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Aug 2023 · 200
[ Talking isn't easy ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Talking isn't easy,

so each of us is often --


in our own bell-jar.
Children's book "Haaientanden" ("Shark's teeth", 2019, Anna Woltz), chapter "75.4 kilometers"

Collection "Shelter"
Aug 2023 · 111
[ A poem: tail tip ]
Zywa Aug 2023
A poem: tail tip

of a cat that's already --


around the corner.
Poem "Verzamelde definities van poëzie" ("Collected definitions of poetry", 2022, Ester Naomi Perquin)

Collection "Glimpsed"
Zywa Aug 2023
Where is the truth? It's

so agile, never somewhere --


somewhere in between.
Poem "Opluchting" ("Relief", 2022, Ester Naomi Perquin)

ollection "Glimpsed"
Aug 2023 · 563
[ Educational ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Educational

books are given to children --


who are our teachers.
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § March 10th (1990)

Collection "On the fly"
Aug 2023 · 405
[ The famous writer ]
Zywa Aug 2023
The famous writer

is awfully shy, no one --


attends to his clothes.
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § March 10th (1990)

Collection "Shelter"
Aug 2023 · 285
[ Could it be a sign ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Could it be a sign?

Oh no, signs only appear --


when you don't need them.
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § Morning of mornings

Collection "Chance"
Aug 2023 · 1.3k
[ Her curly hair sings ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Her curly hair sings!

And it enchants me, it is --


electrostatic.
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § Concerning June 2nd (1990)

Collection "No wonder"
Aug 2023 · 712
[ It's a quiet day ]
Zywa Aug 2023
It's a quiet day.

I'm standing at the window --


contemplating rain.
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § April 12th (1990)

Collection "VacantVoid"
Aug 2023 · 221
[ How should I console ]
Zywa Aug 2023
How should I console

with the little cuckoo clock --


ticking in my head?
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § May 1st (1990)

Collection "Actively Passive"
Aug 2023 · 478
[ Angels come flying ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Angels come flying

in, hear, here must be heaven --


where the ***** sounds.
"A Song for St. Cecilia's Day" (1687, John Dryden), Stanza 7

Collection "No wonder"
Aug 2023 · 232
[ Am I vindictive ]
Zywa Aug 2023
Am I vindictive?

With flaming sword, an angel --


telling you the truth?
"The Queen of the Tambourine" (1991, Jane Gardam), § January 22nd? (1990)

Collection "WriteWiser signage"
Aug 2023 · 324
[ A door may open ]
Zywa Aug 2023
A door may open,

in any blind wall, it will --


be a door of love.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "CHOOSER"

Collection "Within the walls"
Aug 2023 · 223
[ My story and me ]
Zywa Aug 2023
My story and me,

are an interwoven whole --


Inextricably.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "QUIT"

Collection "WriteWiser signage"
Jul 2023 · 1.2k
[ I rake the ashes ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I rake the ashes

of the olive stones and I --


smell my homesickness.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "spitalfields"

Collection "Inwardings"
Jul 2023 · 560
[ Just ask anyone ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Just ask anyone

for a story and you'll get --


their complete life course.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "spitalfields"

Collection "Specialities"
Jul 2023 · 1.2k
[ You're asleep, I know ]
Zywa Jul 2023
You're asleep, I know,

nothing does matter, nothing --


is more important.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "VIEW"

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 20s and 30s"
Jul 2023 · 224
[ I prepare myself ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I prepare myself:

I keep fighting with myself --


to stay on my toes.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "NEW DOCUMENT"

Collection "Actively Passive"
Jul 2023 · 491
[ It is just like then ]
Zywa Jul 2023
It is just like then,

as if I have tumbled down --


in between two times.
Novel "The Gap of Time" (2015, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "Watery Star"

Collection "Inmost [1]"
Jul 2023 · 327
[ I know I'm alive ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I know I'm alive,

in the present, but the past --


overshadows me.
Novel "The Gap of Time" (2015, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "Watery Star"

Collection "Being my own museum"
Jul 2023 · 1.2k
[ Walls can both protect ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Walls can both protect

and confine you, lock you in --


until they collapse.
Jericho

Novel "Oranges are not the only fruit" (1985, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "Joshua"

Collection "No wonder"
Jul 2023 · 210
[ Not all dark places ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Not all dark places

with demons and old shadows --


are longing for light.
Novel "Oranges are not the only fruit" (1985, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "Ruth"

For Maria Godschalk

Collection "No wonder"
Jul 2023 · 609
[ Everything is Weight ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Everything is Weight

and Counterweight: it's Fate and --


the Wheel of Fortune.
"Oranges are not the only fruit" (1985, Jeanette Winterson) - Leviticus

Collection "No wonder"
Jul 2023 · 580
[ If I could gull, I ]
Zywa Jul 2023
If I could gull, I

would comfortably eat fish --


near the herring stall.
Column "Meeuw" ("Gull", Georgina Verbaan, in NRC, June 17th, 2017)

Collection "No wonder"
Jul 2023 · 692
[ I feel so at home ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I feel so at home

in the world, with the tomcat --


curled up on my bed.
Poem "Sover i sängen med en katt" ("Sleeping in bed with a cat", 2002, Lars Gustafsson)

Collection "Specialities"
Jul 2023 · 289
[ In my work I can ]
Zywa Jul 2023
In my work I can

add trumps and do everything --


if it comes off well.
Poem "The Profession" (2002, Lars Gustafsson)

Collection "Specialities"
Jul 2023 · 923
[ Would the alehoof and ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Would the alehoof and

creeping-flower wish to flee?


From my weeding hand?
"Als in een spiegel" ("Like in a mirror", 2000, Cor Jellema)

Alehoof and Ranunculus repens

Collection "Skin-contact"
Jul 2023 · 849
[ The bookkeeper counts ]
Zywa Jul 2023
The bookkeeper counts

the legacy, a drawer --


filled up with poems.
Poem "De lade van den dichter" ("The poet's drawer", 1934, Simon Vestdijk)

Collection "Inmost [2]"
Jul 2023 · 1.3k
[ With all their long toes ]
Zywa Jul 2023
With all their long toes,

the trees stand in the floodlight --


of the poppy field.
Poem "Gli eucalipti" ("The eucalyptus trees", 1933, Antonia Pozzi) - "Alti gli eucalipti lungo l'argine effusi al piede in uno sgorgo acceso di papaveri"

Collection "No wonder"
Jul 2023 · 900
[ I was seventeen ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I was seventeen,

with all my being I longed --


to offer myself.
Letter to Antonio Cervi, June 29th, 1933, Antonia Pozzi)

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Jul 2023 · 458
[ Do I prefer to ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Do I prefer to

remember, forget, forgive --


or be forgiven?
Novel "The seven moons of Maali Almeida" (2022, Shehan Karunatilaka)

Collection "Inmost [1]"
Jul 2023 · 400
[ The red sun burns in ]
Zywa Jul 2023
The red sun burns in

the windows of the city:


everything is lost.
Poem "Mille metri" ("A thousand meters", 1937, Antonia Pozzi)

"la tua città coi vetri in fiamme [..] Dove hai lasciato le tue vesti, i volti delle ragazze, i remi?" ("your city with windows on fire [..] Where did you put your clothes, the faces of the girls, the oars?")

Collection "After the festivities"
Jul 2023 · 556
[ It's raining tonight ]
Zywa Jul 2023
It's raining tonight

on our summer memories --


They are washed away.
Poem "Morte di una stagione" ("Death of a season", 1937, Antonia Pozzi) - "Piovve tutta la notte sulle memorie dell'estate"

Collection "After the festivities"
Jul 2023 · 450
[ Silvery glaucous ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Silvery glaucous

leaves sail away from the trees --


Little crescent moons.
Poem "Gli eucalipti" ("The eucalyptus trees", 1933, Antonia Pozzi) - "lungo il canale profondo naviga piccola falce"

Collection "No wonder"
Zywa Jul 2023
She took her clothes off,

unconcerned whether she might --


want to hide something.
Novel "Het smelt" ("It melts", 2016, Lize Spit), Elisa

Collection "Shelter"
Jul 2023 · 814
[ First you slurp water ]
Zywa Jul 2023
First you slurp water,

and from inside, it slurps you:


isn't that called drowning?
Novella "De eerlijke vinder" ("Finder's keepers", 2023, Lize Spit), chapter IV

Collection "Shelter"
Jul 2023 · 381
[ There are just no ways ]
Zywa Jul 2023
There are just no ways

to our goals, we hesitate --


and saunter about.
"Es gibt ein Ziel", aphorism II,4 #26 (1918, Franz Kafka): "Es gibt ein Ziel, aber keinen Weg, das was wir Weg nennen ist Zögern." ("There is a goal, but no way, what we call the way is hesitation.")

Collection "Chance"
Jul 2023 · 278
[ Still, twisted people ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Still, twisted people

do know what love is about --


their own twisted love.
Novel "Cocoon" (2022, Zhang Yueran)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 20s and 30s"
Jul 2023 · 404
[ Two teenage girls sit ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Two teenage girls sit-

ting opposite each other --


form a closed circle.
Novella "De eerlijke vinder" ("Finder's keepers", 2023, Lize Spit), chapter II
Jul 2023 · 492
[ It is summer fair ]
Zywa Jul 2023
It is summer fair,

I hear it at home, passing --


me turn after turn.
"Het smelt" ("It melts", 2016, Lize Spit), July 15th, 2002

Collection "Shelter"
Jul 2023 · 295
[ Don't go anywhere ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Don't go anywhere,

there is a Way, you just walk --


That's living your life.
Tao

"The Book and the Brotherhood" (1987, Iris Murdoch), § 1

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2023 · 502
[ The psychiatrist ]
Zywa Jul 2023
The psychiatrist

desperately deals hard blows --


to me, to my thoughts.
Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch)

'Desperate cases require desperate remedies'

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2023 · 233
[ It is late, bedtime ]
Zywa Jul 2023
It is late, bedtime,

there's a waft around the lamp --


a cloud of white moths.
Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch), chapter 2, part 5

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2023 · 579
[ Disabled people ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Disabled people

evolve, as human beings --


they become braver.
Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch), chapter 2, part 6

Collection "Unspoken"
Zywa Jul 2023
They seem well-known, yet

marital relationships --


are a mystery.
Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch), chapter 2, part 5

Collection "Unspoken"
Zywa Jul 2023
The words are there, and

they are lost, unfindable . . .


just suspension points.
Expressive aphasia (damage to the Broca's area)

Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch), chapter 2, part 5

Collection "Unspoken"
Zywa Jul 2023
For hours they're chasing

each other across the plains:


thundery showers.
Poem "Meteorologen" ("The meteorologist", 1966, Lars Gustafsson)

Collection "Specialities"
Jul 2023 · 246
[ The years fly by fast ]
Zywa Jul 2023
The years fly by fast,

so the better you can see --


what the changes are.
Poem "Meteorologen" ("The meteorologist", 1966, Lars Gustafsson)

Collection "Specialities"
Jul 2023 · 392
[ Day to day I live ]
Zywa Jul 2023
Day to day I live

eternally, in moments --


of time that passes.
Novel "The Good Apprentice" (1985, Iris Murdoch), chapter 1, part 6

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2023 · 633
[ I lived happily ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I lived happily,

comfortably in the blue --


big egg of heaven.
"Bruno's Dream" (1969, Iris Murdoch), § 11

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2023 · 145
[ I'm roving about ]
Zywa Jul 2023
I'm roving about

in fear, there are big holes here --


that I cannot see.
"Bruno's Dream" (1969, Iris Murdoch), § 15

Collection "Unspoken"
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