Friday, 9 February 2018

Terror by Lucebert

Lucebert [1924-1994]
Terror

finally the empty road
the endless empty road
the empty stones the thousand and one
white steps the split stones
the very long white road
the extremely stony road the extremely
split stones the endless
jog the glass the stones the white
recently dug legs of passers-by
right behind the brushwood
nothing conspicuous behind the hills
deserters are plugged
a general breaks wind
over the road moves a stinking cloud
the corpses find themselves between the white stones
remarkably well hidden
artistically inlayed between the split stones
every split is a surprised eye
and the hundreds the endless empty eyes
are from nobody from nobody are
also the storms of violence
at times they are disguised as closed cars
slowly over the empty white road
but then it is also certain that they will vanish
suddenly in the clear bloodstain right on the horizon

Wednesday, 7 February 2018

Three poems by Eddy van Vliet



La gare forestière
(Paul Delvaux)

The wood smells pause. Between the leaves
darkness keeps asleep. The sky
fills with light yellow defence.

On the rural platform the waiting
has started. The destinations do not run out
for the girls who made up all the arrivals.

The rails are carrying like parallel running
servants their ponderous masters.
For everybody waiting they bring an absentee.

Eddy van Vliet
[1942-2002]


For Gert B.

It is Easter Monday. The magnolia flowers.
The garden wall seems to glow gently.
Just for a moment I sense the winter
when I take the garden chairs out of the cellar.

What is in the bud, wants to open
before nightfall. As in a race
green holds the first place.
Nothing is hesitating.

The exception is my hand that touches the tree-bark.
The branch that it breaks, contains no sap.
It is clear: the pear tree is dead
and from what I have heard this morning, so are you.

The synagogue on the Koornmarkt

I have come to Delft, not for its blue
or its tower. Because only what was lost,
has the right of existence.

Ornament that lives in a pencil sketch.
Light spots on the eastern wall.
Tolerance made evident from a speech

Much was devoted to what had disappeared. A collection.
The words of a poet from The Hague. Lotteries
and the whole life of an unmarried engineer.

The specification provided room for eighty Jews.
In fear they threw themselves down.
The occupiers registered
a hundred and thirty eight.
Twelve returned.

Oh Eternal one, I love the throne of Your house that
turned into a storage place for rusting barrels.


Original titles: La gare forestière, Voor Gerd B. and De synagoge aan de Koornmarkt  - From: De tweede ronde, Tijdschrift voor literatuur, Herfst 1989 - Vlaams nummer - Uitgeverij Bert Bakker BV, Amsterdam.

Saturday, 3 February 2018

Departure by Hans van den Bos


Departure
                      29th July, 2002

Along artificial landscapes
made for unwitting creatures,
the road leaves, in a tropical 
heat, a long past behind. 

In the mirror the skyline 
of the city, proudly rebuild 
after brutal assault from the east, 
fades like a mirage.

Endless lowlands rush past
– an accelerated poem,
until smoking and flaming
pillars of capitalism
become manifest in the low sun.

Far beyond the last city,
the last link to the coast,
a sultry south-west wind, that often 
fling waves against dunes and dykes,
brings now the salty smell of the sea.

A ship on which many forever left
before, slips slowly between the jetties,
away from the coast.
A final look over the yellow dunes,
then only sky and water remain.  

Original Title: Vertrek

Thursday, 1 February 2018

Mangan’s Bay Revisited by Hans van den Bos

Mangan’s Bay Revisited

In the hidden white cottage
monotone ticking
of the meter.
On the table
before the window,
with a view to the green lawn,
pen and paper,
surrounded by books,
are waiting for words.

The autumn wind
whistles around the cottage;
clouds skim along the sky.
Two black dogs
horse about on the grass,
swept interchangeably
by rain and sunlight.

On the deserted beach
the breakers rattle
over coloured pebbles
and bring in loads of kelp
harvested, in bygone days,
by farmers
to fertilize their fields.

Sea and clouds touch each other.
An unexpected sharp cry
of a great black-backed gull
stiffens a lonely grey heron
who then rises gracefully
and disappears
over the blanketed water.

In the cottage
in front of the fire
the two black dogs
are asleep
and the pen
fills the white paper.


Original Title: Terug naar Mangan's Bay

Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Bride by Ton van Reen

BRIDE

A woman rests on the beach
sitting on a bundle of brushwood
cold jellyfish of blue-tinted glass
spread around her like jewels

Her hands lie on her lap
playing with a brittle shell
the pink mouth opened to the wind
a shout in which the sea races around

Motionless she looks out over the water
her headscarf is blowing like
a blue windvane towards the sea
a silent greeting to the fisherman
in his boat, small off the coast

The tide rolls towards her
a white fan of wet lace
is spreading out over her foot
With arms full of spume
the sea dresses her as a bride

Ton van Reen (1941)
[photo Internet]

Original Title: Bruid

Monday, 15 January 2018

Catherine Deneuve by Manuel Kneepkens

Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
[photo Internet]

#Metoo is called in France #Balancetonporc
(blow the gaff on your pig!)
100 pretty French women are protesting

Catherine Deneuve belongs to them
'This is La Douce France, Nom de Dieu!
Gallantry we hold dear!'

A man's hand on a woman's thigh
is not Les liasons dangereuses!
A man's hand on a woman's bottom
is not L’Histoire d’ O!

Oh, good old Catherine Deneuve
once Buñuel's Belle de Jour
all Bad Men are grateful to you

Me too!
In the name of Marquis de Sade
I put you naked across my knee