#amsterdam
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
Feb 25
Feb 25, 2026 at 4:19 AM UTC
I jump among the serious people
in front of the church, the café still closed
and I think even further back in time
In a late spring there was a ditch side here
yonder a mill, the ramparts and the crown
of the old Western
As if it were a thickly painted canvas
I wipe off layers of history
I expose peat diggers, see the wind
in the flowering swamp
over many seasons, everything flies
back into existence
Long hair of the mammoths
from the west, up to the ridge
on which human species *****
It can be seen with a distant look
in the middle of the city
here where I stand
Feb 2
Feb 2, 2026 at 3:27 AM UTC
The soil preserved signs
of thousands of years
of life at this site -
later, in the year 1000, a marshy
area with a terp on the Ame
Stream, the Aemestelle
as elsewhere in Europe
raised from an abbey
to reclaim the land
Houses were built
on huijes, a forest
of thin piles
as anchors in the peat, and
as an anchor of hope
and authority of the church:
the legend of the cog ship
carrying the bishop, his rescuer
and his dog
Jan 24
Jan 24, 2026 at 3:20 AM UTC
From the carillon
tone after tone is leaping --
lightly over me.
Nov 22, 2025
Nov 22, 2025 at 4:11 AM UTC
I love Amsterdam at night
rows of narrow houses on the canal
lit windows, slow time
jewel of my loneliness
predictable daytime traffic
manoeuvring through logos and slogans
grumpy faces, professional smile
turning diagonally on steep sections
zigzag track from right to left
watch out, it causes accidents
attention, left is going, right is standing
flashing lights in the middle every now and then
like nothing is wrong
grab like crows in the poo
between garbage and inventory
ephemeral, a group on the sidewalk
familiar strange ordinary
fellow citizens where we live
quite easily next to each other
our contacts interchangeable
Amsterdam at night
narrow houses on the canal
lit windows, slow time
jewel of my loneliness
Nov 14, 2025
Nov 14, 2025 at 4:03 AM UTC
Archaeologists of our time
examine the exposed sand
between the foundations
for the future
Retro is modern
cars are banned
tourists consume
the old town
Big money flows
outside the city centre
Within the canal district
permits are skimming it
Residents are leaving
the harsh world
of stone, glass, and concrete
they veer
to canals with islands
of greenery, to boats and houses
with hollyhocks on the facades
and gardens on the rooftops
Aug 12, 2025
Aug 12, 2025 at 3:56 AM UTC
Scents so sweet and soft,
drifting through the stone city:
sidewalk gardens bloom.
Jul 26, 2025
Jul 26, 2025 at 3:34 AM UTC
There are quays for, for
passers-by: the spectators --
and the cargo boats.
Jul 12, 2025
Jul 12, 2025 at 3:11 AM UTC
When you go boating,
you are part of the city-
scape that others see.
Jul 1, 2025
Jul 1, 2025 at 2:12 AM UTC
We do fitness on
the canal: we pedal hard --
to see the quaysides.
Jul 1, 2025
Jul 1, 2025 at 2:11 AM UTC
More bicycles here
than houses, that makes sense, but --
where are the people?
Jun 16, 2025
Jun 16, 2025 at 2:25 AM UTC
It always starts this way...
you fold a paper airplane
throw it up...watch it fly...swoop
only to crash
"Its like love" he said
turning over in bed
the next time he spoke
he asked for money
"Its like love" I thought...as
I walked out the door
thinking...nothing is ever like love...
what good is it to compare
what you want....and what is
"nog eentje" I say...and sip beer quickly
it's always so dark over here
one foot then the other...
keep...counting as you...make your...way
across tracks and cobbles
through crowds and rain
one drink too many.....but always too few
a separate issue now
no longer love in question
just lust and hunger for release
"are you alone now" he said
"no...I'm with you"
He reaches for my hand...
I'm reaching for my drink...
we collide and....glass smashes
to the floor....bleeds red wine
a calm feeling now....after kissing and ***
the smell soothes...yet...creates confusion
an odour of such delight makes one feel...
feel so filthy...."its a necessary evil" he said
and as i close the last shirt button
I say "believe me...it has nothing to do with heaven"
Mar 6, 2025
Mar 6, 2025 at 1:26 AM UTC
I met Sharon, walked
her along unknown canals --
with bikes everywhere.
Mar 6, 2024
Mar 6, 2024 at 3:29 AM UTC
In the city there are many doors
that are open at night
to being awake
experiencing something together
across the threshold
no longer being an outsider
In the city there are many sidewalks
where people stand
and explore distant areas
with flexible words
questions and mental leaps
to become familiar with them
In the city there are many gardens
where children play, birds
whistle and all year round, flowers
attract bees and people
to come and feast
on the nectar of the day
Mar 4, 2024
Mar 4, 2024 at 3:49 AM UTC
Back in Amsterdam!
So, why aren't people shining --
here with happiness?!
Jun 13, 2023
Jun 13, 2023 at 2:40 AM UTC
The sky is blue and cold today
as if the atmosphere is thinner
and I can sense the void
under which the houses are small
and low, meaningless
fleeting and interchangeable
The old timber factory seems to be leaking
On the right side of the base
smoke rises from the building
as if a reversed draught
through the black chimney hole
absorbs, from distant stars, seas
of gigawatts of power for the city
Apr 3, 2023
Apr 3, 2023 at 3:45 AM UTC
I entered the display case
of people educators
subsidizing snobs
the multirich 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
Nov 18, 2018
Nov 18, 2018 at 2:48 AM UTC
Sincerely David,
lovely apparition for the man in me,
lovely decadence of the eagerly,
lovely poem lovely,
Kissinger and the dearly,
how often does one remember
how often of the off
off the membrane of the soft
off the remembrance of thy spine
love your poems and the manly woman
women are they eager of Shakespeare?
Oct 4, 2022
Oct 4, 2022 at 6:56 AM UTC
Amsterdam! Free
man of the world you want to be
your wild eyes threaten
my father hand, please, send
an angel, light, a woman
a favourable wind, sweet dreams
someone, something to help you
unbreakable mirrors if need be
Father, mother, earth, universe
make something happen, of course
who sees everything, does not know why
to intervene
freedom would be meaningless
if for adults only
understanding and obedient
everything with measure, giving up
what is beautiful and attractive
and smiling
at the discontented excuses
and lies of the past
You grow up wounded
I too have built, defended
and then demolished
castles and walls -
old men's proud
of the scars of my fight
Dec 6, 2021
Dec 6, 2021 at 3:25 AM UTC
The level is rising around
the islands of silt
in the swamp, the fishermen
see their world widening
Old streambeds are also filling up
The wetlands become accessible
by rivers from the mainland
It is a ******* void
a gate to the sea, a chance
for the peat farmers and the forest people
to start trading, to build
dikes, quays, a city
with a dam
in the middle
People are flowing over
from the prosperous villages
to the impoldered land
with the new port –
not an old core that hungrily
conquers the surrounding lands
but their colony
May 21, 2021
May 21, 2021 at 3:21 AM UTC
my dreams and aspirations
cannot be confined to this textbook
for it can’t teach me how to
walk the cobblestoned streets of stockholm,
surf the waters of bondi beach,
ride the canals of amsterdam,
nor hike the city of cinque terre.
but here i am, not knowing what the future holds in store for me,
just waiting for the time to come
of which i can experience
the joy that is to travel.
Oct 19, 2019
Oct 19, 2019 at 11:22 AM UTC
We were in a bar
in Amsterdam;
it was noisy
with punters.
She sat on a bar stool
next to me.
What did you think
of Anne Frank's house?
Seemed ghostly,
I said,
as if all that tension
and anxiety had been
soaked into the walls.
She lit a cigarette
and inhaled.
I did likewise.
Someone must
have split on them.
Guess so,
I said.
Some one laughed loudly;
another spoke in Dutch.
Did you hear
what that ***** said
on the minibus?
What about?
I asked.
How she'd had this guy
in the back of a lorry
and he'd left the brakes off
and the lorry moved
along the side street
and hit a wall,
and they
were thrown apart?
No, never heard her;
I tend to ignore her
when she talks,
I said.
She's a ****
but I still have to
listen to her.
We sipped our beers
and smoked
our cigarettes.
You want to come
to my tent tonight
and such?
Sure,
I said,
let's.
Jun 16, 2019
Jun 16, 2019 at 2:43 AM UTC
Dark clouds in the sunset glow
there's an invisible death below
Amidst apartment blocks, I stroll
around and around a new black hole
of concentrated matter
A broken-winged cargo plane smashed
friends of friends of friends of mine
It is quiet after the blow
I want to hear what I don't want to know
and then kiss away the danger
be it with a stranger
Caress me, caress me, make me glory
for a night, let me forget this story
Mar 17, 2019
Mar 17, 2019 at 6:29 AM UTC