The percussionists

are counting, they are alert --


to the right moment.


De slagwerkers staanDie drei Schlagzeuger
te tellen, ze letten op --zählen, sie achten auf den --
het juiste moment.richtigen Moment.

Poem H0198
Amsterdam, 2012-01-22

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Attention: focus 
 

I am enchanted

by the swirling snow, real snow --


in a big snow globe!


Ik ben betoverdIch bin verzaubert
door de dwarrelende sneeuw:vom wirbelnde Schnee, diese --
een echte sneeuwbol!Schneekugel ist echt!

Poem H0291-53
Amsterdam, 2012-06-25

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Snow 
 

Beauty: a flower,

two people in love, or three --


high bar releases.


Schoonheid is: een bloem,Schön: eine Blume,
en twee verliefden, of drie --zwei Geliebten, oder drei --
vluchten aan het rek.Flüge am Turnreck.

Poem H0337
Amsterdam, 2012-08-08

Epke Zonderland, Olympic champion in the high bar (August 7th, 2012)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Beauty: body 
Tribute to: Zonderland, Epke 
 

He is no longer

in his school, where I practice --


what he has taught me.


Hij is er niet meerEr ist nicht mehr da,
in zijn school, waar ik oefen --in der Schule, wo ich übe --
wat hij me leerde.was er mir lehrte.

Poem H0506
Amsterdam, 2013-07-14

On the death of Clé Souren
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Mastery 
Dedicated to: Rembert P 
 

Teachers do not die,

they will live on forever --


in so many hearts.


Een leraar sterft niet,Ein Lehrer stirbt nicht,
maar zal altijd voortleven --wird aber weiterleben --
in vele harten.in vielen Herzen.

Poem H0507
Amsterdam, 2013-07-14

On the death of Clé Souren
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Mastery 
Dedicated to: Kristien vR 
 

All your thoughts are free,

they are only limited --


by their own bulwarks.


Gedachten zijn vrij,Gedanken sind frei,
ze worden alleen beperkt --sie sind einfach nur begrenzt --
door eigen muren.durch Eigenwände.

Poem H1047
, 2014-11-06

Thoughts are free (1780)
Song "Die Gedanken sind frei"
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Freedom: 
 

Zywa Palace of Art

I entered the display case
of people educators
subsidizing snobs
the multirich and companies

among tourists and inhabitants
who want to be seen
in the museum café and
with sophisticated pastry lard
the conversation with careless clauses

they quote from an authority
whom nobody has to understand
to get the intention
of the praised artists

The shop was crowded
Spotlights on show-pieces
fancy coffee table books
and chic presents
for the season and the next holidays

Especially the past
is on sale, postcards
of the attractions
and sights of the city

interchangeable
like the collections
which graduated stylists
cast in international moulds
to magnets for visitors

Poem 855
Amsterdam, 2016-11-30

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Trade 
Keyword: Amsterdam% 
Keyword: Art 
 

Zywa Venus was afraid

Oh Venus, you most beautiful
why didn't you dare
to lie politely –
what everyone would see-through?

Had let Mother win
who after all lives in the heart –
mothers deserve love
and honour more than anyone

Had let Reason win
waking in the head, or sleeping –
it definitely is the highest
possession a person owns

You, who keep bellies awake
with desires and satisfies them
with insatiable pleasure –
were you afraid to be forgotten?

You have nothing to lose and yet
you bribed the prince with promises
and you warn people
to avoid beauty

to hide it under clothes
and behind closed doors
where time creeps in their skin
weakening their flesh and eating it

Poem 898
Amsterdam, 2016-12-17

Paris rejects Power, Wisdom and Fame
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Beauty: body 
 



Poem 931
Amsterdam, 2017-01-03

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Identity:  
 

Zywa Gobstopper

As long as the paint is wet
my finger writes
my diary
in colourful blends

Unspoken questions
dipped hue after hue
and curl in curl on the tip
of my finger, layer on layer

a gobstopper of memories
which I slowly lick off, every time
I want to taste their flavours
and reread my life

Poem 993
Amsterdam, 2017-02-06

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Memory: 
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk 
 

Zywa The great events

Life has to last
because the great things happen
in your youth and it takes years

to process them
and then you'll want to redo
this or that

with later knowledge
or experience it anew
because too often

it can be done better
With more attention you could
have enjoyed it more

could have been living like now
but would you be young then
or an old soul in disguise

in a restless body
on expedition
to great events

that will matter
a lifetime?

Poem 1230
Amsterdam, 2017-03-19

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: course (overview) 
 

Zywa All of me

Ballast or log, significance
or waste, all of me
that I have kept

because I don't know what I want
to save, every day I am busy
living and I just let it rest

I've put all my stuff out of the way
the books I'll never read again
the old pictures, the crayons

a chair and beautiful puzzles
all of me that's passed
neatly stowed away

in labeled boxes
but without any importance
whether they contain anything

Poem 1285
Amsterdam, 2017-04-21

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Past 
Keyword: Museum 
 

Zywa Sharazed (1)

My diary is too honest
to keep, what's the sense

in reading myself unhappy
and puzzling my head off
over covered terms, peering

what yet can be seen
through the frosted glass, shadows
which I trace with clear lines

of later. It easily looks
like real, a few lines are enough
for a snowy landscape

that I can make thaw
by continuing to draw:
another page, another day

written to my life
blossoms written
on my path full of thorns

in the ghost house
of my body

Poem 1297
Amsterdam, 2017-04-23

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: course (overview) 
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk 
 

Zywa Sharazed (2)

My diary is too honest
for your eyes, what's the sense

in reading yourself unhappy
when I'm not there anymore
You may comfort yourself

with my serial of love
and connection, the odours
of the colourful life

I want to extend with might
and main, but you also know
that there's a sword beside me

that I go crazy because of the witches
in my body and the ghosts
in my head writing clauses

in the margins and notches
in your speechless soul
in our eternal love

in who we are

Poem 1298
Amsterdam, 2017-04-23

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Relationship 
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk 
 

Zywa Ornamental body

In the middle of the night
tapped invisibly
played and stirred
by a heavenly hand
swings the woman

who I watch, who I am
I feel my feet free
of my weight, relaxed
are also my buttocks, all of me
is free to be seen

Dresses hanging down:
my sisters
upwards by the ankles
arms and hair gracefully
loose, swaying

on the heavenly hand
and pulled away
on meat hooks
our screaming
flown away

Poem 1365
Amsterdam, 2017-05-20

I/II/III/IIII (Kris Verdonck) (2007)
Dance installation I/II/III/IIII (2007, Kris Verdonck)
Song "Bitter fruit" (1937, Lewis Allen)

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Freedom: physical 
Keyword: Dance 
Tribute to: Verdonck, Kris 
Tribute to: Allen, Lewis 
 

Zywa Forced peace

Walking past the signs Former
Red Light District
I know I'm dreaming
of a better future

I can imagine it much more easily
than what it is like
to be a man

who buys the use of a body
without any notion what's wrong
I must arm myself against him

Walls? Dullness? Claws?
And company, then I can
laugh at jealous eyes

and the greedy ones
looking away from me
to someone else - no one

will I greet as my master
everyone welcomes me, Servus
where there was once war

Poem 1416
Amsterdam, 2017-06-17

Servus = slave (schiavo in Venetian slang) announcement of the slave that he is available >> servant >> general greeting in Austria (Servus) and Italy (ciao)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: People: men (aggression) 
Keyword: Abuse (for money) 
 

Zywa Shards of time

Captured from wide and far
around, now pinned up
to prevent them from disappearing:
trophies from the past

stone signs on stakes
saved as a description
of the daily history
that nobody remembers

shards of time

from the ground on which we live
the hereafter of our ancestors'
blood, their sweat and tears
a living foundation

for our prosperity and the rest
the impotence and the gentle love
of caring, is too flaccid
and too volatile, in our souls

just a knowing

Poem 1681
Amsterdam, 2018-02-16

Doetinchem (Hofstraat 161)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Past 
Keyword: Overijssel% 
Dedicated to: Cornel B 
 

Zywa Broadview

You can only glue what is dead
I master that art, the chemistry
that will last

But before that, I kneel
in the field, my knees crack

cautiously I root up
the past, a simple scoop

easily breaks more than I would like
I collect what would disappear

under prosperity, I dig it out
for a new parking garage

and find pieces not to be
forgotten, to know history
broadviously

Poem 1682
Amsterdam, 2018-02-16

Doetinchem (Ruimzichtlaan ["Broadview Lane"])
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Past 
Keyword: Overijssel% 
Dedicated to: Cornel B 
 

Zywa Spider

This very night
you stroked a cow
in India
and I was there
while you ate cake
on Judith's birthday

With other arms you swam
to me on the little island
hidden in the reeds

I did see you
on the bench in the orchard
of grandma and grandad, telling
a family secret to your sister
She was wearing the dress with ruffles
and she was not interested

Over the trees you reached
her your sixth or seventh hand
to pick heath berries

Your heaviest arm was on me
and has woken me up
if I am awake now
with your arms everywhere
in life, in time, in me
dreaming this night

Poem 1774
Amsterdam, 2018-05-30

Heath berries: vaccinium macrocarpon (large cranberry), bearberry
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Dreaming 
 

Zywa The sweet balm on my warm body

Times have changed, people have not
so I read shelf after shelf in many languages
in books preserved for centuries
describing the world self-evident
as it once was

In the evening I experience their adventures
at night I dream of them, every day
they colour my life in a different way

From afar, on the edge
of time, my body reaches
warmly longing for contact
arm for an arm, laugh for a laugh
close to you, and you and you

to sanctify me again
with the sweet balm
of the cold and the fire

of exchanged feelings
and to enjoy carnally
real sounds, real smells
real looks, eye for an eye
breath in breath

Poem 1886
Amsterdam, 2018-10-27

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Contact: touch(ed) 
 

Zywa No crowding together

Things are going very well for more and
more people like me, they are rich enough
and everywhere there is art in the making

No shortage, no subsidy
Professional artists are poor
because they didn't die young

in the sacred fire of their passion
Be silent, there's nothing to complain about
when you are with so many

The dépôts are full, but
we don't miss anything, life is good
for more and more people like me

and who would like to crowd together
in exclusive museums and theaters
if so much is already on hand?

Poem 1903
Amsterdam, 2018-11-10

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Art 
Keyword: Luxury 
 

Zywa Waiting for a story

The past in depot:
warehouses full of treasures
air-conditioned
rarely viewed
waiting

for a story
that makes you curious
sheds new light
on the artist's life
or a drama or or

something under oppression
something that makes the strange familiar
in short, the waiting
for chemistry with later
through an appealing story

(sell pebbles from the Kidron Valley
  as cornerstones of the temple:
  God's nearness in your hand
  with the wisdom of Solomon
  and his wealth with it)

Custom-made
with a story
the past may be
worth something
to us

Poem 1918
Amsterdam, 2018-11-12

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Stories: connection 
Keyword: Museum 
 

Zywa In my blood, through my heart

Your life still rustles
in me, in my mind

you think along with my questions
I hear remarks you once made

     Your life still rustles
     in me, in my feelings

     you move along with my blood
     I feel you flow through my heart

Your life still rustles
at home, as if you were present

the warmth of your body
somewhere tangibly close

     Sometimes your voice is there again
     in the movies that make me feel

     what it was like, but much further away
     than when we watched them together

Your life still rustles
in the scents of the woods

taking me by surprise in the seasons
familiar in unexpected places

Poem 1935
Amsterdam, 2018-11-22

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Missing:  
Dedicated to: Ineke J 
 

Zywa Uncountable celebration

The ancient duty
to take care of each other:
taxes came from it
so we had to learn to count

Great fun, we count
paving stones and marbles
the candles on the cake
and the money in our name

We understand the world
and classify everything properly
young and old, poor and rich
(stereotypes that grow with us)

until the numbers become too large
so many repetitions and memories
added up a rich life
that must be celebrated

Now no candles
but everyone is present
whether they want a piece of cake or not
and all children are there

Poem 1941
Amsterdam, 2018-11-29

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Party: celebrate 
 

Zywa Debris for the extension

If only I could hire an unemployed giant
for little money, to smash everything
and take it away (big chunks, quickly clean)

I lift buckets down
the hall of the old house
all rooms are as filthy

as the poo pit, to vomit, while
there is hardly anything in them
Out of poverty

the man sold what he could sell, tell
the neighbours disapprovingly
they have no compassion

The rest, I throw in the garden
and what's left after the fire
is debris for the extension:

shards and a pocket saint
worn like him, well
you never know what is true

Poem 1960
Amsterdam, 2018-12-05

1900, Doetinchem (pocket saint)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Past 
Keyword: Overijssel% 
Dedicated to: Cornel B 
 

Zywa Little Francis

She stands firm
please let me sleep
against her rough hair

which I brush
with my fingers
I should go home

I cannot stay here
shouldn't dirty my clothes
on the donkey and the stable

I cannot sing with the birds
on the land, like Francis did
my little Francis

I always carry him with me
let him slide in my hand
like my father used to do

Poem 1961
Amsterdam, 2018-12-05

1870, Doetinchem (pocket saint)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Example 
Keyword: Overijssel% 
Dedicated to: Cornel B 
 

Zywa It's called inertia

When there's moving so much
inside me, my belly, my heart
and parallel in my head

chaos everywhere
how could I be quiet?

My muscles follow slowly
because of the small balance
wheel my whole body rotates

just as the earth spins around
its axis, through elementary particles
shooting around back and forth

I am in the middle
and I don't feel the speed
united with my own storm

just movement
It's called inertia
but I call it life

Poem 1981
Amsterdam, 2018-12-13

The rotation of the earth is the delayed effect of the movement of the elementary particles
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: stream (motion) 
 

Zywa Brain-blend I

Mama said you are
doing this so well
and thus she taught me

to be good, and now
I teach my children
by not being strict

that they can accidentally
or deliberately do something
that is not allowed

I see them discover
who they are, who they think
they are and wish to be

and about myself I am
thinking: who am I and
what has remained?

What is the blend
of my identity, the I
in my brain?

Poem 2074
Amsterdam, 2019-02-03

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Identity: personality 
 

Zywa No scratches in the gold

The rust of decayed roses
in filthy vases, dust
on the table, once with love

been made from the bones
of a beech giant

next to the old letters
handwritten sketches
of two souls, forever

young without worries
no scratches in the gold

of the promised fidelity
no indefinite questions
or double doubts

that burrow and toss
between skin against skin

Poem 2315
Amsterdam, 2019-06-28

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Memory: of someone 
 

Zywa Back and forward

Stories are too good
to be true, constructions
that seduce me

to present my life
as an interesting entanglement
if you pay attention to the details

Love stories are too good
to be true, constructions
that seduce me

to present my relationship
as a special love affair
with which I comfort myself

With big and little stories I look
over the everyday
back and forward

I mix the images
to understand my life
and to learn to accept it

Poem 2503
Amsterdam, 2019-11-08

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Stories: order 
 

Poem 2548
Amsterdam, 2019-12-17

Museum = temple dedicated to the Muses
Mausoleum = a tomb for the ashes of an important person, named after satrap (Governor of a Persian province) Mausolus

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Ego / ~ism/~centrism 
 

Poem 2549
Amsterdam, 2019-12-17

Bones: of dinosaurs
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Ethics: vices 
 

Poem 2655
Amsterdam, 2020-01-28

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Appearances 
Tribute to: Van Rijn, Rembrandt 
 

Only their names left,

but still it is far too much --


to endure and bear.


Alleen hun namen nog,Nur noch die Namen,
maar toch blijft het veel te veel --aber es bleibt viel zu viel --
om te verdragen.um zu ertragen.

Poem H2693
Amsterdam, 2020-05-04

Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands, on May 4th
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: War: remembrance 
Keyword: Amsterdam% 
 

It's empty today

in the squares of the cities --


without the living.


Het is leeg vandaagEs ist heute leer
op de pleinen, overal --auf den Plätzen, überall --
zonder levenden.ohne Lebenden.

Poem S1010
Amsterdam, 2020-05-04

Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands, on May 4th
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: War: remembrance 
Keyword: Amsterdam% 
 

I enjoy paintings,

looking at all kinds of things --


that aren't really there.


De schilderijen:Bilder genießen,
ik geniet van wat ik zie --mich allerhand ansehen --
al is het er niet.was doch nicht da ist.

Poem H2706
Amsterdam, 2020-05-15

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Art 
 

Zywa The forgotten in-between days

I've celebrated it
forty, fifty, sixty, the ten-
year steps of my life

have been preserved as memories
among the countless parties
of others, just like me

aging and remaining who they are
even though something starts
not to correspond in the mirror

When did that happen?
Was I present?
With my friends?

On forgotten in-between days?
When my hair thinned, my skin
weakened, and I became different

from how I feel – everywhere
where I touch myself
it is still familiar

I am ageless in life
with a deeply rooted pen
that wants to continue to enjoy

the taste of the deep
water, filtered through the earth
sunk from the present

Poem 3153
Amsterdam, 2020-08-30

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Old age: process 
 

Zywa Drawings with a D

Grandma Dory enjoys a
100 Drawings
with a D by
Lotte Dematons, and grand-
pa Paul Declares them:
 
Diary – Dagger – Damaged roof – Darts – Star of David – Decor – Devil fish – Diamond – Dice – Discus – Discus fish – Discus thrower – Diving board – Doctor – Dolmen – Dormer – Dossier – Dovecote – Dracula - Draughts – Dried flowers – Driftwood – Dynamite
 
It is Dark under the bellies
of the Dinosaur
and the Dragon while clouds
of hot Damp
hide the Dolphin
with the Diving goggles, and inside
out a Dwarf is lost
but not Disappearing in the round re-
volving Door, that boring maze:
it's one Dead end!
 
In the Dune
at the Douglas firs
and the Daffodils
with a Dahlia
a thief Doubts whether to
eat the Donut, behind
him the Deer barks
at the Didgeridoo
like a Dingo
at the Droning
of the Dutch street organ
trembling Down
all the Dominoes
The great Dalmatian plays the bagpipes
and the Danish Dane
beats the Drum Kit, with the squirrel monkey
on the Djembe, next
to the Dude who
blows a Ditty on his flute, luring
the three Dromedaries of which Fattie
Fat is Dreaming
 
Near the Devil
are three Dinky toddlers
sitting Docilely in front of the
music Director who strikes
glowing Dust particles
in a Duple metre, yet
in his Donald Duck
shirt, the DJ swishes his records
on the Dresser
and the Dompteur swishes his whip
 
On a Deltoid
rug the Dodo and the badger
are still Dancing
for the Domestic help
and the Dame
on the Divan
with her Decolletage
and a Diadem
but the Dove flies away

Poem 3179
Amsterdam, 2020-09-21

To the Charlotte Dematons alphabet
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Language 
Dedicated to: Lotte W 
 

Zywa In my shrine

Between the tangible past
I weigh what I can
put away, I weigh
what I can

All this familiar stuff
tiny things, a large suitcase
for a big trip, with a copy
of my passport from that time

Before I open the boxes, I turn
the superscription towards me
Yes, I remember
It's still there, dust-free

Kitschen equipment and crockery empty frames and some
parts, just in case
which has not yet occurred

I know the stories
that go with it and I feel
a time difference that does not exist
in my memory of those days

Poem 3219
Amsterdam, 2020-10-27

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Past 
Dedicated to: Afke B 
 

Zywa Stones create me

From times of which I have no idea
whether I unconsciously know about it
this block has been broken in Carrara

What kind of blood is running
through its veins? What is it calling for
in my head? A piece of stone

remaining itself, impervious
to everything I try
to attribute to it

It just remains what it is
while it forms form thoughts in me
which I cut free from myself with chisels

Look! Art. Mine. Do you see
me? Only I do it like that
Look, I exist!

The stone is still a stone
but I am only here now
in the contact, after the contact

The stone created
my creative thought
the stone created me

for a while, for those who know
a little, in time at most my name
but the stone keeps creating

Poem 3302
Amsterdam, 2021-01-02

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Creativity 
Dedicated to: Yuk Lin M 
Dedicated to: Philip L 
 

Poem 3427
Amsterdam, 2021-02-01

Confetti = candies (packed in five colours)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: story / moments 
 

I wanted to learn,

to live a sensible life --


only out of love.


Ik wilde leren,Ich wollte lernen,
om verstandig te leven --um vernünftig zu leben --
enkel uit liefde.einfach aus Liebe.

Poem H3052
Amsterdam, 2021-10-03

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Ethics: 
 

Gauzy autumn leaves

stick inside against the glass:


a magic bauble!


Doorschijnend herfstbladDas dünne Herbstblatt
plakt binnen tegen het glas:steckt innen gegen das Glas:
een kersttoverbal!Weihnachtszauberball!

Poem H3159
Amsterdam, 2021-12-27

Antique Christmas bauble
A Christmas bauble as a water drop with reflections

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Art 
Dedicated to: Marlies D 
Dedicated to: Jeroen K 
 

Zywa Icon of our time

More and more, we speak picture
language with digital icons of Home
Heart (in the colour of the moment)
Envelope, Clock, Arrow and Bin

but icons of paint and blood travel
with us in their world of gold leaf
as portraits of the life
we like to live

thoughtful and attentive
like a busty bird
showing its feathers

and not camouflaging itself
in the attire of its neighbours
colleagues or pictograms

Poem 4899
Amsterdam, 2022-12-27

With acrylic paintings on canvas, by Ada Breedveld (Dordrecht 1944)
Also for Carla B, Jeanette vdZ, Harry S and Philip L

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Identity: example 
Keyword: Language 
Dedicated to: Ineke J 
Dedicated to: Hans J 
Dedicated to: Ruud J 
Dedicated to: Lucy J 
Dedicated to: Yuk Lin M 
 

No one is able

to know me, no one who does --


not know my childhood.


Niemand is in staatWer kann mich kennen?
om mij te kennen, niemand --Überhaupt niemand, der nicht --
die mijn jeugd niet kent.meine Kindheit kennt.

Poem S1729
Amsterdam, 2023-04-09

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Identity: mirror 
 

I sing to myself

and hear with an orchestra --


the original.


Ik zing voor me uitIch singe vor mich
en hoor met orkest en al --hin, höre mit Orchester --
het origineel.das Original.

Poem H3799
Amsterdam, 2023-04-23

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Music: song 
 

Paper hat, tables

set: party on the jetty --


Just a drop older.


Tafels gedekt, mutsPapierhut, Tische
op: jarig op de vlonder --gedeckt: Fest auf dem Steg, nur --
Slechts een spat ouder.ein Spritzer älter.

Poem H3807
Amsterdam, 2023-04-30

Jacob van Lennepkanaal, Amsterdam
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: story / moments 
Keyword: Amsterdam% 
 

Zywa Open endings

Not grown apart
still familiar, changed
by each other's attention
Grown along in the other
in who we are

For everything
there can be a time
For slow days
For closer to home
For constantly creating order
For new projects
and old friends

Occasionally
a message
without a hold
on whether it fits
in the moment
and falls, falls
into place

Occasionally
the nearness
of our voices
our most unique selves
talking freely
with open endings
for other times

Poem 5151
Amsterdam, 2023-05-03

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Friendship: bond 
Dedicated to: Maria Godschalk 
 

The old actor has

been playing all grandfathers --


for twenty-five years.


De oude acteurDer alte Akteur
speelt al vijfentwintig jaar --spielt schon fünfundzwanzig Jahr --
alle grootvaders.alle Großväter.

Poem H3924
Amsterdam, 2023-07-03

Alan Arkin (New York City 1934-2023)
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Mastery 
Keyword: Health 
Tribute to: Arkin, Alan 
 

Gathering dust in

the broom closet, a painting --


that would raise some dust.


In de bezemkastHier im Besenschrank
verstoft een kunstwerk dat stof --verstaubt ein Kunstwerk, das Staub --
zou doen opwaaien.aufwirbeln würde.

Poem H3964
Amsterdam, 2023-07-21

Interview by Margot Dijkgraaf with Lola Lafon (2023)
In NRC, July 21st, 2023
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Museum 
Keyword: Art 
Tribute to: Lafon, Lola 
 

It's my wedding day,

a pair till death do us part --


Yes, I'm still your wife.


Vandaag mijn trouwdag,Heute Hochzeitstag,
samen tot de dood ons scheidt --bis dass der Tod uns scheidet --
Ja, nog steeds jouw vrouw.Ja, immer noch deins.

Poem H4301
Amsterdam, 2023-11-24

Married from 1973, half a century ago, until Herman died, on this very day six years ago
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Marriage / Wedding 
Dedicated to: Ineke J 
 

Knowing each other

from before, and not knowing --


but knowing life now.


Elkaar van vroegerSich von früher schon
kennen, en niet meer kennen --kennen, und nicht mehr kennen --
Het leven kennen.Das Leben kennen.

Poem H4383
Amsterdam, 2023-12-20

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Life: experience 
 

Distant relatives,

always a familiar frame --


Sometimes you step in.


Verre familie,Verwandte bilden
het blijft een vertrouwd kader --einen vertrauten Rahmen --
waar je soms instapt.Manchmal steigt man ein.

Poem H4385
Amsterdam, 2023-12-20

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Family: relatives 
 

I dream of mama,

I still need to say goodbye --


I want to keep her.


Ik droom van mama,Träume von Mama:
ik moet nog afscheid nemen --ich möchte Ade sagen --
ik wil haar houden.und sie behalten.

Poem H4416
Amsterdam, 2023-12-30

How do you live? (Hayao Miyazaki) (2023)
Animation film "Kimitachi wa d? ikiru ka" ("How do you live?" / "What is your way of life?" / "The Boy and the Heron")
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Goodbye: gradual 
Tribute to: Miyazaki, Hayao 
 

Does a work of art

exist if it is secured --


in a heavy safe?


Bestaat een kunstwerkBesteht ein Kunstwerk,
als het beveiligd bewaard --wenn es gut aufbewahrt wird --
wordt in een bankkluis?in einem Tresor?

Poem S2099
Amsterdam, 2024-01-17

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Capitalism 
Keyword: Art 
 

From the mirror she

looks at the photographer:


how does he show me?


Vanuit de spiegelVom Spiegel aus blickt
kijkt ze naar de fotograaf:sie den Fotografen an:
hoe laat hij mij zien?wie zeigt er mich jetzt?

Poem S2108
Amsterdam, 2024-01-25

State portrait (Anton Corbijn) (2023)
State portrait of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Identity: image 
Tribute to: Corbijn, Anton 
Tribute to: Willem-Alexander 
 

In bloom or withered,

the many buds of my youth --


are gone forever.


In bloei of verdord,Erblüht oder dürr,
de bloemknoppen van mijn jeugd --die Knospen meiner Jugend --
zijn allemaal weg.alle verschwunden.

Poem H4496
Amsterdam, 2024-02-05

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Child: upgrow 
 

Poem 1107
Amsterdam, 2017-03-03

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Control 
 

Zywa My table

There is a shortage of chairs
around my table, in the house
for the cousins who died

young, the old family
members and the friends from everywhere
who stayed to live here

in absent presence
letting me experience
warmth, cold and wind intensely

on the heartbeat of the Force
in my body, in my meetings
at my table in the house

of my awareness, my serious
adventure of giving and taking
they wished for me

and that I will wish for you:
that death is not the end
that life goes on

Poem 1547
Amsterdam, 2017-09-12

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Memory: of people 
 

There are still traces

of you in the house, in drawers --


air holding your breath.


Er zijn nog sporenEs gibt noch Spuren
van jou in huis, in laden --von dir im Haus, in Laden --
lucht met jouw adem.die Luft, dein Atem.

Poem H3190
Amsterdam, 2022-01-31

After the death of a beloved housemate
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Memory: melancholy 
 

There are still traces

of you, scratches and hollows --


and new articles.


Er zijn nog sporenEs gibt noch Spuren
van jou, krassen en leegtes --von dir, Kratzern und Leere --
en nieuwe spullen.sowie neues Zeug.

Poem S1325
Amsterdam, 2022-01-31

After the death of your life companion with dementia
Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Memory: of people 
 

Our life together,

our story, our connection --


but a vague feeling.


Ons leven samen,Ach, unser Leben,
ons verhaal, onze band --unsere Geschichte, noch --
een vaag gevoel nog.ein vages Gefühl.

Poem S1326
Amsterdam, 2022-01-31

Collection: The Yellow House Museum 
Keyword: Dementia 
 

Zywa
     Collection:   The Yellow House Museum
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