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Mar 2023 · 755
[ Talking and joking ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Talking and joking,

with you, here, at my home, but --


it's not a visit!
For Maria Godschalk

Collection "On living on [1]"
Mar 2023 · 309
In heaven
Zywa Mar 2023
World citizens run around
Busy parasites in the thin crust
of earth

kept at work by her
and digested in her. She sweats decay
from her pores, a delicious smell

healthy to live in, but intoxicating:
some think they are astronauts
on spaceship Earth

They race nearly 800,000 kilometres
per hour along with the sun, spinning
a pirouette at 1,670 kilometres

per hour. Say them goodbye
adieu, whatever that means
wish them a pleasant journey

to heaven
and upon arrival the realization
that they already were there
Adieu = à Dieu (vos comant) = to God (I recommend you)

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 621
[ Life gives me a lot ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Life gives me a lot,

and I still have no idea --


who is the giver.
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 883
Picked up luck
Zywa Mar 2023
My perspective between the rusty leaves
is a dream house on the edge of the forest
picked up on the way, in the fall

Rich colours in the sun caress
the wooden skin flakes
of Mother Earth

and I am passing by
just a moment
a guest
For Jan Keijzer, after a picture he made

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 447
[ I don't know how much ]
Zywa Mar 2023
I don't know how much

longer, but now, I'm with you --


now, I laugh with you.
Fro Maria Godschalk

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 1.2k
[ The hilly country ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The hilly country

gives us to drink from its lap --


heavenly nectar.
Between the two Imose hills ("Sister-Brother") flows the river Yoshino

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 372
Relay race
Zywa Mar 2023
As long as we can we'll walk
in circles together
the youngest in the outer lane

acquire meters and learn a lot
are handed more and more
sticks stories where we are

heading a finish line
behind which no one needs
to run anymore hand in hand

we will walk on we will
live in peace we will all be
winners no relay race anymore

the youngest in the outer lane
grandma's on the inside bend
close to the black hole
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 1.1k
[ As a baby, I ]
Zywa Mar 2023
As a baby, I

had a lot of fun falling --


into daddy's hands.
For Madelief dK

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 317
I lost you now
Zywa Mar 2023
You snooped on my phone
but didn't discover any shame
no naked confessions
you searched in vain

for a double life
exciting intimacies
a corps in a wardrobe, secrets
between the lines

I have breathed in those
old statuses, for you
they are empty, boring rooms
dusty and cobwebbed

Keep them as memories
It doesn't touch me that you were
where you shouldn't be
I'm already somewhere else
"Sonnet VI" (1917, Edna St. Vincent Millay)

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 248
[ The silverfish slips ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The silverfish slips

away after exploring --


the floor, which is cleaned.
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 364
[ The bird-watcher hit ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The bird-watcher hit

a pole in the meadow and --


now he lies in wait.
Novella "Fuglene under himmelen" ("The birds under the sky", 2019, Karl Ove Knausgard)

Collection "Glimpsed"
Mar 2023 · 337
Giantess
Zywa Mar 2023
As a child I crawled invisibly
away in the lower house
under the veranda
to see the rats
potter among woodlice

I felt big and strong
I pressed my lips together
against the little weak creepy cushions
and let their hard tails
whip my Gulliver body

I liked being their Atlas
under the adult world
upon my shoulders
which I separated from the earth
to keep it as it is
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 940
Thousand-petalled day
Zywa Mar 2023
Thousands of slaves of The Saviour run
bent over to a place to sit, belly to buttock
nose in the back, sections full of light pink
shoulders under the violet
shaved crowns

to open the brain
under sun and moon
to the Great Soul
and to gain self-knowledge
from the mirrors around you

the exchangeable bodies that
under the discipline of loneliness
among silent fellow sufferers
no longer can die
from everyday life's dangers

Everywhere you see yourself
among the hard faces
of armed guards
and you cling to
the changing of the light

the rustle of rain and
scents brought by the wind
"He laughs best who laughs last"
But what kind of laugh is that?
A laugh which is not shared...
"Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo" (CECOT, "Terrorism Confinement Center") in Tecoluca (El Salvador), February 24th, 2023

Crown chakra "Sahasrara" ("Thousand-petalled")

Collection "Between where"
Mar 2023 · 1.4k
[ Dozing, I vibrate ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Dozing, I vibrate

along with the world outside --


A leaf in the wind.
Collection "Between where"
Mar 2023 · 1.6k
Hologram of the universe
Zywa Mar 2023
All the elements that we arrange
in the Periodic Table, the very first
bacteria and also we humans
are creators of the universe

In time and space we transform
the energy and co-write
the imperishable facts
on the edges of black holes

That information already existed
as Creator
giving it space and time
with a big bang

It's inconceivably
and inseparably both
energy and information
are aspects of each other

My mind doesn't get that
Even if in deep meditation
my consciousness unites
with all that exists, I am ignorant
The "Akashic Records", a theosophical concept of Charles Leadbeater and Alice Bailey, later used by Rudolf Steiner, and based on the book "The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy" on cosmogenesis (1888) by Helena Blavatsky

Cosmology in the study "On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory" (2023, Thomas Hertog)

See also poem 1069. Quiet beholding (February 23rd, 2017), the translation of 0522. Stille aanschouwing (November 29th, 2015)

Samadhi: mindless absorption in Being

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 539
[ Causes and effects ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Causes and effects,

implicated in something --


like the One and All.
Singularity

Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 407
Nocturnal peacock
Zywa Mar 2023
My clothes are heavy, pack animals
with bags full of worries, I have them
washed when I sleep, dried
in the light of the moon, breathe

Water ripples in the dark
of the gorge between the mountains
here and there fireflies
wanting to ***, they dance

in front of me to the bay
the water is still warm
like when I was a child
with mama in the bath

her soft body
the sweet, lukewarm air
that I still can smell
in the light of the moon

I spread my arms and legs
like a peacock
and draw a circle around me
only my body is still here
Collection "Between where"
Mar 2023 · 1.1k
[ The bellowing wind ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The bellowing wind,

the seagulls and the surf: noise --


that still calms me down.
Collection "Between where"
Mar 2023 · 365
Stop the world
Zywa Mar 2023
When my conscience cannot get out
afraid of fainting of myself
I have to settle for laws

the books of emergency dressing
for blood that I don't want to see
for a wound they should have prevented

If necessary, we fight it out
in court or with God
on our side, I have help

of lawyers and soldiers
priests assist me
the loudest word is up to me

If necessary, I will stop the world
until there are new laws
and then I'll start anew

if all goes well
Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 161
[ So, the Minister ]
Zywa Mar 2023
So, the Minister

of Justice cycles to work:


no privileges.
Minister of Justice J.H. Donner often cycled to work (as Prime Minister M. Rutte would later do).

Privileges = "private laws" = "exceptive laws"/"laws of exception".

Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 542
Cold shivers in the morning
Zywa Mar 2023
At home, in the sun, I watch
the news intently, I study the photos
the parabola of a mortar
like a shooting star
and the grey ruins after the impact

There are cameras everywhere
I shiver from everything
I do and don't want to know
but I wouldn't know anything
if I didn't know

I read of people
who woke up and
ran to a cellar
their children crying
in the pale morning light

The wounded crawl over debris
scramble past the charred cars
An ambulance drives away
Daily corpses, daily news
with survivors

with a dry mouth
speechless, pale in the sun
in which I follow the news
with my sharp eyes
my cool heart
"Every Morning" ("Elke ochtend", 1986, Mary Oliver)
Published in Poetry Magazine (March 1986) and in the collection "Dream Work" (1986)

Collection "Reaching out"
Zywa Mar 2023
Oh dear, my best friends

are already making plans --


to make me happy.
"Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" (1955, Jerome Salinger), quote: "I suspect people of plotting to make me happy"

Collection "Em Brace"
Mar 2023 · 1.4k
[ She is a goddess ]
Zywa Mar 2023
She is a goddess,

wearing a long train of boys --


like a Golden Goose.
"Fury" (2001, Salman Rushdie)

Collection "Low gear"
Mar 2023 · 335
[ Rights never will be ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Rights never will be

granted, first you must suffer --


and then you'll take them.
"Fury" (2001, Salman Rushdie)

Collection "Low gear"
Mar 2023 · 400
[ I am a thinker ]
Zywa Mar 2023
I am a thinker:

although, can I think away --


sedimented thoughts?
Sunyata = absence of mental disturbances (and absence of an illusory self)

Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 286
The Fifth World
Zywa Mar 2023
Attentively
humans have created
problems, throwing one after another
into the empty foreworld

They lacked norms, invented them
and were content with all the virtues
and vices to live from day to day
and also at night

They wanted to control everything
and created gods and leaders
with power, to be cruel
without strife in their hearts

The leaders organized it
with secret police and militia
with torture and contempt
and the people agreed to it

It became evening and morning
the morning of the fourth world
of the taboos and the dreams
of elusiveness and afterlife

Anyone and anything can be dangerous
be careful who and what you touch
also with roommates, neighbours, friends
dear colleagues and nice people

Better keep in touch virtually
just let the machines work together
because for us in the fifth world
it could be fatal
Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 444
[ I am not as good ]
Zywa Mar 2023
I am not as good

as I can be. I'm afraid --


of God. Pray for me.
Ragnar (Ingvar Sigurdsson) in the movie "Vanskabte land" ("Deformed countries"/"Godland", 2022, Hlynur Pálmason)

Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 270
The most important
Zywa Mar 2023
Thinking of diseases
I cannot prevent them
not all, but most
just by thinking of them

I leave others in their healthy delusion
just not to linger over diseases
because there are so many

dangers that it is a miracle

to grow old
you don't have eyes everywhere
you don't always have hands
resources and time available

you don't even control

yourself, you only have gratitude
when life is better than expected
and you realize what is most important
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 182
[ I jump out of bed ]
Zywa Mar 2023
I jump out of bed,


the eiderdown around me --



What sound did I hear?
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 539
Let me bleed
Zywa Mar 2023
Let me my habits
Let me, let me inside
Give me a shelter
Give me a kiss

.....Take me
.....Protect me
.....Give me your magic
.....Give me what I need

Then I'll give you my blood
I will pump it outwards
I will blood on your belly
I will blood in your mouth

.....Danger is everywhere
.....just a blow away
.....Love is everywhere
.....just a kiss away

Happiness is elusive
The pie turns around
Happiness is elusively
nearby

.....Let me bleed
.....in your storm
.....Let me bleed
.....in your heart
Album "Let it bleed" (1969, The Rolling Stones)

Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 392
[ The mosquito smells ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The mosquito smells


blood, she can sting gently, but --



not fly silently.
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 404
I want more
Zywa Mar 2023
I want to go there or see a movie
about it: the steppes

the jungle, the Himalayas
I want to shine my light
in trenches, I want to know

everything, made manageable
so that the whole world becomes mine
and I become a true citizen of the world, no
I want more, be a cosmo citizen

between spirits, angels and gods
exist forever, I want to experience

space adventures, but near
home, because I already am so tiny
a minor matter, a speck on mountain

or sea, interchangeable in the crowd
I don't want to relativise away
my efforts, not to be completely
invisible in universe and time
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 144
[ I do what I can ]
Zywa Mar 2023
I do what I can

and the rest is what it is --


really, that is all.
Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 326
Monsters in humans
Zywa Mar 2023
You would close your eyes
in the cinema if you dared

to think it is worse
in real life, the horror

everywhere and always, that
people are scared, see

monsters in humans

and conspiracies, offenders
that the police do not catch

For family and friends
God and country, your honour

you have to fix it yourself -
teach lessons to those who do not

participate, they must think
the worst things

until they defecate farmia
and finally no longer

are able to beg
that they may die
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 808
[ Something's happening ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Something's happening,

more and more people pass on --


what they do not know.
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 916
Expensive names
Zywa Mar 2023
Those in power no longer torture
a palace guard to rob a garden
from abroad for their lusts

no, nowadays money is enough
the magnetic big money
which always finds servants

Look closely at this painting
the colors are darker, and old
is the paint skin, forever

masterful are the brush strokes
yet this matter is only
just an attachment

for the trade in big names
the derivatives of art
with which profit is spoken
King Philip II (1527-1598) bought the triptych "Garden of Delights" (from 1480-1490, by Jheronymus Bosch) in 1591, which Alva in 1567/1568 had robbed from the palace of William of Orange-Nassau (1533-1584) in Brussels

Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 1.1k
[ Spotlights, reflected ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Spotlights, reflected

off the gold celebrity:


image on image.
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 397
Tribal wars [2]
Zywa Mar 2023
Borders in our heads
where it becomes unsafe
and we are on our guard

against those who come in
with a mouth full
of questions and criticism

who keep a low profile
as good neighbours
with democratic rights

to undermine government
whereby they change colour
until they feel strong enough

to blow up differences
and to welcome others'
losses as gains

until there are no more borders
just gaps and stinking fistulas
with internal bleeding
Collection "BloodTrunk"
Mar 2023 · 191
[ The big red monster ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The big red monster,

bloodied heads, loose arms and legs:


the war knocks about.
Shaka Fumukabaka in a suit of broken dolls, Kinshasa 2022 (photo Kris Pannecoucke)

Collection "BloodTrunk"
Zywa Mar 2023
A woman with a gun
Driven out. Cast out
by her neighbours

because she was killed internally
and could feel nothing
but pain and disgust

and because they too can
no longer believe who she was
at home, in the paradise

before the arrival of the men
who use you cruelly
until they discard you

and impale the broomstick
grandma's cane, their bayonet
or a bullet in you

The woman with the gun
wants to sleep again, to feel
the warmth of the sun again

She wants to defend
a new paradise, being awake
from the nightmare

of inhumanity
and free herself from the cage
of her broken body
Relief on the grounds of the Soviet War Memorial, Treptower Park, Berlin

"Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: what war does to women" (2020, Christina Lamb)

Collection "Bruises"
Mar 2023 · 182
[ The gull does not flee ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The gull does not flee

from their stench, no, it attacks --


them: the garbage bags.
Collection "Bruises"
Mar 2023 · 4.1k
Tomb of the Unknown Woman
Zywa Mar 2023
There are tents with tubs
and tents with mattresses
for the girls and women

in the middle of the camp
behind the front
where they are buried alive

Buried who they were
Wishing to die
from the pain, out of the hell

of unknown soldiers
who are honoured, for
what they do does not happen

Because it's not allowed, so
they will get the flowers
which are not at the camp

that tomb
of the human dignity
of the snatched women
LATIN Rapere = ******, carry off >> ENGLISH **** = treat a woman as property

"Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: what war does to women" (2020, Christina Lamb)

Collection "Bruises"
Mar 2023 · 1.7k
[ A trail in the snow ]
Zywa Mar 2023
A trail in the snow:

the fresh footprints of a fox --


along red spatters.
Collection "Bruises"
Mar 2023 · 1.6k
[ Quietly she looks ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Quietly she looks

at me -- a comb through my mind,


waving in her wind.
"Wilde gewassen" ("Wild crops", 2014, Bruno van Imschoot)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s and 10s"
Mar 2023 · 673
[ We are the winners ]
Zywa Mar 2023
We are the winners,

all we don't know is listed --


in our manual.
"Een handleiding voor mijn opvolger" ("A manual for my successor", 2008, Erik Solvanger)

Collection "Specialities"
Mar 2023 · 246
Dream big
Zywa Mar 2023
Everything is a continuation
of days gone by
which we can dream
as a hold in our lives

Boulders and push moraines
eternal snow, powerful rivers
migrating birds and giants of the forest
the earth born from stars

.....It is so much larger
.....than the tiny dream worlds
.....that divert our attention
.....as a hoped hold in our lives

.....But the stories of arts
.....science and politics
.....that divide us into differences
.....are too small to unite us
Dreamtime

Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 657
[ Emperors on their ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Emperors on their

pedestals look over me --


into an old time.
Collection "Secrets & Believers"
Mar 2023 · 361
The picture
Zywa Mar 2023
With wide arms I listen
With hands full of green ears
Polyphonic whispers of fluff
Fine traces of sound
on the bench

A woman and her daughter
look around, the girl stares
and says with wobbling legs

I'll be a mum just like you
with a daddy and a child
who thinks this is the most beautiful place
of all, the whole world, the universe

*

The girl plays with a ball
pulls a flake of my bark
asks: is your name scratched in it?
What is he old, isn't he, triple thick I think
and those lumps, would he be sick?

Her mother laughs and takes the picture
she wished to have had of herself:
the girl, and I incognito

not as wise, not as full
high and wide
of past as I am now
and smaller than what I know

of all the people
who caressed me
of all the wishes
they shared with me
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 2.2k
[ Great, swimming at night ]
Zywa Mar 2023
Great, swimming at night,

alone in the silent lake --


black trees around me.
Collection "Ifless"
Mar 2023 · 275
[ The road makes a loop ]
Zywa Mar 2023
The road makes a loop,

men with bikes are peering how --


everything comes back.
"Het huis bij de sluis" - II ("The house at the sluice" - II, 2002, Hester Knibbe)

Collection "Stream"
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