Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Henk van der Waal

The Fourth Person Singular

why should they not be with you, those few words of a bequest that
make the mouth brackish: instead of you quietly chuckling at the
death of god and crying: look at me, how I am free and rebellious,
you are perhaps able to sound out reception on how
the female disrupter crumbles the future’s wafer
on the tongue of those confined to themselves

those replacement seekers in lust and avoiders of

the fourth person singular

that neck-breaking, dissolute yes-woman

who gives the utmost and
for the benefit of the recoilers
from death lifts dominoes with
velvet hand from the row of seconds ticking
against each other till nothing more collapses and those
sensitive to time are held in the never of what becomes: pure hope


              From the series ‘Nomenclatura’

de vierde persoon enkelvoud

de vierde persoon enkelvoud

waarom zouden die niet bij je zijn, die paar woorden van een toevalling die
de mond brak maken: in plaats van je stilletjes te verkneukelen over de
dood van god en te roepen: zie mij eens, hoe vrij ik ben en opstandig,
vermag je misschien ontvangst te sonderen omtrent hoe de
ontwrichtster de ouwel van de toekomst verkruimelt
op de tong van de tot zich beperkten

die vervanging zoekers in lust en ontwijkers van

de vierde persoon enkelvoud

die halsbreekster en bandeloze jaknikster

die het uiterste geeft en ten
behoeve van de terugdeinzers
voor de dood met fluwelen hand
dominosteentjes uit de rij tegen elkaar
tikkende seconden tilt tot niets meer voort valt en de
tijdgevoeligen gehouden zijn in het nooit van wat wordt: puur hoop


              Uit de serie ‘Nomenclatura’
Close

The Fourth Person Singular

why should they not be with you, those few words of a bequest that
make the mouth brackish: instead of you quietly chuckling at the
death of god and crying: look at me, how I am free and rebellious,
you are perhaps able to sound out reception on how
the female disrupter crumbles the future’s wafer
on the tongue of those confined to themselves

those replacement seekers in lust and avoiders of

the fourth person singular

that neck-breaking, dissolute yes-woman

who gives the utmost and
for the benefit of the recoilers
from death lifts dominoes with
velvet hand from the row of seconds ticking
against each other till nothing more collapses and those
sensitive to time are held in the never of what becomes: pure hope


              From the series ‘Nomenclatura’

The Fourth Person Singular

why should they not be with you, those few words of a bequest that
make the mouth brackish: instead of you quietly chuckling at the
death of god and crying: look at me, how I am free and rebellious,
you are perhaps able to sound out reception on how
the female disrupter crumbles the future’s wafer
on the tongue of those confined to themselves

those replacement seekers in lust and avoiders of

the fourth person singular

that neck-breaking, dissolute yes-woman

who gives the utmost and
for the benefit of the recoilers
from death lifts dominoes with
velvet hand from the row of seconds ticking
against each other till nothing more collapses and those
sensitive to time are held in the never of what becomes: pure hope


              From the series ‘Nomenclatura’
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Nederlands Letterenfonds
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Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
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