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Aug 2024 · 132
[ Around what centre ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Around what centre,

in ever wider circles --


do I fly, blow, sing?
Poem "Ich lebe mein Leben" ("I live my life", 1899, Rainer Maria Rilke)

Collection "On the fly"
Aug 2024 · 271
[ Father still conjures ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Father still conjures

up gilded vistas for me --


with his old letter.
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels), letter from 1938 (Laren)

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 135
[ I recall little ]
Zywa Aug 2024
I recall little

of that party, it was great --


Unforgettable!
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels), 1944 in Laren

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 667
[ If your ambition ]
Zywa Aug 2024
If your ambition

listens to wise words, then you --


only hear yourself.
Play "The Three Arrows" (1972, Iris Murdoch), Act Two, scene Two

Collection "Unspoken"
Aug 2024 · 267
[ Politics doesn't bring ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Politics doesn't bring

you anything, it's not art --


and it's not science.
Play "The Three Arrows" (1972, Iris Murdoch), Act Two, scene Two

Collection "Unspoken"
Aug 2024 · 551
[ We sit in silence ]
Zywa Aug 2024
We sit in silence,

the silence of our state-room --


echoing silence.
Novel "**** nu mijn stem" ("Hear my voice now", 2017, Franca Treur), chapter 2

Collection "VacantVoid"
Aug 2024 · 461
[ Retirement is nice ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Retirement is nice,

grandad shows it in his chair:


never to get up.
Novel "**** nu mijn stem" ("Hear my voice now", 2017, Franca Treur), chapter 2

Collection "VacantVoid"
Aug 2024 · 166
[ Am I made of glass ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Am I made of glass?

My inner self visible --


and unreachable?
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels), June 1951 in Leiden

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 549
[ My signature then ]
Zywa Aug 2024
My signature then:

who I was, sixteen years old --


with a line through it.
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993, Frida Vogels), 1946 in Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 231
[ The words love, sorrow ]
Zywa Aug 2024
The words love, sorrow,

and kiss are so beautiful --


that I dream of them.
"Diary 1960-1961" (2006, Frida Vogels), May 4th, 1961 in Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 172
[ Most of all I like ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Most of all I like

to draw things I've never seen:


bridges in the sea.
"Diary 1960-1961" (2006, Frida Vogels), May 13th, 1961 in Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 153
[ Looking for the way ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Looking for the way

I come to an open space --


where I now linger.
Poem "Ergens over denkend" ("Thinking about something", 2006, Frida Vogels), published in "Dagboek 1958-1959" ("Diary 1958-1959", 2006), October 16th, 1959 in Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 211
[ Yet this anecdote ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Yet this anecdote

about father says little --


about who he is.
"Diary 1958-1959" (2006, Frida Vogels), Oktober 11th, 1959 in Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 425
Because of
Zywa Aug 2024
Because HelloPoetry requires a CSRF cookie I leave

Best wishes to all my readers
Aug 2024 · 182
Extracted landscape
Zywa Aug 2024
Drawn night, summer night
the sky above Montpellier
Venus, breath over hills
Nothing less than spring

Silver needles, delusion-less
and windless awake
right next to the waterfall

The springs steam with love
enraptured with love
atoms of love
Expressions, fragments

of we, elementary particles
mystical body, secret body
of this second
19 titles of poems from the collection "dagtekening van liefdesvormen" ("date stamp of love forms", 2024, Rozalie Hirs)

extracted landscape 2015, drawn night 1975, summer night 1982, the sky above montpellier 1983, venus 2010, breath over hills 1994, nothing less than spring 1969, silver needles 1981, delusion-less and windless awake 1986, right next to the waterfall 2008, the springs 2017, steam with love 1974, enraptured with love 1999, atoms of love 1974, expressions 1972, fragments of we 1978, elementary particles 2013, mystical body 2002, secret body of this second 2016
Aug 2024 · 169
[ Codes cutpaste poems ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Codes cutpaste poems

and lyrically they call --


themselves Rozalie.
The poems in the collection "dagtekening van liefdesvormen" ("date stamp of love forms", 2024, Rozalie Hirs) could have been generated by artificial intelligence (AI)

Collection "Mosaic virus"
Aug 2024 · 55
[ Dividing people ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Dividing people

into friends and enemies --


that's just indolence.
Diary 1958-1959 (2006, Frida Vogels), July 2nd, 1959 in Milan
Aug 2024 · 129
[ It's shallow here, with ]
Zywa Aug 2024
It's shallow here, with

an undertow, I'm falling --


The buoy starts spinning.
Poem "Where there was a little buoy", 2006, Frida Vogels), Published in "Diary 1958-1959", December 23rd, 1958 in Milan
Aug 2024 · 359
[ I stay at home, warm ]
Zywa Aug 2024
I stay at home, warm

inside myself, not working --


in a cold office.
"Psychiatrie diary" (1994, Bert Weijde), February 1st and 2nd, 1962 in Amsterdam
Aug 2024 · 138
[ I am not gloomy ]
Zywa Aug 2024
I am not gloomy,

just the same everyone asks --


How are you today?
"Psychiatrisch dagboek" ("Psychiatric diary", 1994, Bert Weijde), May 16th, 1961 in Amsterdam

Collection "Em Brace"
Aug 2024 · 147
[ It's only a part ]
Zywa Aug 2024
It's only a part

of me that decides, that's it --


for my whole being.
"Diary 1958-1959" (2006, Frida Vogels), October 24th, 1958 in the train

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 353
[ The more concretely ]
Zywa Aug 2024
The more concretely

you tell a story, the less --


you'll be understood.
"Diary 1958-1959" (2006, Frida Vogels), February 12th, 1958 in Amsterdam

Collections "Trench Walking" and "WriteWiser signage"
Aug 2024 · 2.6k
[ Once again we walk ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Once again we walk

in the old track, we're absent --


There is no meeting.
Poem "Ik loop weer naast je" ("I walk next to you again", 2006, Frida Vogels), published in "Dagboek 1958-1959" ("Diary 1958-1959", 2006), May 19th, 1958 in Luxemburg, about a walk on the beach near Bergen on May 17th, 1958

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Aug 2024
My friend goes, gives me

a rose from the bush, alas --


still in the bud, picked.
Ballad "Au bord d'une fontaine" ("By the edge of a fountain", 1500), set to music by Mozart in 1781 (K360, "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant")

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Aug 2024 · 338
[ The fountain is clear ]
Zywa Aug 2024
The fountain is clear,

I dry myself with some grass --


The nightingale sings.
Ballad "Au bord d'une fontaine" ("By the edge of a fountain", 1500), set to music by Mozart in 1781 (K360, "Hélas, j'ai perdu mon amant")

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Aug 2024 · 210
[ You are poetry ]
Zywa Aug 2024
You are poetry,

sleeping in a guest-room bed --


and I keep watching.
Poem "Chaos" (1998, Erik Jan Harmens)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 80s and 90s"
Aug 2024 · 236
[ When I visit them ]
Zywa Aug 2024
When I visit them

I look to see what has changed --


To be home again.
Autobiographical account "De harde kern" - 1 ("The *******" - 1, 1992, Frida Vogels) and "Diary 1966-1967" (2009), April 1st, 1967 in Amsterdam

Collection "Trench Walking"
Aug 2024 · 254
[ Summery silence ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Summery silence:

curtains closed, and the window --


is on a spacer.
Poem "Nu" ("Now", 1925, Chris van Schagen)

Collection "SoulSenseSun"
Aug 2024 · 447
[ I'm kissing the shells ]
Zywa Aug 2024
I'm kissing the shells

of her eyes, the little hairs --


prickle: be careful!
Poem "Meisje" ("Girl", 1916, Chris van Schagen)

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Aug 2024 · 932
[ Evening twilight lays ]
Zywa Aug 2024
Evening twilight lays

intimacy in the world --


tenderness in me.
Poem "Avond" / "VI" ("Evening" / "VI", 1886, Willem Kloos)

Collection "Moist glow"
Aug 2024 · 177
[ No marriage vow, but ]
Zywa Aug 2024
No marriage vow, but

something special: a wedding --


that, oops, is cancelled.
Novel "Jackson's Dilemma" (1995, Iris Murdoch), chapter One

Collection "Unspoken"
Jul 2024 · 205
[ So I am pregnant ]
Zywa Jul 2024
So I am pregnant,

but I have no idea what --


my mother size is.
Poem "Plus" (2023, Jana Arns)

Collection "Unseen"
Jul 2024 · 217
[ You and you only ]
Zywa Jul 2024
You and you only

know my pain, for you yourself --


did it, broke my heart.
Poem "Und wüßten’s die Blumen" ("And if the flowers knew", 1823, Heinrich Heine), from the collection "Lyrisches Intermezzo" - XXII, set to music in 1840 by Robert Schumann

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Jul 2024 · 216
[ A poet who cries ]
Zywa Jul 2024
A poet who cries

writes concentrated, uses --


his tears as his ink.
Poem "Aus meinen Thränen sprießen" ("From my tears sprout", 1823, Heinrich Heine), from the collection "Lyrisches Intermezzo" - II, set to music in 1840 by Robert Schumann, in a translation reworded in 2004 by Jan Rot

Collections "Love Mind and Death" and "Look at me"
Jul 2024 · 196
[ The coffin must be ]
Zywa Jul 2024
The coffin must be

big, bigger than you think now --


For all my sorrow.
Poem "Die alten, bösen Lieder" ("The old, evil songs", 1823, Heinrich Heine), from the collection "Lyrisches Intermezzo" - LXVI, set to music in 1840 by Robert Schumann

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Jul 2024 · 219
[ All my skin is clothed ]
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"
Jul 2024 · 168
[ Let me be alone ]
Zywa Jul 2024
Let me be alone,

I do like it and get bored --


when in company.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), Lake Geneva, 1816

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Jul 2024 · 227
[ We sit back to back ]
Zywa Jul 2024
We sit back to back

against my mother's headstone --


Nice conversations.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), Lake Geneva, 1816
Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Jul 2024 · 200
[ I'm afraid, free will ]
Zywa Jul 2024
I'm afraid, free will

is rare, it's a luxury --


for the happy few.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), Methinks, wrote Byron

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Jul 2024 · 243
[ We are animals ]
Zywa Jul 2024
We are animals,

disguised by something artful --


as if we were more.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), There never was a wilder story (1818)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Jul 2024 · 290
[ The speaker pauses ]
Zywa Jul 2024
The speaker pauses,

he is impatient, but can --


force himself to wait.
Novel "Frankissstein: a love story" (2019, Jeanette Winterson), The mind is the matrix

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in 10s"
Jul 2024 · 471
[ True love! After all ]
Zywa Jul 2024
True love! After all,

the love potion was a fraud --


but who believes that?
Opera "L'elisir d'amore" ("The Love Potion", 1832, Gaetano Donizetti, libretto Felice Romani, based on Eugène Scribe's libretto of the opera "Le philtre" [The magic potion] from 1831), second act, final scene, Finale 2

Collection "Love Mind and Death"
Jul 2024 · 387
[ They all sympathise ]
Zywa Jul 2024
They all sympathise

and write their best intentions --


to put in the urn.
Poem "Als enige kennisgeving" ("As the only announcement", 2023, Jana Arns)

Collection "Em Brace"
Jul 2024 · 430
[ The day starts okay ]
Zywa Jul 2024
The day starts okay,

normal, like yesterday, just --


slightly different.
Science fiction novel "Grimus" (1975, Salman Rushdie - A Simurg(h) ['Thirty birds'] is a Persian legendary creature, an omniscient bird, symbol for someone's world of thought), part 1 Times Present, chapter 2

Collection "Low gear"
Jul 2024 · 293
[ Some people live on ]
Zywa Jul 2024
Some people live on

in a book, thanks to bottles --


of eternal ink.
Science fiction novel "Grimus" (1975, Salman Rushdie - A Simurg(h) ['Thirty birds'] is a Persian legendary creature, an omniscient bird, symbol for someone's world of thought) -
Characters can live for many generations -
The eternity potion is sun-yellow

Collection "Low gear"
Jul 2024 · 328
[ He who doesn't see what ]
Zywa Jul 2024
He who doesn't see what

he expects, doesn't see what's there --


is disappointed.
Story "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" ("Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream" / "The Dream of Poliphilus", 1499, Francesco Colonna), first book, chapter 10

Collection "Unseen"
Jul 2024 · 114
[ God remains unseen ]
Zywa Jul 2024
God remains unseen,

He disguises himself to --


do the things He does.
Story "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" ("Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream" / "The Dream of Poliphilus", 1499, Francesco Colonna), first book, chapter 10 - About queen/goddess Telosia

Collection "Unseen"
Jul 2024 · 167
[ I'm homeless without ]
Zywa Jul 2024
I'm homeless without

your hands, roaming through the fields --


There is snow coming.
Poem "Huset og hendene" ("House and hands", 1985, Rolf Jacobsen)

Collection "VacantVoid"
Jul 2024 · 227
[ I almost stumble ]
Zywa Jul 2024
I almost stumble

over the tangles of web --


of loose thoughts I spun.
Play "Peer Gynt" (1867, Henrik Ibsen; music Edvard Grieg, 1876), fifth act, "Nattscene" ("Night scene") - The dying Peer Gynt looks back on his life

Collection "VacantVoid"
Jul 2024 · 283
[ How then could I say ]
Zywa Jul 2024
How then could I say

where the shoe is pinching if --


I'm not wearing it?
Play "Peer Gynt" (1867, Henrik Ibsen), fifth act, "Nattscene" ("Night scene") - The dying Peer Gynt looks back on his life

Collection "VacantVoid"
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