Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Alexis de Roode

Contract

Today I have started working for the Good,
with the deployment of all my limited resources,
with the aim of making the world a better planet.

I’m going to do something about it, the improved creation,
the mistakes made by Darwin and God,
to perfect human nature,
to introduce awareness in the production process.

It is high time that we finally exhume her,
our great-great-grandmother, Virtue.
This childish extolling
of vice, of being deliciously naughty,
has gone on for long enough.

We’ll have a dinner party in the woods
with a celebrity rented for the occasion
and each of us will write down three ideas
about how to change the world.

Nobody knows where it will end up;
we are going to set things to rights.

Because I’ll be working for the Good, I’ll get a nice fat salary.

Contract

Contract

Ik ben vandaag in dienst getreden van het goede,
met inzet van al mijn beperkte middelen,
om de wereld tot een betere planeet te maken.

Ik ga er werk van maken, de verbeterde schepping,
de fouten die Darwin en God hebben gemaakt,
de inborst van de mens afwerken,
bewustzijn in het productieproces brengen.

Het wordt tijd haar eindelijk eens op te graven,
onze betovergrootmoeder, de Deugd.
Die kinderachtige verheerlijking
van de ondeugd, lekker stout,
het heeft nu lang genoeg geduurd.

Wij gaan dineren in een bos
met een ingehuurde beroemdheid
en schrijven ieder drie ideeën op
om de wereld te veranderen.

Niemand weet waar het heen gaat;
wij gaan daar orde in aanbrengen.

Omdat ik voor het goede ga werken, is mijn salaris enorm.
Close

Contract

Today I have started working for the Good,
with the deployment of all my limited resources,
with the aim of making the world a better planet.

I’m going to do something about it, the improved creation,
the mistakes made by Darwin and God,
to perfect human nature,
to introduce awareness in the production process.

It is high time that we finally exhume her,
our great-great-grandmother, Virtue.
This childish extolling
of vice, of being deliciously naughty,
has gone on for long enough.

We’ll have a dinner party in the woods
with a celebrity rented for the occasion
and each of us will write down three ideas
about how to change the world.

Nobody knows where it will end up;
we are going to set things to rights.

Because I’ll be working for the Good, I’ll get a nice fat salary.

Contract

Today I have started working for the Good,
with the deployment of all my limited resources,
with the aim of making the world a better planet.

I’m going to do something about it, the improved creation,
the mistakes made by Darwin and God,
to perfect human nature,
to introduce awareness in the production process.

It is high time that we finally exhume her,
our great-great-grandmother, Virtue.
This childish extolling
of vice, of being deliciously naughty,
has gone on for long enough.

We’ll have a dinner party in the woods
with a celebrity rented for the occasion
and each of us will write down three ideas
about how to change the world.

Nobody knows where it will end up;
we are going to set things to rights.

Because I’ll be working for the Good, I’ll get a nice fat salary.
Sponsors
Gemeente Rotterdam
Nederlands Letterenfonds
Stichting Van Beuningen Peterich-fonds
Ludo Pieters Gastschrijver Fonds
Lira fonds
Partners
LantarenVenster – Verhalenhuis Belvédère