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Zywa Apr 2024
The beach would be great

if it did not shine so much --


from the blazing sun.
Poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" in the children's book "Through the Looking-Glass", chapter 4 (1871, Lewis Carroll)

Collection "Here &Now&"
Apr 2024 · 434
[ Teardrop diamonds ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Teardrop diamonds,

frozen on my eyelashes:


beautiful sadness.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 1-1 "The perforated sheet"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 475
[ I rule out myself ]
Zywa Apr 2024
I rule out myself

when reading, so I can hear --


what is being said.
Philological study "The Text of the Epistles. A Disquisition upon the Corpus Paulinum" (2007, Günther Zuntz) - "Lesen heißt mit fremden Kopfe denken" ("Reading is thinking with other people's minds"), cited in the philological study "Geschreven en toegeschreven" ("Scribed and Ascribed", 2013, Charles Vergeer), § 7.A: "Lezen is zich verdiepen in een tekst. Luisteren naar de toon en de stem van de tekst zoals we luisteren naar muziek." ("Reading is going into a text. Listening to the tone and voice of the text like we listen to music")

Collection "Glimpsed"
Apr 2024 · 437
[ We shout many views ]
Zywa Apr 2024
We shout many views,

are seldom examining --


our very standpoints.
Poem "(work in progress) 'n meerstemmige teks: pogings om die wit staar aan myself te verduidelik - poging 3" ("(work in progress) a part-text: attempts to explain the white stare to myself - attempt 3", 2022, Antjie Krog)

Collection "Unseen"
Apr 2024 · 129
[ Being bored deeply ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Being bored deeply

is a vague experience --


of all that exists.
"Die Langeweile offenbare das Seiende im Ganzen" ("Boredom reveals entities in the whole"), in: "Was ist Metaphysik?" ("What is metaphysics?", 1929, Martin Heidegger)

Collection "Unseen"
Apr 2024 · 354
[ A freethinker thinks]
Zywa Apr 2024
A freethinker thinks

about questions, the answers --


he doesn't want to hear.
Novel "Een tevreden lach" ("A happy smile", 1965, Andreas Burnier), chapter "The train" --- Collection "Unseen"
Apr 2024 · 313
[ The holiday guests]
Zywa Apr 2024
The holiday guests

stay away, I imagine --


a quite poor reason.
Novel "Buiten is het maandag" ("Outside, it's Monday", 2003, J. Bernlef), part 1, chapter 10 --- Collection "Unseen"
Apr 2024 · 1.4k
[ The evening twilight ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The evening twilight.

Tipping up, I see the white --


scuts of the rabbits.
Novel "Buiten is het maandag" ("Outside, it's Monday", 2003, J. Bernlef), part 6, chapter 2 --- Collection "SoulSenseSun"
Apr 2024 · 143
[ A cow is a cow ]
Zywa Apr 2024
A cow is a cow,

anywhere in the world she --


looks at you deeply.
Novel "Buiten is het maandag" ("Outside, it's Monday", 2003, J. Bernlef), part 5, chapter 1 --- Collection "SoulSenseSun"
Apr 2024 · 124
[ God is like a sound ]
Zywa Apr 2024
God is like a sound,

He's everywhere, wherever --


there is space, He sounds.
"La Caravane de la Poésie" in 1999 - Tuareg poet Eraf Hawad speaks about the nomadic way of life --- Tale "A Change of tongue" (2003, Antjie Krog)

Collection "Held/True"
Apr 2024 · 153
[ As if God sees us ]
Zywa Apr 2024
As if God sees us

like the people on tv --


look blindly at us?
After the novella "Het theater, de brief en de waarheid" ("The theatre, the letter and the truth", 2000, Harry Mulisch), chapter 1

Collection "Held/True"
Apr 2024 · 165
[ The minaret sticks ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The minaret sticks

accusingly in our house --


its shadow finger.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-14 "Jamila Singer"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 283
[ The flower necklace ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The flower necklace,

she throws it away, doesn't want --


to be manacled.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-5 "Love in Bombay"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 1.8k
[ Unfortunately ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Unfortunately

none of my birthday guests know --


how to celebrate.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-6 "My tenth birthday"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 228
[ The words she spits out ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The words she spits out

rip open everyone's skin --


like a vast, barbed net.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-6 "My tenth birthday"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 482
[ Everything happens ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Everything happens

to me, nonetheless I am --


the protagonist.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-9 "The Kolynos Kid"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 229
[ I know I'm destined ]
Zywa Apr 2024
I know I'm destined

for great deeds, however, first --


I've to finish school.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-8 "Alpha and Omega"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 424
[ He's vulnerable ]
Zywa Apr 2024
He's vulnerable,

just look at the craquelure --


over grandpa's eyes.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-11 "Revelations"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 228
[ For 5,000 years ]
Zywa Apr 2024
For 5,000 years,

people have been dreaming, will --


they ever wake up?
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-9 "The Kolynos Kid"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 107
[ Ghosts see everything ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Ghosts see everything,

including us, like we see --


them: vaguely present.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-3 "Sam and the Tiger"
Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 175
[ Her hatred sits there ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Her hatred sits there

like a gecko, I can smell --


its stench of *****.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 2-15 "How Saleem achieved purity"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 426
[ A night of sucking ]
Zywa Apr 2024
A night of *******

on sleeping bodies, and then --


the leeches explode.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-2 "In the Sundarbans"

Collection "Low gear"
Zywa Apr 2024
Don't mourn for the dead,

grieve only for the living --


Do it for yourself.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-1 "The buddha" (old man)

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 253
[ The soldiers scurry ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The soldiers scurry

away from what I don't want --


and not can believe.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-3 "Sam and the Tiger"

Collection "Low gear"
Zywa Apr 2024
Our soldiers wouldn't do

anything like that, we dream --


It can not be true.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-3 "Sam and the Tiger"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 235
[ The calls for prayer ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The calls for prayer

freeze and fall in empty streets --


as sacred snowflakes.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-5 "A wedding"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 2.1k
[ Being a hero ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Being a hero,

still thoroughly despised --


for some bad manners.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-5 "A wedding"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 256
[ In the private club ]
Zywa Apr 2024
In the private club,

the hostesses are blind, eyes --


painted on the lids.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-7 "Abracadabra"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 406
[ A person must learn ]
Zywa Apr 2024
A person must learn,

there are no suns anywhere --


that don't cast shadows.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-7 "Abracadabra": We must live, I'm afraid, with the shadows of imperfection

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 400
[ The world does exist ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The world does exist,

finally I know for sure:


I am dying there.
Novel "The Satanic Verses" (1988, Salman Rushdie), chapter 9 A wonderful lamp

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 328
[ An imperfection ]
Zywa Apr 2024
An imperfection

is a shadow in your life --


with thanks to the sun.
Novel "Midnight's Children" (1981, Salman Rushdie), chapter 3-7 "Abracadabra": We must live, I'm afraid, with the shadows of imperfection

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 278
[ Cities put their faith ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Cities put their faith

in citizens, villages --


put their faith in god.
Novel "The Moor's Last Sigh" (1995, Salman Rushdie), chapter A house divided, (1-) 4

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 270
[ The biggest taboo ]
Zywa Apr 2024
The biggest taboo

is of course, ouch, your parents' --


sexuality.
Novel "The Moor's Last Sigh" (1995, Salman Rushdie), chapter A house divided, (1-) 7

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 332
[ Family demands ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Family demands

obedience, love isn't --


invulnerable.
Novel "The Moor's Last Sigh" (1995, Salman Rushdie), chapter A house divided, (1-) 7

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 224
[ Waiving happiness ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Waiving happiness

and suffering for the truth:


a better country.
Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru

Novel "The Moor's Last Sigh" (1995, Salman Rushdie), chapter A house divided, (1-) 3

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 222
[ I'm walking my dog ]
Zywa Apr 2024
I'm walking my dog

in the sound of the silence --


with my earplugs in.
Novel "Fury" (2001, Salman Rushdie), chapter 7

Song "The sound of silence" (1964, Simon & Garfunkel)

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 300
[ Corpses in the street ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Corpses in the street

look like humans, but fake ones --


more like broken dolls.
Novel "Fury" (2001, Salman Rushdie), chapter 6

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 212
[ Human babies are ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Human babies are

infected from birth, with the --


story parasite.
Novel "Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights" (which is 1001 nights, 2015, Salman Rushdie), chapter 4 "The Strangenessses"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 729
[ It's a merry day ]
Zywa Apr 2024
It's a merry day,

we dance on the earth *****:


feet full of music.
Composition "Velocities (Moto Perpetuo)" for marimba (1990, Joseph Schwantner), performed in the Organpark on March 15th, 2024 by Tomasz Herisz - Tatiana Koleva calls the marimba an earth-*****

Collection "anp" #176
Apr 2024 · 1.2k
[ Within every ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Within every

story new stories, that's how --


the universe works.
Novel "Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights" (which is 1001 nights, 2015, Salman Rushdie), chapter 7 "Within the Chinese Box,"

Collection "Low gear"
Apr 2024 · 331
[ Sneaking silently ]
Zywa Apr 2024
Sneaking silently,

as part of a secret plan --


and it will end well.
Composition "Variations on Japanese Children's Songs" for marimba (1982, Keiko Abe), performed in the Organpark on March 15th, 2024 by Sung-En Chi

Collection "anp" #177
Mar 2024 · 131
[ The many years lived ]
Zywa Mar 2024
The many years lived

make me crooked, I subside --


sink into my roots.
Novel "Spertyd" ("Deadline", 2017, Elsa Joubert), opening sentence

Collection "After the festivities"
Mar 2024 · 477
[ We only conquer ]
Zywa Mar 2024
We only 'conquer'

our own place in the world by --


living together.
Symbiosis (Living together): the "Survival of the fittest" (1864, Herbert Spencer) takes place within systems of symbiosis (1966, Lynn Margulis)

Collection "The drama"
Mar 2024 · 256
[ I'm dreaming my life ]
Zywa Mar 2024
I'm dreaming my life

in a parallel world, it's --


a roller-coaster.
In response to Esther Gerritsen's lack of critical imagination in describing the mental rollercoaster in her novel "Gebied 19" ("Area 19", part of the visual cortex in the brain, 2023, Esther Gerritsen), with a reference from me to the story "De achtbaan" ("The roller-coaster", 1953, Belcampo)

Collection "Held/True"
Zywa Mar 2024
The neighbours have left,

their garden is drying out --


now I water it.
Novel "Gebied 19" ("Area 19", part of the visual cortex in the brain, 2023, Esther Gerritsen), chapters 1-1, 1-2, 1-8

Collection "Stream"
Mar 2024 · 223
[ My foe shows no light ]
Zywa Mar 2024
My foe shows no light,

but I do sense some little --


dark within myself.
Novel "Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights" (which is 1001 nights, 2015, Salman Rushdie), chapter 8 "In Which the Tide Begins to Turn"

Collection "Low gear"
Mar 2024 · 283
[ She never shuts up ]
Zywa Mar 2024
She never shuts up,

in my sleep she keeps talking:


Radio Married.
Novel "Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights" (which is 1001 nights, 2015, Salman Rushdie), chapter 6 "Dunia in Love, Again"

Collection "Low gear"
Mar 2024 · 310
[ He is also there ]
Zywa Mar 2024
He is also there,

listlessly looking away --


we mumble hello.
Novel "De opdracht" ("The Mission", 1995, Wessel te Gussinklo), chapter (1-) 3

Collection "Truder"
Mar 2024 · 272
[ Girls giggle and they ]
Zywa Mar 2024
Girls giggle and they

keep shifting the position --


of their bulging calves.
Novel "De opdracht" ("The Mission", 1995, Wessel te Gussinklo), chapter (1-) 4

Collection "Glimpsed"
Mar 2024 · 539
[ The way he behaves ]
Zywa Mar 2024
The way he behaves,

imitating me, never --


I would act like that!
Novel "De opdracht" ("The Mission", 1995, Wessel te Gussinklo), chapter (2-) 18

Collection "Glimpsed"
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