Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Pigeon Man

-
There is a man in our town who sows pigeons. He is an old man with a scraggly grey beard, tottering on his wobbly bicycle, which is loaded down with heavy buckets of birdseed swaying on the handlebars.
He goes around the special spots that have been designated pigeon fields. There he throws out handfuls of seed in a sweeping motion, and lo and behold: flocks of birds spring up at his feet, fluttering and nervously picking at the ground.
He is not a friendly man, who performs these feats of magic happily. He curses at the passers-by who make comments. He raves against the powers that be, wherever they may be, up there in the sky.
It does not shake him in his task, this mighty task, this bird-sowing task. It never ends. There will always be pigeons. And they will forever need to be sown.
He is the magician in our town, sowing pigeons.
And we are the mortals, reaping their shit.

Friday, June 25, 2004

The easiest Guacamole

-
1 mashable avocado
Mexican salsa (hot, if you like that)
salt and pepper

Mash the avocado with a fork. Mix in the salsa, salt and pepper, and serve with celery sticks and tortilla chips.

That's all!!

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Veenlandschap

-
Voorbij het dorp kwam Hector in het veengebied. Hij hield zijn paard in tussen de muurtjes van turf links en rechts van de dijkweg en tuurde over de wijde watervlakte met de hoekige pukkels van eilandjes. Veentrekkers baggerden slijk, dat ze kiepten op de ribben die als een doolhof uit de veenplassen omhoog staken. Vrouwen met brede strohoeden op het hoofd en treeborden aan hun voeten stampten de specie aan. Op andere veldjes staken turfstikkers het vast getrapte veen tot turven.
Vanaf zijn hoge positie liet Hector zijn ogen dwalen over de symfonie van ritmische bewegingen van de veenwerkers: de schommelende cadans waarin de vrouwen als mechanische poppen zijwaarts schoven, de buigende ruggen van de mannen tussen de met riet bedekte turfbulten, die als huisjes gebouwd leken te zijn voor deze turfpoppetjes. Meeuwen en andere vogels zwenkten in sierlijke slingers om de modder die op legakkers te drogen werd gelegd, als de melodie boven de grondtonen onder hen.
Hij had er geen deel aan. Juist dáárom gaf het zo’n rust. De meeuwen zwenkten het lied, begeleid door de schommelende vrouwen en buigende mannen. Hij zag het van verre aan, en wenste dat het geen einde had.

(Uit Omzien naar Elisabeth)

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

All Knowing

-
She is all knowing.
She carries wisdom
in the palm of her hand.
She knows where
we all stand.

She is the mother
of all children;
the teacher
who has studied
all the books.

She can smother
our fears;
she can outshout
our doubts.

Only,
so lonely to the bone
is her crusade
in this vale of tears.

She is so lost
and so alone.

Monday, June 21, 2004

Success

-
It's beginning to happen!
One of my short stories was accepted for a collection of stories to be published in the fall by a small publisher.
More news when the moment is there.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Willy

-
"Chilly!"
cried Willy,
and dove in the pool.


Sorry!
That's all there is to it!

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Sjolanda's Tuna Dip

-
can of tuna fish
mayonaise
yogurt
lemon juice
ginger sirop
salt and pepper
capers of anchovis (optional)

Mix these ingredients all together and serve with brown toast and raw vegetables like carrots, cucumber and celery.

Wytze's favourite!

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Het Verschil

-
Het verschil is
dat er geen wil is
tussen hem en haar.

Zo drijven ze
kil kijvende
uit elkaar.

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

De Oude Trom

-
’t Is drummen
op een oude trom.
Hij kraakt
van de weerom-
stuit luid.
Klagend
stuitert het
terug.
De echo
komt te vlug,
en toch vertraagd,
verdaagd
in ouderdom.

De klok draait
om en om.

De oude trom
huivert
en verzucht
totdat hij stug
vervaagt.

Monday, June 07, 2004

De Late Zon

-
De late zon
laat
mij nog even
de volle dag
beleven.

De nacht
legt
bedachtzaam
zijn wollen vacht
over de koude grond.

Friday, June 04, 2004

The World Upside Down: Georg Baselitz

-
Sometimes art has the ability to stun and shock. It does not happen often, but when it does, the impact is great.
In the Kunsthalle in Bonn there is an exhibition at the moment titled Bilder, die den Kopf verdrehen, (Paintings, that make your head turn), showing stunning paintings (and sculpture) by Georg Baselitz. The paintings were stunning to me, not so much by how they were painted, but by the way Baselitz presents his images to the viewer.
Most of the pictures in the exhibition are upside down. A simple trick. And so brilliant! Such a stroke of genius!
For by that simple act Baselitz confuses and confronts us. Innocently, carelessly, the visitor walks into the room, carrying his set of values comfortably, and then Baselitz has turned the world upside down.
The viewer is forced to react. He can do all sorts of things: he can hang his head down to make the image on the canvas familiar again; he can try to find new images in the painting as it is; he can start wondering which is the right way up: his or Baselitz’s.
There is one thing the viewer cannot do: consume comfortably. He múst do something, whatever it is.
What the visitor sees is not what the painter saw. That is what came home to me with such a bang. We have all become so smug in our view of the world, we are all so convinced of what we see.
Baselitz mocks that smugness very seriously. In the same way that Martin Amis has done with his novel Time’s Arrow, in which he has written the story of a Nazi criminal backwards. He, too, had turned the world upside down: destruction became creation, and right became wrong.

We need to be shaken vigorously from time to time. It clears the head. It makes us realize again, that things are not what they seem.
foto von gestern clown popup the gleaner

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Strand

-
Het strand strekt zich.

Vlekken dobberen
op het stugge zand
met ruggen
star in de wind.

Geen een kent
het mechaniek
dat hem beweegt.

De zee veegt
hun sporen glad.

Er is geen pad.

Alleen strand
dat rekt.

Alleen strekking
dun bevlekt.

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Mannen met Geweren

-
Ik ben niet bang
voor mannen met geweren
die dekking zoeken
achter het scherm van de TV.
Pas als ze koel beweren
dat ze helden zijn
die vrijheid eren,
ja dan,
dan wordt het eng.