Zywa

The social order:

values, laws, and the templates --

of big businesses.



Sociale orde:	Soziale Ordnung:
waarden, wetten en mallen --	Werte, Gesetze, Muster-

van de commercie.	Formen des Kommerz.

Poem S3242
Amsterdam, 2026-08-29
Transit (Hella Haasse) - 1994
Novella, chapter WEDNESDAY
Collection: Patterns
Tribute to: Haasse, Hella

Neon signs on the

fronts, no decoratively --

lettered windows here.



Neonreclame	Leuchtreklamen an
op de gevels, geen ruiten --	den Fassaden, keine Zier-

met sierletters hier.	schrift an den Fenstern.

Poem S3237
Amsterdam, 2026-08-23
Then Mother came with a knife (Nicolien Mizee) - 2003
Novel "Toen kwam moeder met een mes", chapter 1
Collection: In the light
Tribute to: Mizee, Nicolien

Gardeners, that is

typically who we are --

when we do business.



Tuinmannen, precies	Gärtner, genau das
dat zijn wij ten voeten uit --	sind Leute wie wir, wenn wir --

als we zaken doen.	Geschäfte machen.

Poem S3185
Amsterdam, 2026-06-20
Being there (Jerzy Kosinski) - 1970
Novel "Wystarczy by?" (1970, "It's enough to be", translation "Being there", 1971), chapter 3
The novel was beautifully adapted into a film by Hal Ashby (1979, "Being there"), starring Peter Sellers
Collection: Thinkles Lusionless
Tribute to: Kosinski, Jerzy

No doubt, I see, this

really is a museum --

since there is a shop!



Geen twijfel, ik zie,	Kein Zweifel dran, dies
dit is echt een museum:	ist wirklich ein Museum:

er is een winkel!	es gibt einen Shop!

Poem H6161
Amsterdam, 2026-03-14
Experience an experience, for 20 euro (Tessa Sparreboom) - 2026
Column "Een ervaring ervaren, voor 20 euro", in the NRC of March 14th, 2026 (about the Museum of Illusions, located in Amsterdam, among other places)
Collection: Within the walls
Tribute to: Sparreboom, Tessa

Zywa Waterland

From The Horse
a lot of digging has been done
right through the island
where the Eastern Canal now
runs, to Mound White

Further on, on the mainland
the canal passed through
the Big Lake
below the Border Ditch
diagonally through the pattern
of the Waterland

past Hollow Ditch and
the Flower Valley Country Road
to Waterland Dam, no further
did the confidence extend
The skeptics got their right
by refusing to contribute

and 200 years later it is clear:
the plan was not bold enough
for the course of history
that is constantly changing

Poem 5901
Amsterdam, 2026-02-18
On the north side of the IJ River, you find on Marken: lighthouse The Horse (Het Paard), the Oostervaart canal, Mound White (Wittewerf, the White family's mound), and in Waterland: the Big Lake (het Groote Meer), the Border Ditch (het Zwet), Hollow Ditch (Holysloot), the Flower Valley Country Road (Bloemendalergouw), and Waterland Dam (Durgerdam); here, from 1825 to 1828, the Goudriaan Canal was dug to open up the port of Amsterdam for larger ships; later, the dikes were shoveled back into the dry bed
Collection: New Ago

A bird-collector

drives around the mirror flats --

The bistro pays him.



Een vogelraper	Ein Vogelsammler
rijdt rond bij de spiegelflats --	fährt um die Spiegelflats rum --

De kok betaalt hem.	Der Koch bezahlt ihn.

Poem S2992
Amsterdam, 2025-10-28
The ortolan (Maarten 't Hart) - 1984
Novella "De ortolaan", chapter 4. The bird-collector
Collection: The Note Tree
Tribute to: T Hart, Maarten

In glossy plastic,

hide and hair are candied --

into a praline.



In glanzend plastic	Der glatte Kunststoff
zijn huid en haar gekonfijt --	kandiert Haut und Haare zu --

tot een praline.	einer Praline.

Poem S2989
Amsterdam, 2025-10-20
Tree (Wanda Bommer) - 2008
Novel "Boom"
Collections: Appearances, Whirligig Scribbler
Tribute to: Bommer, Wanda

I know the words for

the vegetables I buy --

for little money.



Ik ken de woorden	Ich weiß die Wörter
voor de groenten die ik koop --	für alles, was ich kaufe --

voor heel weinig geld.	für sehr wenig Geld.

Poem H5316
Amsterdam, 2025-03-15
Higher physics #1 (Ellen Deckwitz) - 2019
Poem (collection "Hogere natuurkunde"), pages 9-10
Collection: Death on Cast
Tribute to: Deckwitz, Ellen

Customer survey:

Are you not a robot? Do --

you fit the profile?



Klantenonderzoek:	Kundenbefragung:
Bent u geen robot? Voldoet --	Sie sind kein Roboter? Sie --

u aan het profiel?	passen ins Profil?

Poem S2979
Amsterdam, 2024-10-04
Collection: Metamorphic body

You hear the echoes

of guides everywhere, despite --

the signs 'Silence Please'.



Overal echo's	Überall hört man
van de reisleiders, ondanks --	die Echos der Führer, trotz --

de bordjes Stilte.	der Stille-Schilder.

Poem S2015
Amsterdam, 2023-11-25
Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie) - 1981
Mausoleum Taj Mahal
Novel, chapter 1-4 "Under the carpet"
Collection: Shadows
Tribute to: Rushdie, Salman

The dice are sacred,

they were bought quite long ago --

in holy Mecca.



De dobbelstenen	Klar sind die Würfel
zijn heilig, lang geleden --	heilig, vor sehr langer Zeit --

in Mekka gekocht.	in Mekka gekauft.

Poem S1828
Amsterdam, 2023-07-25
Oranges are not the only fruit (Jeanette Winterson) - 1985
Novel, part "Exodus"
Collection: No wonder
Tribute to: Winterson, Jeanette

Zywa If we have carrots, we sell them

Through the forests, over mountains
and seas we travel, the roads
are free

What is special, we take
along the way, in long caravans
Along the markets

along coasts and ravines
through steppes, through storms
and robbers

What is good for the neighbours
is even better for us
It is prosperity

Free passage, free trade
are worth wars to us
We laugh

at power and land, which are
expensive to defend and yet
get lost

Poem 2114
Amsterdam, 2019-02-22
Collection: Mosaic virus

Zywa Trunks full of money

Pete Heyn looks at me thoughtfully
his goatee shows a long tongue

maybe for me
my hindsight knowledge

of his fame, the silver
booty and the ministries

of marine, commerce and colonies
which finance prosperity

with things others believe
they need, we trade them

for trunks full of money and if
it stinks it is washed

at the bank around the corner
Persistent stains are brought

to the Switzerland of Zwingli
and Calvin, this way the world gets better

with marine ropes and canvas
with hemp! with hemp!

the profits will be big
we win the silver fleet!

Poem 1915
Amsterdam, 2018-11-11
Hawsers and sails (canvas) were made from cannabis (hemp)
Song "Zilvervloot" (Jan Pieter Heije, 1847)
Collection: BloodTrunk
Tribute to: Heije, Jan Pieter

The brands are today's

nobility, with logos --

as their coats of arms.



Handelsmerken zijn	Handelsmarken sind
nu de adel, met logo's --	der heutige Adel, mit --

als wapenschilden.	Logos als Wappen.

Poem H2266
Braamt, 2018-09-06
Atlas shrugged (Ayn Rand) - 1957
Novel, part 1 'Non-contradiction', chapter 5 'The climax of the D'Anconias'
Collection: Willegos
Tribute to: Rand, Ayn

Zywa A flush for the drudge

Since the taming of the horse
     the beginning
     of globalization
     the long-distance trade, the saddlebags

     those multi-functional trunks
     carried by someone else's legs
     which go out into the world
     with bronze, wheat and rope

     and with a flush for the drudge -
     in the tent, amidst the incense
     of the hempseed or the resin
     of the flowers in power

cannabis indulges itself and is bred
from weed into the daily medicine
that mutates the human blood trunks
into servants who run for it

Poem 1140
Amsterdam, 2017-03-06
Yamna (3000 BCE in Ukraine and South-Russia)
Collection: BloodTrunk

Zywa Waterwolf

We live in the side compartments
of a suitcase on the way

that exchanges our flesh and blood
for pepper and cinnamon

sometimes also sleeping pods, but
only the captain knows about that

     The ship has a big belly
     it is a hungry waterwolf

     and we, in this realm of the dead
     hope to be saved

     spit out on land
     like Jonah by the whale

We do our job, for the shipping line
fixed costs of wages and compensations

often paid to the parents
who lost us to the sea

and to the widows
who could not count on us

Poem 1016
Amsterdam, 2017-02-14
Sleeping pods: papaver
Waterwolf: both the wolves and the whales originated from a wolf animal as their ancestor
Collection: BloodTrunk

Zywa Farmer at sea

I am a farmer at sea
60 sheep, 100 pigs
geese and ducks on departure

These are frugal rations
with the stew, army bread and beans
No need to slaughter

The beasts just die
so there is always meat
for the cook and the officers

high above my smelly stable
where I haul in the buckets from the sea
and scrub the shit through the scuppers

In the bunks, it is worse
There is the world of the below deck
of sweat, exhaust gases, and the rasping sick

where you sink asleep in a pit
full of poo and pee, gasp for air
and throw up brown tar

Poem 966
Amsterdam, 2017-01-21
Merchant shipping in the 18^th century
Collection: Migration

Laws are straight and right,

something crooked that is bent --

That is what trade is.



De wetten zijn recht,	Gesetze sind krumm,
iets kroms dat verbogen is --	schön geradegebogen --

Zo doe je zaken.	So treibt man Handel.

Poem H1621
Amsterdam, 2016-12-13
Sir Bumble and The Regarder (Marten Toonder) - 1957
Comic strip #74 - Heer Bommel en De Achtgever (tiers 3050-3117), tier 3082
Collection: Puss & Lord
Tribute to: Toonder, Marten

Zywa Palace of Art

I entered the display case
of people educators
subsidising snobs
the multi-rich and companies

among tourists and inhabitants
who want to be seen
in the museum café and
with sophisticated pastry lard
the conversation with careless clauses

they quote from an authority
whom nobody has to understand
to get the intention
of the praised artists

The shop was crowded
Spotlights on show-pieces
fancy coffee table books
and chic presents
for the season and the next holidays

Especially the past
is on sale, postcards
of the attractions
and sights of the city

interchangeable
like the collections
which graduated stylists
cast in international moulds
to magnets for visitors

Poem 855
Amsterdam, 2016-11-30
Collection: The Yellow House Museum

The farmer has cows,

some poultry with a watchdog --

and holiday guests.



Koeien, wat kippen	Kühe mit Hühner
en een varken houdt de boer --	und ein Schwein hält der Bauer --

en zomergasten.	und Sommergäste.

Poem H0183
Amsterdam, 2012-01-28
Collection: NightWatch

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