Sunday, December 7, 2008

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008

dank u sinterklaasje!


Die 't ambacht wel verstaet,
daar hij van leven moet,
en die 't niet wel alleen,
maar wel en geerne doet,
beleeft het grootst geluk
dat iemand kan begeren.
Const. Huygens (1596-1687)

Thursday, December 4, 2008

voorkomen is beter


God schudde zijn ernstig betwijfelde hoofd-

als voorkomen beter was dan genezen,
dan was hij nergens aan begonnen,
dan was het nu nog nul uur nul
op de nulde dag
en bleef het dat-

hij bijt op zijn niet langer voorstelbare nagels
en gluurt naar beneden-

straks gaat hij genezen,
in zijn aandoenlijke wijsheid weet híj alleen
waarvan.

-Toon Tellegen, 2002-

scheveningen (10)

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

way out


The best way out is always through.
-Robert Frost, 1914 -
(American poet, one of his most famous poems: the road not taken)

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

poinsettia, hortensia?



(poinsettia = kerstster)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Friday, November 28, 2008

utopia


Island where all becomes clear.

Solid ground beneath your feet.

The only roads are those that offer access.

Bushes bend beneath the weight of proofs.

The Tree of Valid Supposition grows here
with branches disentangled since time immermorial.

The Tree of Understanding, dazzling staight and simple.
sprouts by the spring called Now I Get It.

The thicker the woods, the vaster the vista:
the Valley of Obviously.

If any doubts arise, the wind dispels them instantly.

Echoes stir unsummoned
and eagerly explain all the secrets of the worlds.

On the right a cave where Meaning lies.

On the left the Lake of Deep Conviction.
Truth breaks from the bottom and bobs to the surface.

Unshakable Confidence towers over the valley.
Its peak offers an excellent view of the Essence of Things.

For all its charms, the island is uninhabited,
and the faint footprints scattered on its beaches
turn without exception to the sea.

As if all you can do here is leave
and plunge, never to return, into the depths.

Into unfathomable life.

-Wislawa Szymborska, 1976-
(Poland, translation Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

ansichtinzicht (2)

competence


Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.
- Laurence J. Peter, 1969-

Monday, November 24, 2008

Sunday, November 23, 2008

scheveningen (8)


-Heinrich Heine, 1827-

Saturday, November 22, 2008

een mens om van te houden


Zijn oude ziel
draagt hij lachend
onder de arm.
Maar niet als clown.

Rimpels van verdriet
gladstrijkend
dartelt hij,
onbevangen kind,
verwonderd
door de wereld
zijn liefdedaden
aan de man brengend.

-Anna Vali, 1977-

Friday, November 21, 2008

solitude (3)


Words are a net;
Feeling, the water escapes through the meshes
I fish for silence.

-Ronald Duncan, 1961 (no 27 from The Solitudes)-

Thursday, November 20, 2008