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19h · 30
The deputy
Zywa 19h
With the proceeds he bought the bank
the water company and computer halls
Modern Monopoly. He invested
in advanced filters and the internet

With a wink he kept his title
'Landlord'. Ah, the good old days
Now we are the owners, we pay
the subscriptions and pay off our debt

Things are going well, fewer members
are active, there is talk on the sidelines
and self-interested owners
collect proxies

The administrator acts
opportunistically and follows
the outside world
There is a call

for another system:
with so little involvement
a transfer of power will do -
blank until business is done
Democratic decision tot delegate executive, legislative, and judicial powers to one person of group of super-rich

Landlord / Corps noble (noble body), Corps social (social body) / Aristocracy, Oligarchy

Association of Homeowners / Corps législatif (legislative body) / Democracy

Delegate / Corps commun (communal body) / Populist totalitarianism (Ochlocracy)

Collection "The drama"
Zywa 19h
Buzzing everywhere,

the oasis full of bees --


All flowers empty.
1. Migration to rich countries, which get too crowded to feed everyone / 2. Kleptocracy, keeping the population as poor as possible

Collection "The drama"
1d · 40
Chain of fire
Zywa 1d
Underground, my thoughts
collide with him
They tear flames

from his stature, from his voice
They blow fire into his house
put a fire around his wife

A chain of craters
Ash clouds over the world
And me in the Peaceful Centre

of the catastrophes
which must hit his marriage
without harming him

How many aftershocks to go?
How much heat?
How much desire?
Song "Ring of fire" (1963, June Carter and Johnny Cash), sung by Johnny Cash (1963, album "Ring of Fire: the Best of Johnny Cash")

Circle of VEI 8 volcanoes surrounding the Pacific Ocean

Collection "Without reserve"
Zywa 1d
A gale bumps and beats

branches away, gates open --


bears into their caves.
Collection "Without reserve"
2d · 53
Fallen angel
Zywa 2d
What is home, everyone knows
from experience or lack
or both, as I do

And still
I know what I missed
when I think about it

Not often, at last
I got my home
And still

I am the saviour, the angel
I have practised to be
from childhood

I hesitate at the old Christmas card
with me as a little angel, back then
when I got a cat as a present

Stars on my white dress
gilt-edged wings
and a halo

But unable
to definitely redeem
my family, their desires

Wounded, I crashed
bipolar between heaven and earth
between love and failure
Photo: Christmas 1986; Maria is 4 years old, her brother is 12

For Maria Godschalk

Collection "Bruises"
Zywa 2d
The mouths are open,

wide, as if they are screaming:


the leaf ***** in air.
Stomata (of leaves)

Collection "Bruises"
3d · 95
Angry Angel
Zywa 3d
You cannot sleep?
It will come
It's the clock genes

Just come over here
and lie down with me
Close to each other
You are so sweet

It tied knots in me
that are not quite undone yet
I was a saviour, an angel

not yet used
to her body, a child
who does know heaven
but not yet earth

It recurred
Anger grew inside me
Powerless aversion

It recurred
And with others
I lost my wings
A worthless angel
Clock genes: 24-hour rhythm / circadian rhythm (circa-dies = approximately a day)

For Maria Godschalk

Collection "Bruises"
Zywa 3d
My room: a waste bin,

chair, chamber ***, and myself --


tossing in my bed.
Collection "Bruises"
4d · 49
Bad Dream
Zywa 4d
Man is a wild animal
in a herd, a group
that organizes
to be tamed

but it's not easy
to get the systems right
There are unexpected effects
or oppressive requirements

No one is responsible
Deposing leaders, killing
dictators makes no difference
The people tolerate the successor

Help is needed
From the outside, but
the borders are deadly
to humanity

So I must appreciate little
things, a glance
the clouds, fresh bread once
and dream what is forbidden
The main forms of totalitarian power:
    • capitalist kleptocracy of shareholders
    • oligarchic kleptocracy of a dictatorship
    • "family" kleptocracy of the mafia

Novel and screenplay "Metropolis" (1924, Thea von Harbou; film 1927, Fritz Lang)

Film "Modern Times" (1936, Charlie Chaplin)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa 4d
In the gusts of wind,

the waves foam yellowish green --


and.. a boat dances.
Collection "Mastress"
5d · 86
Evill Will
Zywa 5d
Forgive me
I don't want to explain away
the fact that I needed time

to put the consequences
of one or the other
together

The appearances may be against me
but I didn't hold aloof
really, I never wait and see

I don't look away
I just look thoroughly
for a well-considered decision

because so much is happening
and often there is no clear line
in all the details

And I don't want to do anything wrong
That is the seed
of my passivity

My aversion to misdeeds
Evill Will: Passivity (out of aversion to misdeeds)

About misdeeds: poem "Evill Intent" (see May 17th)
Zywa 5d
Eavesdropping always

changes something, except when --


it's done secretly.
"Trois couleurs: Rouge" - Fraternité ("Three Colours: Red" - Fraternity, 1993, Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Collection "Mastress"
6d · 61
Big Bad Wolf
Zywa 6d
I dare to get into bed with you
Your big mouth is too small
for the world, your heart too big

for me, here I am
Well, tell, then I'll dream
with you, about you

in a purple cloak
the skin of innocence and power
Very discreetly, very discreetly

you take revenge
on anyone who does not get into action
and just lets everything happen

You issue wise orders
that camouflage your agenda
Much trouble for nothing

for though you loathe them
they are not another species
they are like you

only not angry enough
to be able to choose
what is important

That is the seed
the seed of your anger
Everyone's passivity
Big Bad Wolf: Anger (out of aversion to other people's passivity)

About passivity: poem "Evill Will" (see May 25th)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa 6d
Here too, policemen

coming to deport me to --


a death of torture.
After a rejected asylum application

Film "Die middag" ("That afternoon", 2023, Nafiss Nia)

Collection "Between where"
7d · 66
Evil Child
Zywa 7d
Hand over my mouth, I laugh
at the evil child
you are, who wants everything
as it should be

a better world
justice, equality
and brotherhood, now!

No longer an ideal
that makes fellow human beings suffer
in order not to lack anything themselves

So immature, not you
your complaint, your desire
for more

more solidarity
more harmony
more self-criticism

I know, the seed
of your gluttony
which wants all that
is your sweet anger
Evil Child: Gluttony (for justice, equality and brotherhood, solidarity, harmony and self-criticism, out of anger at the lack of them in society)

About anger: poem "Big Bad Wolf" (see May 24th)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa 7d
The riches we have

are limited, we want more --


attention, on call.
Collection "Mastress"
May 22 · 628
Evil World
Zywa May 22
The night is safe. Come
Whatever goes wrong
you did what you could do

Come. You want too much
love and appreciation
from others for each other

and fewer regulations
fewer regulators
who interfere

and, like puppets
decide your fate
Mistakes are forbidden

They're in the system
and that's being worked on
Come. Over is the day

in which the seed lies
the seed of your fear
Your gluttonous love
Evil World: Fear (from a gluttonous need for love, comfort and security you fear, thinking you cannot function in the social system)

About gluttony: poem "Evil Child" (see May 23rd)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 22
We have coats of arms

to protect us, our courage --


against doom-thinking.
Collection "Mastress"
May 21 · 77
Evil Boss
Zywa May 21
We live a sober life, enough
is enough for me, and reserves
are necessary according to you

Everything is insured, luckily
no loans, we are working hard
because otherwise one has nothing

The children have their own lives
they won't take care of us
and are already asking for part

of their portion of inheritance, but it's stuck
in stone, in vaults, and in your head
that also wants to cover the coverage

People should grow up
and take care of themselves
reap their own harvest

though we could share more
relying on mutual aid
not just on our own character

in which lies the seed
the seed of greed
Our fear
Evil Boss: Greed (for fear that others will not help you)

About fear: poem "Evil World" (see May 22nd)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 21
The gum bubble bursts,

people scream about profit


motives: blue ******!
"Trois couleurs: Rouge" - Fraternité ("Three Colours: Red" - Fraternity, 1993, Krzysztof Kieślowski), Valentine

Collection "Mastress"
May 20 · 56
Evil Fairy
Zywa May 20
Always just joy and happiness
would be boring, but what can I
know about something that doesn't occur?

It would also be unfair, indeed
unbearable, if fairy tales
could be real

I don't begrudge my friends anything
as long as we go well together
and they don't flaunt

their children
being in the clover
or other prosperity

I avoid neighbours and colleagues
who like to brag about
additions and gadgets

I can miss those things
but Gladstone Gander's certainty
that there will always be enough

the blessing of good fortune
I would like to have that
And therein lies the seed

the seed of my envy
my greed, so that I can show
that I am blessed
Evil Fairy: Envy (out of the need to have a blessed life yourself)

About greed: poem "Evil Boss" (see May 21st)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 20
Gold chips on the street

can't be real, such a party --


would be pathetic.
May 19 · 50
Evil Tongue
Zywa May 19
There must be misery hidden
behind glitter and gold
wouldn't it?

We talk about it, right away
if there's anything suspicious
A child staying at home

grandma on a visit for a week
a new nanny
or a long business trip

Call it gossip
It is the cement
of our neighbourhood

And we know very well
that it is possible
it is not true

And this is the seed
the seed of our slander
Our envy
Evil Tongue: Slander (gossiping about neighbours and acquaintances, out of envy of their lives)

About envy: poem "Evil Fairy" (see May 20th)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 19
The world your parents

keep impressing on you is --


fitting less and less.
Diary novel "Een licht bewoond eiland - Faxen aan Ger #5" ("A lightly inhabited island - Faxing to Ger #5", 2022, Nicolien Mizee), April 21st, 2000

Collection "Out of place"
May 18 · 66
Evil Eye
Zywa May 18
I'm not vain, I'm noble
Beyond reproach
I know the world, the people

with their little souls
their little minds
and little worries

I understand them, I see
the guilt and the shame
with which they punish themselves

for their lies
to keep the corpses
hidden in their wardrobe

I can guess them though
and I pass them on in a whisper
like a gear, a compelling eye

That's just how it works
Thanks to these seeds
I am exemplary

The seeds of my high-
handed, high-minded ideas
So practical, my slander
Evil Eye: Pride (after slandering people you consider inferior, look down on them with a compelling eye)

About slander: poem "Evil Tongue" (see May 19th)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 18
The tall man is dressed

in nothing, nothing but ties --


So superior!
Gires Kanda in a suit of ties, Kinshasa 2022 (photo Kris Pannecoucke)

Collection "Mastress"
May 17 · 74
Evill Intent
Zywa May 17
The people here
are not quite grown up
They live past inconveniences

So I'm gonna settle it
Like a parent for their own good
Comment is all in the game

I don't mind, we have to move on
Who does not act, is manipulated
and my own preferences
don't appear out of the blue
I have experience

I chip and wipe away the chips
I am a doer, a maker
No expensive gestures
no desperate remedies
to reassure desperate patients

I know what I'm doing, there are goals
to achieve and worlds to win
with ambition

the seed of my misdeeds
my taunted pride
to want to achieve something
Evill Intent: Misdeed (out of pride, subordinating fellow human beings "for their own good" to an interest that has your preference)

About pride: poem "Evil Eye" (see May 18th)

Collection "Mastress"
Zywa May 17
Just sully your hands

and cover them, draw the veil --


of your black money.
Communist equality and true equality

"Trzy kolory: Bialy" - Równość ("Three Colours: White" [Equality], 1993, Krzysztof Kieślowski), Karol

Collection "Mastress"
May 16 · 91
Songs without words
Zywa May 16
Where are the poets
who devote themselves to music
to the songs that are too good
for the lyrics to the melody
so that nothing impairs
the sound of the feelings?

Songs without empty wishes
Songs without tall talk
And no commonplaces in rhyme

Only tenderness and joy
to my anger and anxiety
my melancholy and desire
my sadness, the love
and the wonder
at everything

Otherwise a title is enough
even difficult enough
for a song without words
Collection "The light of words"
May 16 · 49
[ Poems can be vague ]
Zywa May 16
Poems can be vague,

naming the unnamable --


unsilencing it.
Collection "The light of words"
Zywa May 15
Grandpa is so strict:

storms never thunder, because --


swearing isn't allowed.
Novel "sint sebastiaan" ("saint sebastian", 1939, Simon Vestdijk), III-1, page 148

Collection "Inmost"
May 15 · 86
[ He is dangerous ]
Zywa May 15
He is dangerous,

he paces in a system --


of fabrications.
Novel "sint sebastiaan" ("saint sebastian", 1939, Simon Vestdijk), III-4, pages 188-189

Collection "Inmost"
Zywa May 14
It's always like this,

whenever I am happy --


I feel so lonely.
"Atlas shrugged"  (1957, Ayn Rand), part 1, chapter II

Collection "Willegos"
Zywa May 14
That's how the world turns:

by people making something --


tangible that lasts.
"Atlas shrugged"  (1957, Ayn Rand), part 1, chapter IV

Collection "Willegos"
May 13 · 102
Cross over
Zywa May 13
It is empty on the Grand Square
The guide tells about the past
His words blow over

Birds above the roofs, white clouds
it takes a long time
until we go for a drink

In the café we cross over
in each other's language
to the streets where we live

and everything is the same
in a different way

We sing along to the songs
of our teenage years and toast
the world that is becoming ours

I stall for time, don't want to let go
of the guide, I'd like take him with me
and show him around my own city

let him see with my eyes
after seeing what he saw
not knowing what he was thinking
Collection "Migration"

Song "Nathalie" (1964, Gilbert Bécaud)
Zywa May 13
Tourists are a plague,

going further and further --


they keep crossing lines.
Boundary crossing #4, Tourism

Collection "Migration"
May 12 · 164
Baltimore
Zywa May 12
Crippled, skinny gull
puddles in the potholes
of empty streets

holes in the walls
the school closed, no one
who could leave stayed

after the riots
no one who was released
from the cells

Losses have been taken
suitcases packed
the water shut off

Old town, dead harbour
where I was at home and would
have liked to come back

clean your white steps
turn on your lights, please
turn on, turn on again
Song "Baltimore" (1977, Randy Newman, album "Little Criminals", 1978 sung by Nina Simone)

Collection "Between where"
May 12 · 511
[ Grandma's tapestries ]
Zywa May 12
Grandma's tapestries,

which she wove as a girl, are --


decaying with her.
Collection "Between where"
May 11 · 88
Pinball machine
Zywa May 11
Everything flows, a coming
and going of opportunities
Flags blow everywhere
but I don't put poles
of certainty around me

My work and my relationships
are fluid, my fate
is not in my hands
not even in the lines
that fortune tellers read

Pleasure for myself
idealism for all
between the flippers and
the facades of the day and
the dreams of the night

The flippers of catastrophes
and consequences bang
on the bonces of power
the wheels of money and
the cannonballs of contempt
Heraclitus (Ephesus, 535-475)

"Panta rhei": "everything flows" like water

"Panta chorei": "everything changes place" through the "Pyros Tropai", the "turnings of (the eternal) fire"

Collection "Blown sand"
May 11 · 55
[ At the reception ]
Zywa May 11
At the reception

I am bouncing everyone --


like silly putty.
Collection "Blown sand"
May 10 · 236
Falter
Zywa May 10
Can people still have a discussion with me?
I can confront you
with my falter
That searching, the slow
which I can hardly bear myself?
And what do you think of me?

I'm getting smaller, too small
for everything and everyone
I know, more and more
is falling off my world
Dependent on friends
who need me

So nothing seems to have changed
but it's not like that
not the way it was
not what I was worth
I know too well what it is
to endure the day depressed

It may take a long time
that I'm not there for a while
Lost in unreachable thoughts
until I sound again like
I'm doing better
than I'm telling you
For Maria Godschalk

Collection "Slow circles"
May 10 · 71
[ Am I elitist ]
Zywa May 10
Am I elitist

if football is new to you --


and I explain it?
"Ik bel je wel als ik dood ben - Gesprekken met Armando", 2011-2018 ("I'll call you when I'm dead - Conversations with Armando", 2023, Cherry Duyns)

Collection "Stall"
May 9 · 52
The reins of fate
Zywa May 9
After today's four steps
I'm sitting in socks by the fireplace
My heavy boots are standing straight
and my back is still rattling

I am a henchman
I push the boundaries
of the ladies in love
and the rich gentlemen

I leave horse **** behind
and take the scent of freesias with me
The water in the bucket sloshes
like yearning love

I don't travel alone
We are armed
The papers are precious
Sealed letters

Beginning and maintaining
of relationships and major interests
Between the stops, the reins
of fate are in my hands
Four steps: four postal stops

Postilions (post-coachmen) wear heavy boots, to protect against getting jammed; these boots are named after the average distance between the posts (postal stops, relays): "bottes de sept lieues" ("seven-league boots")

Postillon d'amour = Post-coachman of love

Collection "Migration"
Zywa May 9
The world we know is

an evolutionary


boundary crossing.
Boundary crossing #1, Evolution

Collection "Migration"
May 8 · 296
Scent of wisteria
Zywa May 8
You say: attention
is the most loving thing
you can give

I answer: carefreeness
is the most loving thing
you can have

It often eludes me
Then I lie awake
because I can't do anything

as long as there are no certainties
no current measurements and slices
for relief or a new plan

I want to try everything
to gain time
exhaust all my strength

adapt
and save who I am
what I'm worth

my head full of purplish blue fragrance
which turns my feelings blue
Blue Bluish blue
For Maria Godschalk

Collection "On living on [1]"
Zywa May 8
Numbers: Eight times eight?

When I am in doubt I know --


that I am in love.
Children's book "Mijn avonturen door V.Swchwrm" ("My Adventures through V.Swchwrm", 1998, Toon Tellegen), page 76

Collection "Perhaps / Some day / Occasionally / Almost"
May 7 · 138
[ The melancholy ]
Zywa May 7
The melancholy

that it's true, the earth is small --


but our soul is not.
"Rimedio: la geografia" ("Solution: geography", 1920, Luigi Pirandello)

Collection "Stall"
May 7 · 153
[ As a reader I ]
Zywa May 7
As a reader I

would like to buy with each book --


reading time as well.
"Parerga und Paralipomena - Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit" ("Appendices and Omissions - Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life",1851, Arthur Schopenhauer): "Buying books would be a fine thing, if you could buy the time to read them as well, but buying books is often confused with acquiring their content."

Collection "Stall"
May 6 · 120
Pay for oppression
Zywa May 6
Not living for later
but together, social
and respected

The king loathes it
He takes palaces and farmsteads
His taxation breaks

the compliance, cold
causes hunger
Threat of war

Propaganda points the way:
there is a saviour, a Father
of the Nation, he protects

the refugees from Antwerp
and the trade, he will
drive out tyranny

that beheads dukes and puts
believers at the stake, that makes
the country pay for the oppression
Tiende Penning (Tenth Penny, 10% sales tax), introduced by Spain in 1571 in the Netherlands

Grindelwald fluctuation: coldest period of the Little Ice Age in Western Europe (AD 1560-1600)

Collection "Mosaic virus"
May 6 · 104
[ I kindled a fire ]
Zywa May 6
I kindled a fire,

from it blows a wind, it blows --


the fire far away.
Collection "Mosaic virus"
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