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Zywa 1m
We'll naturally kiss
and caress when that scent
or that one song is there

Your love is sweet, our life is good

We hang streamers
where we know each other
and keep exploring

Your love endures, our life is sweet

We don't need French kisses
we just caress each other's backs
if possible under the shirts

Your kisses are sweet, our life is good

Our fingertips find
their way, skin to skin
They hang streamers
Collection "More"
Zywa 2m
Look at her, she loves

him, a wonderful feeling --


to hold forever.
For Madelief dK and Michi W, with a photo of Michi embracing Pieter, taken during a video call (January 26th, 2014, Grossdietwil)

Collection "More"
Zywa 6m
Viewpoint: I follow

his gaze, he's looking for two --


and leaving nothing.
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 1 ("The *******" - 1, 1992, Frida Vogels), autumn 1967 in Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 15m
Israel, the state,

is not like other countries --


it is an old pain.
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'De Zesdaagse Oorlog' (The Six-Day War) - June 1967, Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 22h
Writing to share
anonymously being
heard and read
Nothing more, please
      
No incense with plumes
for me, I share something
of all of us, I offer
mirror images of life

They are pieces
of my existence, not of me
At most, a single thought
comes from me
Collection "Lifeline"
Zywa 22h
Suddenly my hat

flies up, how ridiculous --


I am standing here.
Collection "Lifeline"
Zywa 22h
In the staff car you

don't see much of the city --


you see only cars.
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'Een avond met vader' (An evening with father) - Den Haag

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 23h
His caressing hand

over my body, followed --


too tensely by me.
"Dagboek 1968-1969" ("Diary 1968-1969", 2010, Frida Vogels), July 7th, 1968 in Cupra Marittima

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 2d
I see the late and the early
people in lighted rooms
where the curtains are not closed

I see men in the twilight
penumbra of the morning
talking on the benches

in the circle of the square
that then starts singing
in the trees that live there

Everything keeps going on
from yesterday to tomorrow
without beginning and end

There is no direction
everything's going by itself
its divine way
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 2d
The wall without end,

without gates and hope, carries --


many illusions.
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 2d
I have a cold, and

I enjoy the drowsiness --


It gives me shelter.
"Dagboek 1970-1971" ("Diary 1970-1971", 2011, Frida Vogels) - January 2nd, 1971, San Severo

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 2d
Quarrels with father

are rotten: they're not allowed --


to have a bad end.
"Dagboek 1970-1971" ("Diary 1970-1971", 2011, Frida Vogels) - April 21st, 1971, Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 3d
When young, I took the world
inside, filling me
And every day, fed
by age-wise women

I was happy to grow, greater
than Alexander the Great
Baruch and Master Kong
I married and had children

Homely and ordinary years
of peace and fulfilled wishes
It just continued, the people
with whom I spoke, the places

I kept coming, the classes
I started to have, the world
I handed out and the soul-
snips of myself

that I began to leave everywhere
to get empty of life
that stands still when it doesn't flow
to young bodies
Novella "De honden jagen niet meer" ("The dogs no longer hunt", 1979, Albert Alberts)

Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 3d
This box is empty:

it is my life, it's my art --


of giving away.
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 3d
The empty square, rained

clean, at home we lay down and --


share our happiness.
"Dagboek 1972-1973" ("Diary 1972-1973" (2012, Frida Vogels) - August 17th, 1972, Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 3d
Look at me closely,

for you, I want to be real --


See me as I am.
"Dagboek 1970-1971" ("Diary 1970-1971", 2011, Frida Vogels) - December 10th, 1971, Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa 4d
Safely walking the streets
on the sidewalk, looking around
what's there, seeing it
as something special

Warming myself by the fire
and gazing into the flames
Letting thoughts be consumed
without missing them

Listening to the waterfall's
rush, rain
Washing myself clean
of what is to come

Circling like a hovering bird
seeing everything and nothing
Until an insight stirs
that I dive into

It happens by itself
as if I am capable of something
understand something, am something
beyond my reason
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 4d
Scents so sweet and soft,

drifting through the stone city:


sidewalk gardens bloom.
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 4d
Everything passes,

so we have to build bridges --


roads over the sea.
Proverb - 44. "Todo pasa y todo queda" ("Everything passes and everything remains", 1912, Antonio Machado)

Collection "Being my own museum"
Zywa 4d
When she goes to sleep

she babbles about today's --


experiences.
Study "Narratives from the Crib" (2006, Katherine Nelson) - Children of two years old

Collection "Being my own museum"
Zywa 4d
Balloons sail above the sea
and in my mind I sail along
into the world, sailing over
flapping laundry

Our shadows glide
through the gate of the winds
breath of the sun and the moon
the whispering of secrets

Our shadows drift
over the sphinx, so that her
blind eyes seem to blink
at us for a moment

The hands of the clocks
on the towers also stand still
and then they **** forward
a little, around
Pranayama
--- Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 4d
Along the river,

I am cycling and flowing --


Breathing together.
Collection "WoofWoof"
Zywa 4d
We are witnesses

of Jerusalem, the place --


where there is no peace.
Song "Silent Eyes" (1975, Paul Simon), album "Still Crazy After All These Years" - Jerusalem = Foundation/Dwelling of (the god of war) Shalem, later explained as: City of Peace

Collection "Here &Now&"
Zywa 4d
Unforgettable,

I would give examples if --


that were really true.
Short stories "Gij nu" ("You now", 2016, Griet Op de Beeck), story 'er moet betere ellende bestaan dan deze zei ze en ze lachte' ('there must be better misery than this she said and she laughed'), chapter Two

Collection "Here &Now&"
Zywa 6d
The sweetest words I invented
were for daddy, they beat in my heart
but now they are for you

Now everything is different
now I know I'm only
now an adult

My brain is converted
and it knows it
my ******* are different

and my arms will be clumsily
empty awaiting you
when you are elsewhere

I am happy and will be
when you are, we breathe
together forever
For Karin J J (January 11th, 2017)

Collection "Eyes lips chest and belly"
Zywa 6d
Parenthood: watching

my child, the vanishing point --


of my caring thoughts.
Collection "Eyes lips chest and belly"
Zywa 6d
Our relationship

endures, because it's Living --


Together Apart.
Novel "Onder de korenmaat" ("Under the bushel", 1991, Maarten 't Hart), chapter 25 - In the Dutch movie "Frank and Eve" (1973, Pim de la Parra) the term LAT-relationship was used for a couple Living Apart Together

Collection "The Note Tree"
Zywa 6d
She doesn't say a word,

I have to guess what she likes --


and what she doesn't want.
Novel "Onder de korenmaat" ("Under the bushel", 1991, Maarten 't Hart), chapter 8

Collection "The Note Tree"
Zywa 7d
Times have changed, people have not
so I read, shelf after shelf in many languages
in books preserved for centuries
so self-evidently describing
the world as it once was

In the evening I experience their adventures
at night I dream of them, every day
they colour my body in a different way

my body longing
to be touched
and to lie eye to eye
longing for the embrace
of arms and a laugh

for sounds and smells
for the cold and the fire
of love
Collection "Dearme"
Zywa 7d
When you see no way

out, you still have the entrance --


to the past you know.
Novel "In het oog" ("In the Eye", 2024, Marijke Schermer), chapter 'In het oog, in het hart' ('In the eye, in the heart')

Collection "Inwardings"
Zywa 7d
I search in my mind,

I do remember, yet it --


won't become a word.
Novel "Amen" (2019, Marcel Möring)

Collection "Inwardings"
Zywa 7d
When your life is tough,

you do need a tough language:


poetic language.
Autobiography "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" (2011, Jeanette Winterson; normal means: heterosexual), chapter 4, The Trouble With A Book . . .

Collection "Inwardings"
Jul 22 · 12
My belly
Zywa Jul 22
Are you looking at the curve
below my navel, do you want
to expose me there?

... You're reserved
... and won't come any closer
... to my breath, my question

Is something burning inside you
is it blazing, is it smouldering
or should I light it?

... I don't smell you, no scent
... that excites a woman
... in her belly, in her heart

Don't you know what you want
with me, after today?
Can't you be honest

with yourself
and live relaxed
according to your ideals?
Collection "Eyes lips chest and belly"
Zywa Jul 22
I want to study,

want to describe precisely --


the maths of the heart.
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'Herbert' - May 28th, 1976, Bologna (about her choice of studies in 1948 in Amsterdam)

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Jul 22
I took flute lessons,

I wanted to understand --


what 'out of tune' is.
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'Herbert' - May 23rd, 1976, Bologna (about Frida's visit to Herbert Cohen [1931-2016] in Capelle aan den IJssel on Sunday, May 16th, 1976, with a look back at 1945)

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Jul 22
With a kisby ring

I am floating in the pond --


Among the lilies.
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels) – 1937, Bloemendaal

Collection "Trench Walking"
Jul 21 · 37
Stepgranny
Zywa Jul 21
Tramps are the fairytales of the city
thinly disguised threats, grinning
teeth over my pram

I train myself in just
being nice, I train myself
in smiling thoughts

But a child, my child
will not kiss a pocked toad
or vagrant prince

no matter how true it may be
that evil fairies, old queens
witches, hungry giants, and wolves

only are my fear
of empty, exhausted love
Only are my fear
Collection "Imprints Masks"
Jul 21 · 42
[ A man assisted ]
Zywa Jul 21
A man assisted

me, just an ordinary --


man, not from heaven.
Collection "Imprints Masks"
Zywa Jul 21
Living the good life,

ruminating lush grasses --


in the shade of trees.
For Madelief dK and Lotte W, with a photo of Swiss cows (August 22nd, 2017, Steinern, Ufhusen) - 'Swiss' are brown cattle

Collection "Local tardiness"
Jul 21 · 57
[ Cold, perhaps even ]
Zywa Jul 21
Cold, perhaps even

everything, you can endure --


with a companion.
For Lotte W and Madelief dK, with a photo of two horses in the snow (January 2nd, 2010, De Vleijen, Nes [Ameland])

Collection "Local tardiness"
Zywa Jul 20
Books and photos on paper
are a fine way of preserving
and keeping my life complete -

who I have become
from my youth up, memories
of my family, images

of their presence
their activities and the places
that belong to it, all together

a constantly growing mountain
with hair-thin dendrites:
the mountain of my life
With a photo and poetry book for Madelief on the occasion of her 26th birthday, with a photo of the Rigi on the cover, seen from Walchwil, and finely branched trees in the foreground (February 9th, 2008)

Collection "Take a picture, now"
Zywa Jul 20
In the soft glow of

the sun just above the hills --


we warm each other.
For Lotte W and Madelief dK, with a photo of them

Collection "Take a picture, now"
Jul 20 · 40
[ Only for you, I ]
Zywa Jul 20
Only for you, I

am in the picture, says her --


understanding look.
For Pieter W and Madelief dK, with a photo of them (September 11th, 2011, Grossdietwil)

Collection "Take a picture, now"
Jul 19 · 75
Not in their image
Zywa Jul 19
Mother can continue to see me
as a daughter, but my brother
and my husband must want
to know me as I am

I need that
even if it's not true
because my fruitless striving
keeps me alive nonetheless

Walking and writing
in notebooks and letters
explanations of who I am

Book after book to refute
and to replace what they like
to think about me, to break
it down and nuance it

Word by word weighed
and considered and rejected
now for sale to strangers -
my kind, if they dare to be so
Autobiographical books by Frida Vogels, initially written for her brother and her husband

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Jul 19
Isn't it a spoiled life:

picking flowers on the edge --


of the precipice?
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'Brief aan Ayaan Hirsi Ali' ('Letter to Ayaan Hirsi Ali' - End of 2006, Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Jul 19
People aren't easy,

they're full of expectations --


that keep pushing you.
Autobiography "In den vreemde - Kronieken" ("In foreign parts - Chronicles", 2024, Frida Vogels), chapter 'Kees en ik' ('Neil and I') - March 20th, 1983, Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Jul 19
Why write down my life

accurately when I am --


mostly just writing?
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels) - Summer 1981, San Severo

Collection "Trench Walking"
Jul 18 · 46
Matryoshka
Zywa Jul 18
Been enough madam big belly
in comfortable harem pants
Now I become a spiritual
matryoshka, I blow myself up:
      
my child (the little parasite
which I, in a wide-leg squat
hoopla, pulled into my arms)
grows, crawls and tries to walk
further and further away from me
but I will not allow it to escape
      
all my life I will extend
my most sensitive nerves
straight from my mother heart
to embrace all
of his world forever
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Zywa Jul 18
In my mother's house,

very familiar scents live:


I smell who I was.
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Zywa Jul 18
To be made pregnant

for love and not for a man --


who's just taking you.
Novel "Alles verandert" ("Everything changes", 2015, Kristien Hemmerechts), chapter 9

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 10s"
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