Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Frank Keizer

FOR HERMAN GORTER

Dear Gorter I love you
I think you’re so special
I’d like to say it with all my heart
and I will say it with all my heart
just like that
this is me saying it
you’re so special
for me you’re one of the great poets
a unique phenomenon
in Dutch literature
you’ve written
marvellous poetry of the dying event
which I often carry around with me
just to stay close to you
to keep warm on your Marxism
Gorter can you feel the night
the first night of spring
something is in the air
the undefined becomes destiny
I believe in the arrival of something
I think you might have said something like that
may I say it?
what I say is
let us go and sit in your love-boat
and row away from the dreary shore
before something comes to separate us
before Lenin comes between us yet again
or the institute
that swallowed and pulverized you
marginalized and deserted you
the institute
a memorial stone flies through the windows
of the institute
it is my copy of Pan
that I couldn’t get through
until I began to sing it
to myself
it’s 2014 now and the war’s started all over
the war never ended
great wars rage in our insides
I deprive others of their Gorter
Gorter is mine and mine alone
Marc Reugebrink has lost Gorter
and quite right too
he doesn’t really love you
it all went wrong
with the transition to socialism
but that was Marc’s fault
Marc can’t choose
or else he makes the wrong choice
I do love you
unconditionally
I sometimes picture us
standing side by side
on the coast of North Holland
and you rhyme crystal and universal
and I have to giggle a bit
because how you say it makes it sound total and overwhelming
and the world becomes transparent
when I say it
it sounds dumb and gross

and everyone thinks I’m making a joke
or being provocative
I think that’s because my words
are the words of someone
who hasn’t yet known defeat
who is taking his first steps
in the labour market
in the long twenty-first century
a century that will put the twentieth in the shade
a century without councils
without choral dances
Gorter I think
that the split between words and deeds
has alienated us from both
now all we have is words
stupid words
dead words
old words
backward, hateful, xenophobic words  
words
random words
and random deeds
good deeds
bad deeds
splendid artistic deeds in a museum
and then that too will be past and gone
there will be no more pentameters
no perfect end rhymes
no more symbolist poetics
no post-symbolist poetics
no more lion with a lamb
all there will be will be history
in the dull loop
I sometimes call seriality
soon we’ll only have each other
and later not even that
then it will be your word
against mine
my individualism
against yours
the individualism of all against all
the sense of loss
that still vibrates through us
will also gradually abandon us
another world is beginning to put us in the shade
capital flickers
in the setting sun
of the cooling world
in which I live in isolation
without you and your tenderness
on which I will continue to wound myself
your language has bled dry
and now they are coming to get me
everything will be privatized
the air, the mountains, the universe
North Holland will be wiped out
we will be spent like carbon

voor Herman Gorter

voor Herman Gorter

Gorter ik hou van je
ik vind je zo bijzonder
ik wou het helemaal zeggen
en ik ga het ook helemaal zeggen
gewoon
zoals ik het zeg
je bent zo bijzonder
voor mij ben jij een van de grote dichters
een unieke verschijning
in de Nederlandse letteren
ben jij
prachtige poëzie van het wegstervende evenement
heb je geschreven
die ik vaak bij me draag
gewoon om dicht bij je te zijn
om me te warmen aan je marxisme
Gorter voel je de nacht
de eerste lentenacht
er hangt iets in de lucht
het onbestemde wordt bestemming
ik geloof in de komst van iets
ik denk dat jij zoiets had kunnen zeggen
kan ik het zeggen?
ik zeg
laten we in je liefdesschip gaan zitten
en van het grauwe strand weg roeien
voordat iets ons uit elkaar drijft
voordat Lenin weer tussen ons in gaat staan
of het instituut
dat je heeft ingelijfd en vermalen
gemarginaliseerd en verlaten
het instituut
een gedenksteen vliegt door de ruiten
van het instituut
het is mijn exemplaar van Pan
waar ik eerst niet doorheen kwam
tot ik het begon te zingen
voor mezelf
nu is het 2014 en is de oorlog weer begonnen
nooit geëindigd is de oorlog
grote oorlogen woeden in ons binnenste
anderen beroof ik van hun Gorter
Gorter is van mij en van mij alleen
Marc Reugebrink raakt Gorter kwijt
en terecht
hij houdt niet echt van je
bij de overgang naar het socialisme
ging het mis
maar dat ligt aan Marc
Marc kan niet kiezen
of kiest verkeerd
ik hou wel van je
onvoorwaardelijk
soms stel ik me voor hoe wij
zij aan zij
aan de Noord-Hollandse kust staan
en jij kristal laat rijmen op heelal
en ik een beetje moet giechelen
want als jij het zegt klinkt het vol en overweldigend
en wordt de wereld doorzichtig
als ik het zeg
klinkt het dom en onbeholpen

en denkt iedereen dat ik een grapje maak
of aan het provoceren ben
volgens mij komt dat omdat mijn woorden
de woorden zijn van iemand
die nog teloor moet gaan
die zijn eerste stappen zet
op de arbeidsmarkt
in de lange eenentwintigste eeuw
een eeuw die de twintigste zal doen verbleken
een eeuw zonder raden
zonder reien
Gorter ik denk
dat de scheiding van woorden en daden
ons van beide heeft vervreemd
nu hebben we alleen nog woorden
stomme woorden
dode woorden
oude woorden
achterlijke, hatelijke, xenofobe woorden
woorden
losse woorden
en losse daden
goede daden
slechte daden
prachtige artistieke daden in het museum
en daarna zal ook dat voorbij zijn
er zal geen jambische pentameter meer zijn
geen vol eindrijm
geen symbolistische poëtica’s
geen postsymbolistische poëtica’s
geen leeuw naast een lam
alleen nog geschiedenis
in de toonloze loop
die ik soms serialiteit noem
straks hebben we alleen elkaar nog
en daarna ook dat niet meer
dan is het jouw woord
tegen het mijne
mijn individualisme
tegen het jouwe
het individualisme van allen tegen allen
ook het besef van verlies
dat ons nu nog doortrilt
zal ons langzaam verlaten
een andere wereld begint ons eindelijk te overschitteren
kapitaal flikkert
in de ondergaande zon
van de verkillende wereld
waarin ik in afzondering leef
zonder jou en je tederheid
waaraan ik me wil blijven snijden
jouw taal is leeggebloed
en nu komen ze mij halen
alles zal geprivatiseerd zijn
de lucht, de bergen, het heelal
Noord-Holland zal worden weggevaagd
wij zullen verdoofd zijn als koolstof
Close

FOR HERMAN GORTER

Dear Gorter I love you
I think you’re so special
I’d like to say it with all my heart
and I will say it with all my heart
just like that
this is me saying it
you’re so special
for me you’re one of the great poets
a unique phenomenon
in Dutch literature
you’ve written
marvellous poetry of the dying event
which I often carry around with me
just to stay close to you
to keep warm on your Marxism
Gorter can you feel the night
the first night of spring
something is in the air
the undefined becomes destiny
I believe in the arrival of something
I think you might have said something like that
may I say it?
what I say is
let us go and sit in your love-boat
and row away from the dreary shore
before something comes to separate us
before Lenin comes between us yet again
or the institute
that swallowed and pulverized you
marginalized and deserted you
the institute
a memorial stone flies through the windows
of the institute
it is my copy of Pan
that I couldn’t get through
until I began to sing it
to myself
it’s 2014 now and the war’s started all over
the war never ended
great wars rage in our insides
I deprive others of their Gorter
Gorter is mine and mine alone
Marc Reugebrink has lost Gorter
and quite right too
he doesn’t really love you
it all went wrong
with the transition to socialism
but that was Marc’s fault
Marc can’t choose
or else he makes the wrong choice
I do love you
unconditionally
I sometimes picture us
standing side by side
on the coast of North Holland
and you rhyme crystal and universal
and I have to giggle a bit
because how you say it makes it sound total and overwhelming
and the world becomes transparent
when I say it
it sounds dumb and gross

and everyone thinks I’m making a joke
or being provocative
I think that’s because my words
are the words of someone
who hasn’t yet known defeat
who is taking his first steps
in the labour market
in the long twenty-first century
a century that will put the twentieth in the shade
a century without councils
without choral dances
Gorter I think
that the split between words and deeds
has alienated us from both
now all we have is words
stupid words
dead words
old words
backward, hateful, xenophobic words  
words
random words
and random deeds
good deeds
bad deeds
splendid artistic deeds in a museum
and then that too will be past and gone
there will be no more pentameters
no perfect end rhymes
no more symbolist poetics
no post-symbolist poetics
no more lion with a lamb
all there will be will be history
in the dull loop
I sometimes call seriality
soon we’ll only have each other
and later not even that
then it will be your word
against mine
my individualism
against yours
the individualism of all against all
the sense of loss
that still vibrates through us
will also gradually abandon us
another world is beginning to put us in the shade
capital flickers
in the setting sun
of the cooling world
in which I live in isolation
without you and your tenderness
on which I will continue to wound myself
your language has bled dry
and now they are coming to get me
everything will be privatized
the air, the mountains, the universe
North Holland will be wiped out
we will be spent like carbon

FOR HERMAN GORTER

Dear Gorter I love you
I think you’re so special
I’d like to say it with all my heart
and I will say it with all my heart
just like that
this is me saying it
you’re so special
for me you’re one of the great poets
a unique phenomenon
in Dutch literature
you’ve written
marvellous poetry of the dying event
which I often carry around with me
just to stay close to you
to keep warm on your Marxism
Gorter can you feel the night
the first night of spring
something is in the air
the undefined becomes destiny
I believe in the arrival of something
I think you might have said something like that
may I say it?
what I say is
let us go and sit in your love-boat
and row away from the dreary shore
before something comes to separate us
before Lenin comes between us yet again
or the institute
that swallowed and pulverized you
marginalized and deserted you
the institute
a memorial stone flies through the windows
of the institute
it is my copy of Pan
that I couldn’t get through
until I began to sing it
to myself
it’s 2014 now and the war’s started all over
the war never ended
great wars rage in our insides
I deprive others of their Gorter
Gorter is mine and mine alone
Marc Reugebrink has lost Gorter
and quite right too
he doesn’t really love you
it all went wrong
with the transition to socialism
but that was Marc’s fault
Marc can’t choose
or else he makes the wrong choice
I do love you
unconditionally
I sometimes picture us
standing side by side
on the coast of North Holland
and you rhyme crystal and universal
and I have to giggle a bit
because how you say it makes it sound total and overwhelming
and the world becomes transparent
when I say it
it sounds dumb and gross

and everyone thinks I’m making a joke
or being provocative
I think that’s because my words
are the words of someone
who hasn’t yet known defeat
who is taking his first steps
in the labour market
in the long twenty-first century
a century that will put the twentieth in the shade
a century without councils
without choral dances
Gorter I think
that the split between words and deeds
has alienated us from both
now all we have is words
stupid words
dead words
old words
backward, hateful, xenophobic words  
words
random words
and random deeds
good deeds
bad deeds
splendid artistic deeds in a museum
and then that too will be past and gone
there will be no more pentameters
no perfect end rhymes
no more symbolist poetics
no post-symbolist poetics
no more lion with a lamb
all there will be will be history
in the dull loop
I sometimes call seriality
soon we’ll only have each other
and later not even that
then it will be your word
against mine
my individualism
against yours
the individualism of all against all
the sense of loss
that still vibrates through us
will also gradually abandon us
another world is beginning to put us in the shade
capital flickers
in the setting sun
of the cooling world
in which I live in isolation
without you and your tenderness
on which I will continue to wound myself
your language has bled dry
and now they are coming to get me
everything will be privatized
the air, the mountains, the universe
North Holland will be wiped out
we will be spent like carbon
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