Zywa

Singing a mantra

together, sounds full of life --

in - out of ourselves.



Samen een mantra	Ein Mantra singen,
zingen, klanken vol leven --	Harmonie voller Leben --

in en uit onszelf.	in und aus uns selbst.

Poem H4854
Amsterdam, 2024-08-15
Flo flo flo me la (Nina Simone) - 1960
Song, album "Nina Simone at Newport"
Collection: SoulSenseSun
Tribute to: Simone, Nina

I'm a kind of half-

human, there are so many --

others I do need.



Een soort halve mens	Eine Art Halbmensch
ben ik, zoveel anderen --	bin ich, immer so viele --

heb ik steeds nodig.	andere brauch ich.

Poem H4455
Amsterdam, 2024-01-22
Outsiders (Renate Dorrestein) - 1983
Novel "Buitenstaanders", § 1
Collection: Lack
Tribute to: Dorrestein, Renate

Our conversations

are silent conversations --

There is no anger.



Onze gesprekken	Unsre Gespräche
zijn zwijggesprekken zonder --	sind schweigende Gespräche --

enige boosheid.	ohne jede Wut.

Poem H4365
Amsterdam, 2023-12-14
Big Eight (Vrouwkje Tuinman) - 2005
Novel "Grote acht" (route of two circles in dressage), chapter Twenty-one (years old)
Collection: Em Brace
Tribute to: Tuinman, Vrouwkje

Each poem again

reminds me: I am many --

I'm many persons.



Elk gedicht opnieuw	Doch jedes Gedicht
herinnert me eraan: ik --	erinnert mich erneut: ich --

ben vele mensen.	bin viele Menschen.

Poem H4059
Amsterdam, 2023-08-20
the vulgarity of verses (Antjie Krog) - 2022
Empathy
Poem "die vulgariteit van verse" (collection "Plunder" ["Pillage"])
Collection: WriteWiser signage
Tribute to: Krog, Antjie

The café is full,

I am outside and I feel --

the comfort that's there.



Het café zit vol,	Das Café ist voll,
ik sta buiten en ik voel --	ich bin draußen und fühle --

de geborgenheid.	die Geborgenheit.

Poem H3781
Amsterdam, 2023-04-01
The Office - The Death of Maarten Koning (Han Voskuil) - 2000
Novel "Het Bureau - De dood van Maarten Koning"
Page 93, Maarten Koning (1988)
Collection: Frustration
Tribute to: Voskuil, Han

No person can live

outside the world, the world wide --

web of intertexts.



Niemand kan leven	Niemand kann leben
buiten de wereld, het web --	außerhalb der Welt: das Netz --

van interteksten.	der Intertexte.

Poem H3605
Amsterdam, 2022-12-06
The pleasure of the text (Roland Barthes) - 1973
Study "Le plaisir du Texte" (Roland Barthes)
Study "Van tekst via tekst naar betekenis. Intertekstualiteit en haar implicaties" ("From text via text to meaning. Intertextuality and its implications", 1990, Ellen van Wolde)
Collection: No wonder
Tribute to: Barthes, Roland

Zywa My lives

A little hill in the landscape
these slate roofs of the farm
under the high back and the round buttock
along the Old Country Road

Do you have to be an urbanite like me
to make the chimney smoke
and merge the images
into my own naked body

on a sheepskin in front of the fireplace
waiting for the caresses of my husband
or a lover - is that just holiday romance
or does it really happen here?

I experience it
in passing
My participation
in other people's life

Poem 4805
Amsterdam, 2022-11-12
Burly Cobb's House, South Truro (Edward Hopper) - 1933
Painting
Collection: NightWatch
Tribute to: Hopper, Edward

The audience forms

a double circle, eyes closed --

Together one ear.



Gesloten ogen	Publikum im Kreis,
in een dubbele cirkel --	mit geschlossenen Augen --

Tezamen één oor.	Gemeinsam éin Ohr.

Poem H3567
Amsterdam, 2022-11-10
Occam Delta XV (Éliane Radigue) - 2018
Composition for string quartet (2018, Éliane Radigue), performed in Montréal on June 9^th, 2018 and in the Organpark on November 10^th, 2022 by Quatuor Bozzini
Occam = William of Ockham (1288-1347)
Collection: org ANP ark
Composer: Radigue, Éliane

Zywa Mayday

I welcome you, my house is green
plants everywhere, fruit and cookies
Let us celebrate life

I want to smell the earth
I want to feel the rain
that releases the scent of the earth
from the cracks in the land

I welcome you, in beautiful clothes
cheerful if possible, happy
that you are there

Open the window to the gardens
let the pleasure substances in --
the pollen of the world
that finds soil everywhere

I welcome you, please help me
since this is all, help me
then I'll be able to face it

Poem 4090
Amsterdam, 2021-11-02
"Mayday" is the decomposition of: "m'aidez" = "help me"
Mitti attar = Earth perfume, smelling of the first drops of monsoon rain on the dry earth, a smell of relief
Collection: On living on [1]
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk

Zywa Belonging [1]

I want to belong
just
laugh together
and keep talking

whisper in the warmth
of each other's blood
safe in the insecurity
of life

that hits friends and takes them away
from the chain dance -- to the last
we hold them
hand in hand

I don't lock me up
in guarantees and fear
I bump and dent me outside
in the storm, together

with warriors
who do not hide
from the fate of others
because they belong

Poem 3973
Amsterdam, 2021-10-02
Collection: Dearme
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk

Zywa People, I love you

Where the daily rush of life
falls to a standstill and I see someone
turning inward, everything stops

immediately I too fall
into a standstill, I no longer have any plans
not even a body

I am no longer on my way
I am just the softly vibrating
energy called love

connected with the face
I see, so beautifully
balanced with life

People, I love you
a life with you
goes through me

until you move, the world
turns again and I am there
in the daily rush of life

Poem 3353
Amsterdam, 2021-01-11
Collection: Take a picture, now

With her husky voice

she reads to him, full of love --

in the twilight hours.



Met haar hese stem	Heiser liest sie ihm
leest ze voor in de schemer-	in den Dämmerungsstunden --

uren vol liefde.	voller Liebe vor.

Poem H2853
Amsterdam, 2020-12-13
The general in his labyrinth (Gabriel García Márquez) - 1989
Story "El general en su laberinto" about Simón Bolívar
Collection: Dream flight
Tribute to: García Márquez, Gabriel

Zywa Not just in between

By bike, I came to Poppel
and Cleves, abroad
Friends lived in Gendt

I got firm thighs and calves
school was in the city
college in another city

Then my world no longer fitted
in a circle of an hour's travel
but in Amsterdam it was again

like in my childhood, everything
nearby, the world big enough
to move in it under my own power

New friends within reach
and occasionally new neighbours
but family members scattered

across distant regions, sometimes travelled
in call and engine time, never just
together in between

Poem 3287
Amsterdam, 2020-11-25
13 km Van Musschenbroekstraat 4 in Tilburg to Poppel
15 km Bongerdstraat 82 in Beek (Berg en Dal) to Gendt
18 km via Kranenburg to Cleves (40 km to Kevelaer)
13 km from Amsterdam Oud-West to Zaandam
15 km from Amsterdam Oud-West to Gaasperdam
Collection: Migration
Dedicated to: Ruud J, Lucy J, Johan A, Louisa B, Afke B

Zywa Weaving springs

It has already been two weeks
since we wrote to each other, rejoiced
weaving springs into a poem

about love in which we mix ourselves
with the candour of a friend
and our need for being connected

You rhyme with me
into an ethereal love, we create
daisies in waving fields

with kissing gates in the hawthorn
the golden keys shine
upon our hearts

Come in and play, dance
blind man's buff, reach and touch
each other's soul

Poem 2525
Amsterdam, 2019-12-02
Blind man's buff (blindfold tag) is an ancient game, popular with the wealthy bourgeoisie in the 18th century, in response to the decency norm that physical contact is prohibited
Collection: Metamorphic body
Dedicated to: Sylvia F C

Zywa The Embrace

Bird's eye view over houses and workshops
erected in the land that neatly combed
still shows a pimple here and there

Everything orderly piled up, ready-to-wear
leaving me free to do what I want
to do, my profession, my plans

despite everything, with the help
that I need and have received
as a gift, of course I want to

celebrate, embrace my life and the uncertainty
ahead with heart and soul
continue counting the results

and ever devise new possibilities
to measure reality
Again I rearrange

my powers, I fly like a bird
with borrowed wings
to unreachable places

and tonight we cross over
to celebrate that together
in restaurant The Embrace

Poem 2485
Amsterdam, 2019-10-28
Collection: New Ago
Dedicated to: Marije S

Zywa Meantime beyond The Gateless Gate

Beyond the Gateless Gate
I gave my stuff away --
homeless I roamed under Pisces
in the sky, their time is a long
time on the clock of the earth

The cities were founded quickly
in Aries' short hour --
but Aquarius, your centuries
are still far in the future
after the strong men

You and I don't wait anymore
we gain, in our meantime --
it is no different, changes
happen gradually, even
what dominates is only partially there

Now we have some stuff again
and we no longer roam, we are --
stronger than the strong men
water carriers for each other, at home
beyond the Gateless Gate

Poem 2413
Amsterdam, 2019-09-20
Collection: Changing Times

Watching videos

I see shadows of people --

Is it Plato's cave?



Kijkend naar filmpjes	Ich schau Videos
zie ik schimmen van mensen --	mit Schatten von Menschen an --

Is dat Plato's grot?	Das Höhlengleichnis?

Poem S0922
Amsterdam, 2019-07-31
YouTube
Collection: Local traffic

Zywa The Great Story

What is one is itself
but if you know someone else
you are partly also that person
you are also what was different
until that moment

And you observe that, it dawns
on you and you grow

That's interesting, we repeat it
in stories about people
and the gods they imagine:
the more souls, the merrier and the more
humor thanks to the differences

And the trick is to learn
to see that everyone is everything

Therefore, yes therefore there was
a feast in heaven for the wicked sons
at the end of their tumultuous lives
while the good sons
were taken to hell

And the supreme god laughed
at their illusions

Poem 2370
Amsterdam, 2019-07-26
Unity and discord in Bharat (India) - -1500
Epic "Mahabharata" ("The Venerable World"), book 18:3
The epic is about a struggle for power in the Aryan tribes when they settled in Bharat (India) from 1500 BCE; it is recorded in 350 CE and ends with the conclusion that everything is an illusion
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Mahabharata

Zywa Siblings

No blood needs to flow
we may as well separate
and combat only in stories
who we are, brothers and sisters

with the common need
for a place of their own and with virtues
that are sometimes vices -
knowing better, thinking to

be better, willing
to sacrifice lives
in the absence of an angel
who stops us

and reading the discord
in the stories, concealing
that we are brothers and sisters
as if we are not

Poem 2164
Amsterdam, 2019-03-19
Isaac and Ishmael
Collection: A Home

Zywa Alone not alone

I don't preach, I'm going my own way
Not really, because where I go is already a way
I don't preach, I have mixed feelings
about what I know. I'm not near-sighted

I don't preach, I cast anchors, thousands
of buoys everywhere in the sea for those
who want to rest in familiar words
and want to be human together

Happy, then happy together
Sad, then sad together
Tired, then strong together
Alone, then not alone

Poem 2106
Amsterdam, 2019-02-19
Collection: The light of words

The sage teaches me:

wind whistles, water rustles --

the language of souls.



De wijze leert me	Der Weisen lehrt mir,
dat wind fluit en water ruist --	dass Wind pfeift und Wasser rauscht --

de taal der zielen.	die Seelensprache.

Poem H2386
Amsterdam, 2019-02-08
Rebirth - 2 (Antonio Machado) - 1907
Poem "Renacimiento" - 2 (collection "Soledades. Galerías. Otros poemas.")
Collection: SoulSenseSun
Tribute to: Machado, Antonio

Flowers and garlands

make the world more beautiful --

And so do secrets.



Bloemen en slingers	Blumen machen die
maken de wereld mooier --	Welt schöner, Girlanden auch --

Net als geheimen.	Und Geheimnisse.

Poem H2322
Amsterdam, 2018-11-10
Threshing-floor laden with confetti (Franca Treur) - 2009
Novel "Dorsvloer vol confetti", chapter Jew-and-Hun
Collection: SoulSenseSun
Tribute to: Treur, Franca

Zywa The drama

What I secretly do
but not hidden

from myself, the truth
that I do not want to know

yet sometimes see
in the questioning eyes

of others, surprised
or hurt, on the border

of judgment on me
is the truth in the eyes

of my conscience that examines me
I sweat, it's a purgatory

and as long as it lasts, it is
hell: I am not

just myself
but one of the others

That's the drama

Poem 1876
Amsterdam, 2018-10-19
No Exit (Jean-Paul Sartre) - 1943
One act play "Huis clos" ("No Exit" / "Closed doors")
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Sartre, Jean-Paul

We, humans, are arks,

floating around in the flood --

the spirit of all.



Mensen zijn arken,	Menschen sind Archen,
ronddobberend in de vloed --	herumtreibend in der Flut --

de geest van alles.	im Geiste des Alls.

Poem H2292
Amsterdam, 2018-06-26
Through the eye of the needle (Muhammad Rumi) - 1250
Ghazal (Ode) 1674 (and ghazal 2)
Collection: Unseen
Tribute to: Rumi, Mohamed

Zywa Via Via

Via Via I do approximately know who I am
someone among all the people

who keep the city alive
and show me my soul
We feed each other, therefore eat
each other as one body
mankind, hungry to live
approximately knowing who we are
among each other and the rest
on our long way
up, down
and around

The goals I had, lost
and not missed, lost
in ubuntu

Poem 1744
Amsterdam, 2018-05-02
I went the long way (Hildegard Knef) - 1974
A Via Via café
Bantu = people; munu/muntu = man
Ubuntu = becoming and being human through others, being one, I am because we are
Song "Ich bin den weiten Weg gegangen" (Hildegard Knef)
Collection: The drama
Tribute to: Knef, Hildegard

Zywa Red heart line

Prosperity with obedience:
is that the plan for man?
A family following the father
like the fathers their father?

Or is it a covenant
of uncircumcised love?
One heart, living
flesh and blood?

One heart, one blood
of man and woman
that draws a red line
not to be trespassed

Let's come together
in one heart!
Let's celebrate life
in one song!

Poem 1680
Amsterdam, 2018-02-15
Song (1977, Bob Marley)
Collection: The King
Tribute to: Marley, Bob

Zywa Where are you?

Where are you?
Witchfinger moss
shows you the way in the woods

I watch, I reach
my green hands
are leaking love

my head shakes seeds
into the world, friends
eat them

fairy tales will grow
from them, give them hugs
and tears, where are you?

I am the tree of your soul
that you can embrace
come with your cheek

put it against my belly, take
my belly in your lap
just come

and heal from the welts
of life, come
sing and jump

not only underground
I want to be
connected with you

Poem 1661
Amsterdam, 2018-01-23
Witchfinger moss: translation of the Dutch name of physcia tenella
Collection: Without reserve

Zywa Akin

After his death we seek
each other's warmth
beyond the emptiness

Rituals are too cold
for our soul
We stay closer

in the undercurrent
where we continue
to grow side by side

He is where he was
in the middle of the circle
next to the clearing

that we shelter
with the flowers
we let bloom here

Poem 1633
Amsterdam, 2017-11-25
Collection: web tissue
Dedicated to: Ineke J

Zywa What's going on

The little beech tree
in the forest looks up
to its family

the high crowns of wisdom
of hundreds of seasons
of the time she cannot yet count

the order of the world
the time to be young
and know little

the time to be patient
to be small and to know
you're not short of anything

may eat from the toes
of the aunts
who teach you everything

Electrically
they give signals
The microbes and the threads

of fungus tell
what's going on
with fragrances and bright colours

the leaves speak
the blossoms sing
they call animals

for help in case of danger -
Life is performing miracles
together

Poem 1422
Amsterdam, 2017-06-19
Book "Das geheime Leben der Bäume"
Collection: New Ago
Tribute to: Wohlleben, Peter

Zywa From the depths

When I feel that there is something higher
I feel, on the contrary, my body

Not looking from the depths
if there is a ladder, but
limitless, and then
I know It does not exist
as higher, but within everything
I touch, within everything I think
and inhale and exhale

What I feel is not the distance
but the proximity of the all
and I sigh from the depths
of my soul, which does not exist
the way I've learned, but
which is bodily, I feel it
when I feel that there is something higher

Poem 1097
Amsterdam, 2017-03-01
Psalm 130: De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine (From the depths I have cried out to you, o Lord)
Jacob's Stairs (Sulaam Yaakov)
Genesis 28:10-19
Collection: Secrets & Believers

Zywa Call for the owls

When I want to know something, I call

someone from the explanation folks
Strangers are my interpreters
and my guides in the web

Be my brother, my sister
give me a real kiss
We are family, we are birds

of a feather, we fly together
over the net that binds us
to what we know

: our golden rule
Hand In Hand, Have Trust
in yourself and in the things you do

Poem 867
Amsterdam, 2016-12-04
"We are family" (1979, text Bernard Edwards, sung by Sister Sledge)
Collection: Dearme
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk

New Year's Eve: we face

an abyss, dangerously --

we stand hand in hand.



Met Oudjaar staan we	Ein Abgrund vor uns,
voor een afgrond, gevaarlijk --	an Silvester, gefährlich --

staan we, hand in hand.	Hand in Hand stehend.

Poem H0750
Amsterdam, 2014-02-13
The abysses (Ida Gerhardt) - 1955
Poem "De afgronden" (collection "Het levend monogram")
Collection: Em Brace
Tribute to: Gerhardt, Ida

My words swarm around

throughout the web of people --

with all their echos.



In het mensenweb	Im Web von Menschen
waaieren mijn woorden uit --	schwärmen meine Worte aus --

met al hun echo's.	mit ihren Echos.

Poem H0474
Amsterdam, 2013-06-21
Collection: The King

The sun sets after

a hot day, we sit outside --

in silence and rest.



De zon gaat onder	Sonnenuntergang
na een hete dag, zwijgend --	nach dem heißen Tag, schweigend --

zitten we buiten.	sitzen wir draußen.

Poem H0463
Train Assen-Amsterdam, 2013-06-07
Collection: Dearme

We play the guitars,

we sing and open our hearts --

to exchange our blood.



We spelen gitaar,	Mit zwei Gitarren
we zingen ons hart open --	unsere Herzen öffnen --

en mengen ons bloed.	unser Blut mischen.

Poem H0154
Amsterdam, 2012-01-21
Collection: Webgarden

Zywa All

Before getting up I look
how you are still asleep and almost
not breathing, gently

I touch you, enfold you
in my hands and then
I take you with me

we wake the children
have breakfast, kiss, and wave
watch them all the way

With a friend I weigh
our lives with everyone
taste what is sweet and sour

between the words we always
have to tell each other more
than a week

the children are growing
it all passes
while it stays with us

Poem 77
Amsterdam, 2007-06-09
Collection: Heart's Delight

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