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Zywa Jul 2022
You put on some thin

farewell words, with a vague smile --


you left shivering.
"Zoals je binnenkwam en dag zei" ("The way you came and and said hi", 1969, Herman de Coninck)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 60s and 70s"
Zywa Jul 16
It's your eyes
.. but even more
it's your sleeping body
.. against my chest or my back
it's the very beauty
.. of your desire
.. when you get up
it's your smell
.. that almost isn't there
.. and most of all
it's your hands
.. that take care of me
.. in between making me
.. inconspicuously feel
.. under my clothes
.. that it is true
Collection "The Big Secret"
Zywa Apr 2022
Your child, it reflects

your faults, you must look through them --


to see who it is.
"Circe" (2018, Madeline Miller)

Collection "Inmost"
Zywa Nov 2018
I was in love, I ate you
and drank you in, wanted more
and more of you, your sweet
poison for my never
satisfied needs

The world revolved its days
around us and blew its winds
which didn't seem to affect me
but now, in November
everything has become thinner anyway:

the kisses you give me
   the tenderness that feeds my longing
      your desire in my blood
         my skin under your absence
            and the pink cloud in which I live

Something is wrong
something is missing
it had to grow big
before I could see it
and taste the bitterness
Collection “Freend”
Zywa Jun 2023
Your despair against

my hope, nose to nose, only --


a door in between.
After a rejected asylum application
Film "Die middag" ("That afternoon", 2023, Nafiss Nia)

Collection "Between where"
Zywa May 3
You're angry. No way.

You are! You quarrel, again --


you contradict me!
Novel "Zolang er leven is" ("As long as there is life", 2004, Renate Dorrestein), part 3, Winter, chapter Zekerheid (Certainty)

Collection "Old sore"
Zywa Jul 2023
You're asleep, I know,

nothing does matter, nothing --


is more important.
Novel "The PowerBook" (2000, Jeanette Winterson), chapter "VIEW"

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 20s and 30s"
Zywa Jul 2022
You're desirable,

a fridge, ajar and steaming --


The fire leaking out.
"De kennismaking - Faxen aan Ger #1" ("The introduction - Faxing to Ger #1", April 19th, 1997, published 2017, Nicolien Mizee)

Collection "Out of place"
Zywa Feb 2023
You're getting older,

tomorrow is not at all --


the day that would come.
"Farväl" ("Farewell", 2020, Jens Christian Grøndahl)

Collection "Stream"
Zywa Jun 28
You're missing something,

so we wait, impatiently --


you break off your search.
Novel "Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge" ("The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge", 1910, Rainer Maria Rilke), chapter #43, Oft, wenn Besuch dawar, hieß es, daß Schulins sich einschränkten (Often, when there was a visitor, it was said that the Schulins were economising)

Collection "Held/True"
Zywa Feb 6
Your eyes look, look
at me, they count
my freckles, gauge
my mood and drown
drown in me, in me

Your eyes cuddle, crumple
my hair, they kiss my lips
nestle against me and
long, long for me
you long for me

I'm only here a while
but I did see you
I didn't scorn your love
even though I have to go
and the world keeps turning

It will pick you up again
with this song, that I give you
my song about your eyes
I've seen them
don't wait for me
Film "Torch Song" (sentimental song about an unexpressed or unrequited love for some-one), 2024, Jeroen Houben; the film contains the songs "You", "If the world doesn't wait", and "Strangers" (all by Jeroen Houben, sung by Carla Juri), and "Sposa son disprezzata" ("I am a scorned wife", 1734, Geminiano Giacomelli, sung by Charlotte Houberg)

Collection "More"
Zywa Jun 2024
Your eyes speak so pure,

in a clear language, your head --


does not need a mouth.
Poem "Zuiver" ("Pure", 2013, Karin Lachmising)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 10s"
Zywa Sep 2021
Certainly, I can recognize
your belly
with which nobody else is familiar

and if you had no arms
no legs and if possible
also no belly anymore

you would still be exactly you
even without hair and ears
would still have your faces

being enigmatically
and incomprehensibly
yourself, no matter how

I experience you
in admiration
with open senses

and in the curious amazement
of anyone who is taking notice
of you, then wishing to stay
Collection "More"
Zywa Dec 2018
Certainly, I can recognize
your belly
with which nobody else is familiar

and if you had no arms
no legs and if possible
also no belly anymore

you would still be exactly you
even without hair and ears
still would have your faces

being enigmatically
and incomprehensibly
yourself, no matter how

I experience you
in admiration
with open senses

and in the curious amazement
of anyone who is taking notice
of you, then wishing to stay
Collection “More”
Zywa Dec 2018
Branches snapping under your heels
your hands in the trousers-pockets
like a man -- seemingly carelessly
you stroke out for the hill
Then you always deliberately thought
that this time I wouldn't be there
your princess with the flaxen hair

You made me silently cry in bed
although I only had to catch sight
of you, to change my tears for a smile
and in a twinkle, feel happy and light
just because you were there
to cool down among the periwinkle            
on your hill, in the evening air

Once I took your neck in my hands
and kissed your mouth over and over again
my pointed tongue against your teeth
my heavy fingers slowly caressed
your white but warm cheeks
A light glow laurelled my body
pervaded us with shame and nameless longing
your cheeks white but warm.
A light glow laurelled my body,
pervaded us with shame and nameless longing.
Collection "The Big Secret"
Zywa Jun 2024
Your husband: rotate

him and look at him closely --


See what he's hiding.
Poetic fictional essay "The beauty of the husband" (2001, Anne Carson), Tango IV

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 0s"
Zywa Jul 2022
Your leg on my thigh

provokes me, then you ask me:


This is fun, isn't it?
"Francisca Porto" (2004, Paul Janssen)

Collection "May the Might"
Zywa Apr 2023
Your life may be long

or short, but make sure you live --


fully in the Force.
Collection "On living on [2]"
Zywa Jul 2020
You roll off sweaty,

an eternal slumber grows –


crystals on our skin.
Collection "Without reserve"
Zywa Jan 2024
Your plan says: turn left,

okay, your feet are walking --


and then you turn right.
Novel "Een Fries huilt niet" ("A Frisian does not cry", 1980, Gerrit Krol), chapter 6.1

Collection "On the fly"
Zywa Jul 2020
Your smell: predicting

that I will be smooth, sliding –


into your desire.
For Maria Godschalk

Collection "Without reserve"
Zywa Nov 2022
It's still early, no customers
nobody on the way to work
everything like yesterday
the fire hydrant always ready
and night rounds against theft

Here you do your shopping
here you go to the barber
here your friends live
this is your view, your street
your neighborhood, your home

where you can sleep quietly
without scary dreams
life is very good
in order here, with neighbours
who know you all

I would die here
or go crazy, unless
I was living with you -
nothing else to do
than being with you every night
"Early Sunday Morning" (1930, Edward Hopper)

Collection "NightWatch"
Zywa Nov 2023
Your world is inside

your head, existing inside --


real reality.
Lecture "Avenir de la poésie" ("The Future of Poetry", Paul Éluard, October 2nd, 1937) - "Il y a un autre monde, mais il est dans celui-ci" ("There is another world, but it is inside this one")

Collection "Appearances"
Zywa Aug 2022
You say 'Here it is',

'goodbye', and you go, away --


from the restaurant.
"Hoog en laag springen - Faxen aan Ger #4" ("Like it or not - Faxing Ger #4", June 6th, 1999, published 2021, Nicolien Mizee)

Collection "Out of place"
Zywa Oct 2019
Dad, you know where it hurts
although you weren't there
You always ask exactly

for something important that
others didn't miss
in my story, an aside

of the path, a depth
I told around
feelings that I avoid

because they itch in my head
and scars that I keep covered
You understand it all

already before I tell you
and you say the words
that embrace me

and upset me
with sorrow, confused
with this happiness
Collection "The light of words"
Zywa Jan 2024
You should be yourself,

but don't bother anyone --


that's the condition.
Novel "Maurits en de feiten" ("Maurits and the facts", 1986, Gerrit Krol), § 23

Collection "Wean Di"
Zywa Feb 2023
You should not do it

secretly: but unnoticed --


just tactically.
"Het Bureau - Het A.P. Beerta-Instituut" ("The Office - The A.P. Beerta-Institute", 1998, Han Voskuil), page 655

Collection "Not too bad [1974-1989]"
Zywa Dec 2020
You show me about

a thousand faces, but ******* –


I don't count that much.
“Een vrouw mag dan” (“A woman may have”, 1976, Riekus Waskowsky)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 60s and 70s"
Zywa Oct 2019
You softly knead love

into my skin, you mould me –


godly beautiful.
Collection "Eyes lips chest and belly"
Zywa Feb 2024
You still live in your

body, yet I no longer --


find you at home there.
Poem "Oppas" ("Nurse", 1981, Ed Leeflang)

Collection "Mist-I"
Zywa Aug 2022
You stroke me, I am

quiet like a church before --


the ***** glories.
"Toen je mij met lichte" ("When you read me with light", 1971, Hanny Michaelis)

Collection "Loves Tricks Gains Pains in the 60s and 70s"
Zywa Aug 2020
Youth: it is divine,

with its strength and its passion –


but it comes too soon.
“Reis naar de liefde – De mythe van het Gulden Vlies” (“Journey to love – The myth of the Golden Fleece”, 1999, Imme Dros)

Collection "On the fly"
Zywa Sep 2019
You too have a friend

who will never let you down:


be kind to yourself.
Letters about ethics to Lucilius (AD 65, Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

Collection "SoulSenseSun"
Zywa Jul 17
You turned down my book,

so I'll have it published, as --


a detour to you.
"Diary 1977-1978" (2014, Frida Vogels) - May 22nd, 1991, Bologna

Autobiography "De harde kern" - 2 ("The *******" - 2, 1993) - January 9th, 1980, Bologna

Collection "Trench Walking"
Zywa Mar 2020
You will learn to live

with the dark angels, sometimes –


there's a golden one.
“Het relaas van Solle” (“Solle's story”, 2015, Andreas Oosthoek)

Collection "Chance"
Zyw
Zywa Jun 2022
Zyw
The warm baths around
the eternal flame and the holy
water of the source
are a mystery
in which I am at home

My desire jumps
from man to man
spring after spring after every rest
- thirteen weeks a year
  to learn to understand everything -

To whom shall I give me
shall I give the chance
to impregnate me?
- 500 times the summer fire
  flaring up in my body -

Tired, confused, not knowing
what is going on inside me
I'm floating in the autumn bath
- it puts me together again
  into a calm woman -

But in the spring, the spring
I step forward reborn
as a fatal woman
- young again and again
  always a ****** -
Zyw = ******

Collection "The Big Secret"

— The End —