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Zywa May 7
A house always gets

all kinds of defects, well, we --


just live around them.
Collection of family stories "Gezinsverpakking" ("Family package", 2024, 'De Chabotten'), story "Lieve chaos" ("Dear chaos", Maurits Chabot)

Collection "Home sea"
Zywa Feb 15
Ah, the willow branch

in the vase can no longer --


reach the low water.
Haiku by Shigenobu (-1832), included in the 1986 collection "Japanese Death Poems", compiled by Yoel Hoffmann: "Nageire no / mizu mo todokazu / yanagi kana" ("A willow branch / that doesn't reach the water / in the vase")

Collection "After the festivities"
Zywa Mar 2022
A human doesn't

belong to humanity --


It is not a group.
The concept of humanity is fictitious

Collection "The drama"
Zywa Nov 2018
Just going to bed alone
at midnight, it makes no sense
to warm his place for him
or to guess in recovery position
where he could be

At times I find an M
in a heart somewhere
with a smile
I put that note
in my yearbook

When I go peeing at night
I see him lie, being awake
enough to get confused
by the odour of his sleep
and then I have to wait
      
Take all the time in the morning
For love
Collection "More"
Zywa Nov 2021
Air: always moving,

whether you listen or not --


your ears will vibrate.
"Solo VIII - Air" (2016, Claudio F. Baroni)

Collection "org anp ark" #176
Zywa Dec 2021
A jar full of worms:

they're trying to creep away --


without a leader.
Collection "Mosaic virus"
Zywa May 2021
A Jolly Roger

swings its way through the reed beds –


the ducks flutter up.
Collection "PumicePieces"
Zywa Aug 2023
A kiss, naked I

stand before you, I'm not me --


I am your lover.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "SEARCH"

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s and 10s"
Zywa Apr 2019
A knife is flashing

in the night, in my hand, no!


in my dream, I hope.
Collection "From Sacred Scriptures"
Zywa Sep 2023
A landscape like this

in winter, on unique days --


seen for centuries.
Poem "treinrit van Groningen na Amsterdam" ("train journey from Groningen to Amsterdam", 2022, Antjie Krog)

Collection "Stream"
Zywa Aug 2021
Alarm, already

five times in just a minute --


I hear my first name!
"Het diner" ("The Dinner", 2009, Herman Koch)

Collection "Actively Passive"
Zywa Nov 2022
Alas, making love

is the worst, so self-conscious --


we are, both of us.
Letter 3, to Theo Peeters, spring 1966 ("A pleasant postumity: letters 1965-1997", 2004, Herman de Coninck)

Collection "Shortages"
Zywa Jul 2020
It started with Ox House donkey
In the housebarn of the manor
The room was full of family

It was warm, with mum
and the aunts who know all
about childbirth, the men also

stayed up and drank to the new
king, his little bed with lambskin
in a manger was next to me

After Passover in the capital
we had to leave, the news
of our son was buzzing around

people came to warn:
Ox House Camel, the alphabet, Door
to open and to close

Hand that reaps the fruits, Eye that sees
and Mouth that speaks the truth
My heart that knows the concealed

breath of the breathing, spirit
over the waters, the words
it once started with
Maria (in Bethlehem, 5 bC)

Letters of the Phoenician alphabet – In the beginning was the Word

Collection "From Sacred Scriptures"
Zywa Nov 2019
A lie cannot walk,

it has neither feet nor legs –


you have to bring it.
Reflection on the proverb “A lie has no legs”

Collection "The drama"
Zywa May 2020
On the edge, I'm dripping out
from my jumps in men

their nice words
*** and impatience

Wishing to give each other everything but
not knowing how subsequently

to lead a life of our own
Thinking about that for so long

that it is a problem
insoluble for logic

from which it originated
and elusive

for my unrest that fears
to miss opportunities

and is distracted
by the laughing and dancing

of the passing people who
did not pay attention to me
did not pay attention to mé

on the edge, dripping
from unappreciated beauty

on the edge, dripping
from unappreciated desire
Collection “Webgarden”
Zywa Apr 2019
I like to lie awake
thinking of romantically
with him, forever after
yes, I do

want to be the princess, I know my role
but my prince still makes mistakes
and blames me for Great Expectations
that he mocks

preferably in the presence of others
because laughing is healthy
anyway, just me is good
enough

we say: you are my dearest
a little crazy
but beautiful
the way you are
For Michael J. K. (“Ancient Master”)

Collection “It takes a lot of tries to make a début”
Zywa Dec 2022
A little flower,

delicate between sharp stones --


that's what life feels like.
"tuimelaar" ("bottlenose dolphin", 2008, Rozalie Hirs)

Collection "Willegos"
Zywa Aug 2023
A living statue

bends over, taps my shoulder:


it wants a picture.
Colum "Bewegende standbeelden" ("Moving statues", 2023, Marcel van Roosmalen), in NRC, July 3rd, 2023

Collection "Specialities"
Zywa Apr 2021
A living statue

does not seem to have muscles –


for a sudden sneeze.
Collection "From Sacred Scriptures"
All
Zywa Nov 2020
All
Breakfast late
the table half-cleared
embrace in the kitchen

There's no need for more:
stomach to stomach, hands
around us

Slowly you take off your clothes
and mine, easily, we reach
for love that is already there

the glowing and the delay
the fulfillment that is already there
the big secret
Collection "The Big Secret"
All
Zywa May 2019
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
Collection "Heart's Delight"
Zywa Apr 2023
All he could do was

hiss like a snake: Hizzizze-


rezshzmeezezzymuzsh.
"It interests me very much", from the novel "Het Bureau - Afgang" ("The Office - Failure", 2000, Han Voskuil), pages 340-342

Collection "Not too bad [1974-1989]"
Zywa Nov 2021
On assigned holidays
I step out of the order
of my work into the row
for useful relaxation

The grain comes up
the sun breeds the grains
and colours the winter out of our skin

Everything is included, extras
can be booked on site
and appropriately enjoyed
in one of the wings

Thus we fly laps
in our dreams for a week
enjoying our role

although there is always someone
who doesn't participate, hooking
on to the back with a book
that he could have read at home

without disturbing others
in their well-deserved vacation
of exclusive behaviour
"People in the Sun" (1963, Edward Hopper)

Collection "NightWatch"
Zywa Feb 2022
All in due time please,

we eat the soup and the flies --


but not in one bite.
"De rat van Amsterdam" ("The rat of Amsterdam", 2020, Pieter Waterdrinker)

Collection "Rasping ants"
Zywa Jun 2020
The kitchen and the large bed
are Mum's, Pippi and I
live throughout the house

where everything must be in its place
I'm working on it every day
just like Mum, and sweet mouse

Neil hangs on his tail
he watches and sniffs
then I pet him, he likes that



I was two, now I'm seventeen
my room is mine, and Trini
is mine, my stuff

friends, jobs, money and all
the things Mum would not approve
if she knew, are mine

all mine
even if they explode
and I can't help but cry
Collection “The Big Secret”
Zywa Aug 2021
All my life it is

mysterious that I think --


with all my body.
Collection "Being"
Zywa Apr 2022
All my magic spells

come from knowledge, study and --


lots of willpower.
"Circe" (2018, Madeline Miller)

Collection "Inmost"
Zywa Jul 2024
All my skin is clothed

in a flowing net of rain:


living crocheting.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), Lake Geneva, 1816

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Zywa May 23
All my space travels

are tragic, going so far --


and getting nowhere.
Poem "Testpiloot" ("Test pilot", 2012, Ingmar Heytze)

Collection "Stream"
Zywa May 2022
All stories are true,

somewhere in the world, and here --


they may happen too.
"De Bijbel voor ongelovigen -- Het verhaal van Abiga-il" ("The Bible for unbelievers - The story of Abiga-il"), 2015, Guus Kuijer

David

Collection "Chance"
Zywa Feb 2019
I knew the outside world
from stories: there are forests
and foreigners, mean people too
But always someone comes
to help, and I learned

you can be a hero
It's about the outcome
(the blessed life only starts
  with the happy end)

That's how I grew up
and the world grew along with me
so that my outside world got further
and further away, and I learned

daily life is boring and
it is unfeasible to be a hero
But my little son wants
me to tell something exciting

So I get brews
from the wizards of stories
I stir and boil them up
I let him feast

eager
to be soon grown-up enough
to go into the wide world himself
travelling to the happy end

and I keep silent how far it is
and that it is shifting away
every day, to the future
in which we won't be
Collection “Secrets & Believers”
Zywa Jan 17
All the white angels

sway, they are singing of us:


of our division.
Song "Plus rien ne m'étonne" ("Nothing surprises me anymore", 2004, Tiken Jah Fakoly), album "Coup de gueule" ("Rant")

Collection "May the Might"

See Le Grand Choral 2024 on YouTube
Zywa Apr 25
All things are still lives

in themselves, unpretentious --


what they are there for.
Novel "Het Bureau - Meneer Beerta" ("The Office - Mister Beerta", 1996, Han Voskuil), 1957 (page 33)

Collection "Not too bad"
Zywa Jul 2022
All things break down, and

they perish, fortunately --


slower than I do.
"Verhoudingskwestie" ("Matter of ratio", 2022, Ellen Deckwitz)

Collection "Death on Cast"
Zywa Jul 2021
All those stupid things

in my youth, and my parents:


what a lovely time!
Christmas story "Aan tafel" ("At the table", 2014, Maartje Wortel)

Collection "Home sea"
Zywa Jul 2021
All virtues are bright,

but justice mixes things up --


into a brown truth.
"Nuns and Soldiers" (1980, Irish Murdoch)

Collection "Thinkles Lusionless"
Zywa Oct 2020
All your thoughts are free,

they are only limited –


by their own bulwarks.
Song “Die Gedanken sind frei” (1780)

Collection "The Yellow House Museum"
Zywa Jul 2020
Almost drowned houses,

the residents on the roofs –


waiting like Buddhas.
Collection "Pending rain"
Zywa Jun 2
Because you like to watch
I tie you
to your desire

We are not at home
others peek with you
along the pillars

I know it unseen
blind because of the towel
with which I dry my hair

on the terrace for beautiful people
in the middle of the town, where beauty
gathers in the theatres for everything

that people are capable of
on the edge of reality
and their unbridled imagination

captured like you, your eyes
and hands, by almost
touchable perfection
[Beauty and justice are the two halves of happiness and peace]

Collection "More"
Zywa Feb 2019
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
Collection “The light of words”
Zywa Apr 2021
Along the road stands an angel
with wild hair and a mouth full
of astonishment, an angel of stone:

mother, you stayed behind
you've seen too much
of the carbon black sky

The ground shook at night, the door
rattled with angry neighbours. 'Go away!'
father cried. 'What do you want?

My daughters? Shall I send them?
They are still virgins.' He called us
but quickly quickly we left the city

that was ****** then
We no longer have friends
Next year we would get married
Lot (in ***** near the Jordan river, 1950 BC)

Genesis 19:4-8 and Judges 19:22-29

Collection “From Sacred Scriptures”
Zywa Dec 2023
I'm sitting at the table, maybe
sleeping, I think for a second
at the blare of a siren
that takes along the smell
of puffed chestnuts from my nose
to an emergency

In the kitchen I see
the cat looking expectantly
and the clouds pass swiftly
past the drowsy sun
We're going to play soon
first I make coffee

High and low the boiling
water and the traffic rustle
my eyes shut, I feel
the cold under the arid air
of autumn, it will take long
before spring comes
Following a chat with Maria Godschalk on October 18th, 2017

Collection "Slow circles"
Zywa Oct 2021
A lot has happened,

mistakes have been made, and crates --


have been packed and moved.
"Artis" (2017, Spinvis) --- Collection "After the festivities"
Zywa Nov 2024
A lot of wisdom,

as the harvest of my life?


Nah, I know better.
Interview by Carolina Lo Galbo with Renate Dorrestein in the tv-program "VPRO Books" (December 17th, 2017)

Collection "Old sore"
Zywa Jan 2019
Grandpa is sitting straight
against post 8,5
his feet in the hole

I am a horse
in the empty place
facing him

dust clouds behind me
and splashing water
I am a flying fish

my fins grow
wings with feathers whizz whoom
I already am on the other side

and back with eagle eyes
beware, I claw you away
before you see my shadow

I do the mole crawl and
with mill sails, I rain
a moat around our fortress
With grandpa at the beach

Collection “BloodTrunk”
Zywa Aug 2022
Although you like me,

I'll be alone again, once --


you got to know me.
Dagboekroman "Allesverpletterende - Faxen aan Ger #3" (Diary-novel "All-crushing - Faxing to Ger #3", July 9th, 1998, published 2019, Nicolien Mizee)

Collection "Out of place"
Zywa Oct 2021
Always novelties,

that is the evolution:


copying errors.
Collection "New Ago"
Zywa Feb 2021
Always snow or rain,

always the clouds remain grey –


still, there is no spring.
Collection "Summer birds"
Zywa Jul 2021
Always with measure,

also and above all truth --


It is poisonous!
Play "An Enemy of the people" (1882, Henrik Ibsen)

Collection "VacantVoid"
Zywa Dec 2022
A magpie inspects

what is trusted, what is new --


around my new house.
Collection "NightWatch"
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