Zywa

Ruins where once were

houses and streets, where once was --

undeveloped land.



Ruïnes, waar ooit	Ruinen, wo einst
huizen en straten, waar ooit --	Häuser und Straßen, wo einst --

onbebouwd land was.	unbebautes Land...

Poem H5703
Amsterdam, 2025-07-18
Starting from nothing, one can build cities (Frida Vogels) - 1994
Verse "Met niets beginnend kan men steden bouwen", published in the collection "De harde kern 3" ("The hard core 3", part III [Ennio and Kees]) - October 4th, 1956, Rome
Collection: ThereFrom
Tribute to: Vogels, Frida

More eternal than

our lives is the waviness --

of the desert sand.



Eeuwiger dan wij,	Ewiger als wir,
ons leven, is het golven --	das Leben, sind die Wellen --

van het woestijnzand.	des Wüstensandes.

Poem H5106
Amsterdam, 2024-11-30
And Then (Louis Andriessen / Frederico García Lorca) - 1983
Composition "Y Después"; poem from 1931 by Frederico García Lorca), arranged for voice and organ by Amarante Nat and Francesca Ajossa, performed on November 30th, 2024 in the Organpark by Amarante Nat (voice) and Francesca Ajossa (organ)
Collection: org anp ARK
Tribute to: García Lorca, Federico
Composer: Andriessen, Louis

You'll live long enough

to celebrate successes --

and suffer failures.



Je zult lang genoeg	Du wirst lang genug
leven: successen vieren --	leben: Erfolge feiern --

en ten onder gaan.	und untergehen.

Poem H4681
Amsterdam, 2024-06-07
Victory City (Salman Rushdie) - 2023
Novel "Victory City" [Vijayanagar >> Bisnaga, based on Fatehpur Sikri ('Victory City', near Agra), the capital of Emperor Abdul-Fath Jalaluddin 'Akbar' (= 'the Great' >> 'Akbar the Great')], part 1 Birth, chapter 1
Collection: Wind
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman

Flowers wilt, even

if they are out of the sun --

and made of paper.



Bloemen verwelken,	Blumen welken, auch
ook als ze uit de zon staan --	wenn sie nicht in der Sonne --

en van papier zijn.	und aus Papier sind.

Poem H4538
Amsterdam, 2024-02-24
Enough (Bart Moeyaert) - 2019
Poem "Genoeg" (collection "Helium")
Collection: After the festivities
Tribute to: Moeyaert, Bart

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

Iron wall anchors,

a steep roof, and whitewashed walls --

with unused windows.



IJzeren ankers,	Die Eisenanker,
een steil dak, witte muren --	steiles Dach, weiße Wände --

met loze ramen.	mit Fensterlöchern.

Poem H4290
Amsterdam, 2023-11-18
"Den tilsandede kirke" ("Sand-covered church" near Skagen, Jutland)
Collection: On living on [2]

The Zen teacher takes

my watercolour, lays it --

in the drizzling rain.



De zenleraar legt	Der Zen-Lehrer legt
mijn aquarel netjes neer --	mein Aquarell ordentlich --

in de motregen.	in den Sprühregen.

Poem H4046
Amsterdam, 2023-08-17
Collection: Metamorphic body
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk

I live my portion

of eternity, a cry --

gives me the shivers.



Ik leef mijn portie	Ich lebe meinen
van de eeuwigheid, een kreet --	Teil der Ewigkeit, ein Schrei --

doet mij huiveren.	lässt mich erschaudern.

Poem H3445
Amsterdam, 2022-09-13
Nearest Nameless (Charles Simic) - 2003
Poem (collection "The Voice at 3.00 a.m.")
Collection: After the festivities
Tribute to: Simic, Charles

All things break down, and

they perish, fortunately --

slower than I do.



Dingen gaan kapot,	Dinge gehen kaputt,
en ze vergaan, gelukkig --	und sie vergehen, zum Glück --

langzamer dan ik.	langsamer als ich.

Poem H3335
Amsterdam, 2022-06-16
Matter of ratio (Ellen Deckwitz) - 2022
Columm "Verhoudingskwestie" (in NRC)
Collection: Death on Cast
Tribute to: Deckwitz, Ellen

Wind and rain at night,

and I wonder how many --

flowers have fallen.



's Nachts wind en regen.	Nachts Wind und Regen.
Ik vraag me af hoeveel bloemen --	Ich frage mich, sind viele --

er gevallen zijn.	Blüten gefallen?

Poem S1427
Amsterdam, 2022-06-16
Spring morning (Chen Wang) - 740
Poem (collection "The Cassia Tree", in "New Directions 19" [1966, David Rafael Wang and William Carlos Williams])
Collection: After the festivities
Tribute to: Wang, Chen; Williams, William Carlos

These billions of lives,

these billions of unfinished --

workings at their deaths.



Miljarden levens,	Milliarden Leben,
miljarden onvoltooide --	Milliarden unfertiges --

werken bij hun dood.	Werk bei ihrem Tod.

Poem H3075
Train Amsterdam-Alkmaar, 2021-10-22
Collection: The King

He's a man, a life:

Mifune-san has achieved --

nothing, everything.



Een man, een leven:	Ein Mann, ein Leben:
Mifune-san, Toshiro --	Mifune-san, Toshiro --

Niets bereikt. Alles.	Nichts erreicht. Alles.

Poem H2699
Amsterdam, 2020-05-07
The perfection of total dedication, even if everything continues as if it doesn't matter
Collection: web tissue
Tribute to: Mifune, Toshiro

Zywa Pottering bits and bobs

It itches in my head
the world turns and tumbles
on margins

of prestige and laws
and well-known artists
dance along

they want to make
something for thousands
of years, for everyone

an axis of eternal truth
and beauty, protected
from the own laws

of vandals, the army
of black beetles
on bomberdumberdays

the violence of time
in the margin of which people
potter for immortality

Poem 2701
Amsterdam, 2020-02-10
213 BC Book burnings commissioned by Qin, "First Emperor of China"
AD 385 Christians destroy the Hellenistic idols in Palmyra
AD 392 Christians destroy the most beautiful building in the world, the Serapeion in Alexandria and they burn all book rolls
AD 450 Christians remove the naked statues from the Parthenon in Athens
Collection: PumicePieces

Zywa The Roarer

The storm is still there
moldy white around the holes
of the filigree that was
once a powerful building

deeply weathered and pulverised
with hard droppings and kapok
in the corner, a dead fly

Shards tinkle under
my shoes, the remains
sloshing rhythmically away
from my footsteps

Everything falls prey
to the daily hunger
of the light, the sun

which smears honey
on the old stones
and fertilizes the cracks
sends spiders, makes birds

whistle springs
until what was there
is invisible

Poem 2695
Amsterdam, 2020-02-09
Old (Franz Danksagmüller) - 2020
Rudra = "The Roarer", the Storm(god), who for fear is addressed with the title "Shiva" = "Well-being"
Performance of "Dávny" ("Old") by Franz Danksagmüller (organ, electronics, image, sounds) and Maria Hemmleb (film editor) in the Organpark in Amsterdam on Saturday, February 8^th, 2020
Collection: ORG anp ark
Composer: Danksagmüller, Franz

Zywa The calling wind

The wind is calling me outside
it's exactly the right wind
to walk in the wonder

of the long avenues
that enchant the air
with swirling blossoms

and restrained, start singing
in me with joy
mixed with sorrow

for the falling, away
from life, away
from the leaf shoots

the swirling awareness
that it is almost over
however much I would have liked

to stay and respond
to the call of the wind
the calling wind

Poem 2688
Amsterdam, 2020-02-07
String Quartet (Ulvi Cemal Erkin) - 1936
Performed on Wednesday, January 29^th, 2020, by the Borusan Quartet, in the Music building on the IJ in Amsterdam
Collection: On living on [2]
Composer: Erkin, Ulvi Cemal

Zywa Leaning in the wind

On the beach, we push ourselves
through the wind towards the light
There is no tunnel or holy gate

To catch our breath, we turn
around and take a rest, the wind goes
all over the world, and we are blown

along with the seagulls awhile and
together with the waves, we flow
out over the shiny sand awhile

The airspace is too large for us
almost still, we lean forward diagonally
but it is no longer a game

So we lie down and listen
to the rows of the surf
which is also breaking in our blood

Poem 2676
Amsterdam, 2020-02-04
Collection: Life line
Dedicated to: Dory dK

Look, a dragonfly

reflects the sun in a flash --

then nothing is left.



Kijk, een libelle	Eine Libelle
weerspiegelt even de zon --	reflektiert die Sonne, schau! --

dan is er niets meer.	Und da ist nichts mehr.

Poem H2516
Amsterdam, 2019-07-06
Utnapishtim, survivor of the Flood - -1700
In: "The Epic of Gilgamesh
(Old Babylonian version)
Collection: SoulSenseSun

The square is so full

of tourists, and so empty --

of life like back then.



Het plein is erg vol	Der Platz ist voller
met toeristen, zo erg leeg --	Touristen, so leer, ohne --

van vroeger leven.	früheres Leben.

Poem S0908
Amsterdam, 2019-07-05
Grand Hotel Europa (Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer) - 2018
Novel
St. Mark's Square in Venice
Collection: Palace of the night
Tribute to: Pfeijffer, Ilja Leonard

No longer with us,

just an ignorant shade now --

on a forget-chair.



Niet meer onder ons,	Nicht mehr unter uns,
nu een onwetende schim --	ein unwissender Schatten --

op een vergeetstoel.	auf dem Vergessstuhl.

Poem S0906
Amsterdam, 2019-06-30
Hero of the twelve tasks - The myth of Heracles - 2000
Story "Held van de twaalf taken - De mythe van Herakles"
Theseus on the Chair of Forgetfulness
Collection: Moist glow
Tribute to: Dros, Imme

Zywa Softer and sweeter

I have carved thousands of photos
of my life in stone
without my name
let alone gilded
in chiseled capitals

Photos for strangers
who dont live'yet
I have counted and weighed them
their balance is nothing
flat

I ripened, I am softer
and sweeter now
not who I have been
not what remains hard
as if it still exists

With all my experiences
I swaddled myself
in the stone folds
to decay there
and be forgotten

Poem 2269
Amsterdam, 2019-06-16
Collection: I am

Zywa Extras

Digging for a new tree
I find bones in my garden
that have lived
where I live now

in a house like mine
maybe the same
dressed with flesh
two eyes and a mouth

a stranger like the neighbour
with his wild hair, in a bathrobe
in front of the window
like so many people

staff and passers-by
people who are busy
and people who are bored
extras, all of them

they act and fill the world
of others without playing
in a play, including me
with the bones in my hand

Poem 2267
Amsterdam, 2019-06-15
Collection: I am

Zywa Miracles with a beginning

In the beginning man created
the thought: everything, mankind
and the earth, is a miracle
with a beginning

and anything that procreates
will die, only the sun
the stars and the stones
had no end, until later

infinity was conceived
and they even never had begun

so the rest, actually everything
that is known, the world
will have to perish one day

and, if you dare
to think it out, also
the elusive time

will not last and already now
nothing is left
but nullity

Poem 2248
Amsterdam, 2019-05-19
Collection: Metamorphic body

Zywa We will whisper forever

We fade, we slowly sneak
away, out of the anecdotes
and the photos that remain

for strangers, later
also stripped
of our memories

everything digested
into something else
you and we dissolved

in new lives
with their own stories
in which we whisper softly

we will whisper forever
in the ancestral choir
of the human species

Poem 1976
Amsterdam, 2018-12-12
Collection: Greeting from before

Zywa Life forgets

Only noticed in a small circle
and even so
not quite for who you are

and what you are able to, almost unneeded
unfortunately that is common
Time keeps going by

and later, life forgets
everyone and everything that was known
and then there is no difference anymore

Celebrity is a lie
pinned on a beacon
It does not matter

but sometimes you sit around doing nothing
and you feel that it is a pity
for your children, your friends and society

that you're not of more importance
or leave behind more
Time keeps going by

and life forgets what has been

Poem 1904
Amsterdam, 2018-11-10
Collection: Summer birds

Been kept for years, as

precious assets, until I --

needed storage space.



Als kostbaar bezit	Wertvoller Besitz,
jaren bewaard tot ik kast-	jahrelang aufbewahrt, bis --

ruimte nodig had.	ich Stauraum brauchte.

Poem S0694
Amsterdam, 2018-04-17
60,000 hours - an autobiography (Gerrit Krol) - 1998
"60.000 uur - een autobiografie"
Collection: Being my own museum
Tribute to: Krol, Gerrit

The language I write

in, lives on after my death --

but shall also die.



Ik schrijf in een taal	Ich werde sterben,
die verder leeft na mijn dood --	und später auch die Sprache --

maar ook dood zal gaan.	in der ich schreibe.

Poem H1772
Ufhusen, 2017-08-23
Diary 1954-1957 (Frida Vogels) - 2005
"Dagboek 1954-1957" - July 23rd, 1956, Rome
Collection: ThereFrom
Tribute to: Vogels, Frida

By chance found again:

the butterfly box, the pins --

in circles of dust.



Teruggevonden:	Wiedergefunden:
de vlinderdoos, de spelden --	Schmetterlingsschachtel, Nadeln --

in kringetjes stof.	in Kreisen aus Staub.

Poem H1770
Ufhusen, 2017-08-22
Diary 1954-1957 (Frida Vogels) - 2005
"Dagboek 1954-1957" - January 19th, 1955, Milan
Collection: ThereFrom
Tribute to: Vogels, Frida

Zywa The mountain

The mountain stands imperturbable
in the sun, being, being

Receiving clouds, and hail, snow
their bubbling and whirling going away

at its feet, the children's rush
and the pubertal noise of water

playing itself hot
in an embedded adventure

And I am standing on top
of the mountain, being, being

Receiving the sun, experiences
and night thoughts, growing old

Everything melts, nothing in my hands
nothing in my open arms

Poem 1051
Amsterdam, 2017-02-20
Collection: Metamorphic body

Zywa The apparent illusions

The speed of the train pulls
the weight out of the world

before my eyes, shapeless stripes

draw unscientifically the formula
of Einstein on the windows

Sometimes there is a short view of
what it is, when you stand still

Then you can see
what it is, something temporary

in its puzzling flight
of apparent illusions

Everything exists
not knowing how

Poem 1044
Amsterdam, 2017-02-19
Collection: Secrets & Believers

Zywa Intermediate man

I thought it was something of the past
the sharp division
between yes and no, guilt and innocence
contaminated and pure, woman and virgin

But the computer leaves me
with no choice but to be
friends or not, committed
or available, yes or no

a response, a date
stand still or take a step
in five possible directions
and if the game goes wrong

they pretend you can delete
everything and start again
your experiences hidden
behind a clean slate

for new choices
which is quite a big deal
in life where dreams are
the game and temporality

is real: constantly I-intermediate man
am living intermediately between everything
in intermediate scores and intermediate times -
an intermediary at intermediate stations

Poem 895
Amsterdam, 2016-12-15
Collection: Migration

Things just float over

my retina to the dark --

of oblivion.



Alles drijft over	Alles schwebt über
mijn netvlies het donker in --	meiner Netzhaut ins Dunkle --

van vergetelheid.	der Vergessenheit.

Poem H1336
Amsterdam, 2015-09-23
Wish (Hilde Domin) - 1985
Poem "Wunsch" (collection "Gesammelte Gedichte")
Collection: VacantVoid
Tribute to: Domin, Hilde

The tracks of the wheels

that came and then went again --

are almost rained out.



Sporen van wielen,	Rillen von Rädern,
gekomen en weer gegaan --	gekommen und gegangen --

bijna verregend.	schon fast verregnet.

Poem H0216
Grossdietwil, 2012-02-18
Collection: The King

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