vrijdag 28 november 2014
De-Decorate
Fur Lined Boots
rest next to each other
chunky knitted woolen socks
revealing white winter toes
legs step smoothly
gray satin stretch pipes
arms wrestle skillfully
fluffy angora sleeves
soft scratchy warmth
volatilize uninhabited
wristless ticking time
gold next elasticity
white lace lingerie
stretchable porcelain skin
uncovers goosebumps
blank body slides between
clean white and smooth
draped in peace
©MG20131209NL
AFRICA
Grazing horned cows
in
wide green meadows
Yellow weaverbirds
in
woven hanging baskets
Young maize and dust
in-
habit rolling fields
Springfonteyn & Woestalleen
revealing
Lowlands origin
White rhinoceros wandering
along
blue ponds
Antelopes and ostriches
randomly
spread like cattle
Termite monds and jacaranda
color
orange and purple in the green
at treur rivier women weep
&
&
at blyde rivier women laugh
and God looked through his Window
and
and
He saw Africa was created well!
©MG20131119SA
 |
| 24°52′29″S 30°53′29″E |
 |
| a view through God's Window: over the Lowveld to the border with Mozambique |
Pouring
Like water
I flow
I surround you
With
All My love
I flow
I surround you
With
All My love
Soft and wet
My tears
My tears
Dry
By Your kisses
By Your kisses
Your silent lips
Tell me
Those words
I crave for
Tell me
Those words
I crave for
MG20131027NL
Ringgg
My old-fashioned doorbell will hang a little, the annoying ringtone penetrates your bones and makes me have goosebumps. The sound suits my old house. I live in a cozy old-fashioned neighborhood where everyone knows each other and the children play safely and happily in each other's gardens. The children happily populate the alleys. These alleys are the roads from the residents.
I open the door and two boys from the neighborhood are standing on my doorstep. Of course I know them from seeing them, but at the moment I just cannot remember their names. One is about eight years old, a handsome boy, his companion is a little younger.
‘Does Ymke live here?’
‘Yes, she does.’
‘Does she play outside?’
‘No, Ymke is gone and when she comes home it's already too late.’
‘Does her friend live beside you?’
I realize that my daughter and the girl next door played with the two boys. The question overwhelmed me, so I've responded immediately without thinking first.
‘Yes, that's Ymke's girlfriend!’
I close the door and as I walk into the living room I don’t feel good about it. I decide to call my neighborlady.
‘Hey, it is me, a second ago there were two boys at the door to play with Ymke and they also asked for Rachel, so soon they will come to you too.’
‘Yes, this week they have been here to play with her.’
‘Oh, what did you do?’
‘I thought it was a bit strange, so I stayed with all of them.’
So my neighbor had, just like I did, no good feelings about it. A good idea that she stayed with them, during their playing together. What on earth two tough guys of six and eight are intending with two girls aged four? I'm not sure what to think about it, but I do not get it anyway. To feel even worse I have to admit that the boys are tinted. Their parents have a different hometown from mine, from a Mediterranean country, with Mediterranean views, Mediterranean values, not according to Polderland values. As if that is important, in my mind. I do not know if that matters, but it bothers me that these thoughts are catching me.
When it is dark I get my daughter from the school care. I have cleaned my house when Ymke was gone and I love the shiny black tables and polished wooden floor. In my limited living room it creates light and space. In the small kitchen adjacent to my lovely outdoorplace, I know that all the preparations are made for supper. As usual, I take plenty of time for her. She throws her crafts on the table as she clatters about what she did. I listen when we're together on the couch.
When she has told all her stories and has calmed down I can not but ask the pressing question.
‘Honey, do you ever play with such and such?’
She replies in the affirmative.
‘What do you do with them when you are playing?’
‘That's a secret.’
‘Tell me?’
‘No, it's secret.’
Unfortunately, strange thoughts occur to me. Do loverboys of eight years exist?
‘Honey, you can tell mom anything.’
‘No, I promised it.’
‘But we don’t have secrets for each other.’
She still refuses.
I decide in desperation to a bribe action. Not pedagogically correct.
‘Ymke, do you want an ice cream?’
She does.
‘Then I will exchange with your secret.’
‘Okay, Mommy.’
‘What do you do when you play with the boys?’
‘If they go fishing, I always have to dig out scary animals from their fishingnet.’
Relieved, I see in my mind how the family honor by the two boys being tainted. These young boys were brought up so that they have been bothered by the sense of honor. A sense of honor which forbids little girls to get dirty. A sense of honor which prohibits the weaker sex to show its strength…
©MG20110405NL
A-way
Now only dust
touches me
where once
there were
voices swirling
my heart
only experiences
emptyness
invisible residents
in my heart
withhold
from my love
away, are they
by their itinerary
in Asia, Australia
or AMSterdam
©MG20110119NL
Déjà vu
I drive on the A27 and then I decide to take an exit to drive through Breda, I think it is a shortcut…
But it turns out to be a longcut, although it brings back childhood memories. My grandparents used to live in Breda when I was a school kid. I remember the apartment building, it is close to my shortcut so I take a glimp into town at the right moment. I see a broad alley with on both sides a lane and in the middle a green lawn. These wide traffic area is restricted with high modern white buildings on the left side and modern lower redbricked buildings at the right side. It doesn’t bring anything back in my memory.
I drive behind an expensive black car with a silver line around the windows. Truly a black beauty. It appears that he knows his way around. So I follow him. That decision is getting me quicker out of the local traffic jam. The driver knows where to drive on the left side and when to choose for the right lane. He gets me through the city in no-time and when we get back on the highway I leave him behind me.
I drive along farmland which probably just is seeded. I see brown fields, just ploughed. The signs I pass let my mind fly back to earlier times. My brother used to live close by Bergen-op-Zoom and my current destination is just a few kilometers away from there. I enjoy the foresty environment and when the trees don’t surround me anymore it seems that my new goal is to see my brother and his family.
When he lived here, we saw each other regularly and I enjoyed to play with his little girls. I loved to tease them. His wife is a great cook and his hobby always was a source of curiosity: he bred seahorse, actually he is the most intelligent person in the world if it matters about these elegant sea animals. He is the first fish farmer who was able to not only breed little sea horses but also to keep them alive. He researched the kind of food they needed to stay alive. He caught some food fresh in the nearby sea and some food he bred himself. Me and my children enjoyed listening to his stories and watching his aquaria. There never was a dull moment.
Then I see the old manor. It is an old white beauty. I wonder what kind of rooms they house in the steeples. I drive slowly past the antique building to find a huge parking area around the corner, hidden in the bushes. The temperature still is summery. I walk to the pond where a duck decides if he needs to be afraid of me and has to run or fly or that he can trust me. He decides for the last option. The presence of the duck in the silent water transfers some tranquility. Calmly I enter the maze behind the manor to find my way to the back entrance. It is warm in the building. At the end I am glad I can escape, although it means a long journey back home.
Just being in this acquainted landscape hurt me more than I can tell. The memories are bittersweet. Driving back home late, in the dark, unaware of the people around me in their cars and invisible for them as well the tears land. In my mind I visit my beloved brother and his family. In my mind I see them playing with each other, I see them arguing with their parents and I see them fighting together, wrestling about a jacket or nail polish. I smile, luckily they are totally normal kids, but the girls become beautiful intelligent ladies too. I missed their puberty. The girls attend university , highschool and elementary school in Victoria. They are fluent in English….
Driving further away from my memories help the tears stopping from dropping. I force myself to take notice of the new signs and they bring me back home. My home is so far away from the area my brother choose to live in. it is only 16.811 km to the south east. If I bicycle 4 hours a day and 5 days a week I will be there in a year…
So, where do they live nowadays?
©MG20110420NL
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