitte (Kristien Hemmerechts) - 2010
Novel, chapter 1
Collection: On the fly
Tribute to: Hemmerechts, Kristien 
 

Dad thinks I'm fighting,

I do, I'm fighting the wind --


in his idle mind!


Pa denkt dat ik vecht,Paps denkt, ich kämpfe,
ja, ik vecht tegen de lucht --ja genau: gegen die Luft --

van zijn gedachten!seiner Gedanken!

Poem H1544
Vaison-la-Romaine, 2016-10-10
"El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha" ("The ingenious gentleman, sir Quijote of the Mancha", 1605, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
Collection: I am
 

Zywa Fight after the fight

Amsterdam! Free
man of the world you want to be

your wild eyes threaten
my father hand, please, send
an angel, light, a woman
a favourable wind, sweet dreams
someone, something to help you
unbreakable mirrors if need be

Father, mother, earth, universe
make something happen, of course
who sees everything, does not know why
to intervene

freedom would be meaningless
if for adults only

understanding and obedient
everything with measure, giving up
what is beautiful and attractive
and smiling
at the discontented excuses
and lies of the past

You grow up wounded
I too have built, defended
and then demolished
castles and walls -

old men's proud
of the scars of my fight

Poem 622
Amsterdam, 2016-04-07
Collection: I am
 

Seeds of wild grasses

are freely floating over --


the highest fences.


Er zweven zadenSamen von wilden
van wilde grassen over --Gräsern schweben hinüber --

de hoge hekken.über die Zäune.

Poem H0307
Amsterdam, 2012-07-04
Collection: Untwisted
 

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