Went for ride with Cokkie to Vogelzang and Hillegom just outside Haarlem and took some photos of the tulips. However, the recent burst of hot weather made them come on very early and most of the colours were gone.
and here is one of Cokkie from afar listening to the vogelzang (birdsong)...
and while we are on tulip, here's a poem of advice that I hope is not too late...
She won the Prix de Rome (Amsterdam) for her painting while at the Academy in Amsterdam in the sixties. Cokkie is a good friend that I thought I'd post a poem I wrote...
THE PAINTER
Come look at my paintings
Look closely and see
Inside them you will find
The scattered bits of me.
I was here before, you know,
It has taken me a million years to grow
But all the time I still can see
The eternal child inside of me.
I could have been my mother's mother
And my father could have been another;
Who chooses those who must be born
Sews the seed like scattered corn.
There is no plan that I can see,
My paintings are my search for me.
Look close, look close and see
My paintings all have bits of me.
Incidentally, another friend Jolanda a.k.a. Walkyri made the poem into a song. She has collaborated with the brothers Eelco and Arjan van Elst of Inner-voice for a CD and you could hear a sample of the Painter in their Myspace page. Just scroll on the music box and search for The Painter and listen for their version.
And you can also listen here for an earlier version she gave me:
After 4 days on Trigger my face got a bit sunburned and I am a bit saddle sore and so I am gonna give my weary backside a break after posting my recent trip and photos of Oosterplas.
I was on my way to the lake when I felt an arm on my shoulder, still cycling, and it was Iris who's on a biking holiday on her bike. She came a bit of the way with me and then head south for a 75km cycle...
The lake looked very beautiful today and I walked right around it and came across 3 Mother Geese with their young. Hope the foxes don't get them.
It was only by chance (or maybe instinct?) that I opened the Book 25 Jaar Literaire Instuif Haarlem Poetisch Jaarschrift 3 and realized that today is the 41st year since Yvonne Koldewijn opened the door and her heart to the Literaire Instuif Haarlem (Literary Institute of Haarlem).
The literary evenings was initiated by Bert Sliggers with the assistance of Hans Invernizzi until they organized themselves initially only with the helping hand of Yvonne but in a few years the organizers laid the entire organization to her. She has given her entire life and heart to the institute that one of the board members has said that "Yvonne Koldewijn is niet alleen de organisator van de Instuif; ze ís de Literaire Instuif Haarlem" (Yvonne Koldewijn is not only the organizer of the Institute, she is the Literary Institute of Haarlem). She was so devoted that the Mayor and Alderman of the City of Haarlem awarded her a Medal of Merit on November 7, 1999 just a few months before her death.
So today, I remember once again the Literary heart of Haarlem.
Took a ride on my trusty bike trigger to Parnassia beach from Haarlem. 25 km there and back through the dunes that protect Haarlem from the sea. Sun was out, the sky was blue but the wind was chilly so I nestled down in a sheltered spot and drank my tea and read my book, The Hustler. Made me want to play pool again.
Twas a lovely sunny day so Jose and I jumped on Triggger and her Bike-with-no-name and went for a cycle to Molenplas and saw the windmill called The Hommel.
Hommel means bumble bee like in my poem Defiance of Science.
The first post I made on this blog was a poem which Paul Marselje turned into music. Paul has made some of my other other poems into music and I recently discovered that I could add his widget of one of my poems to this blog.
The song is special since Yvonne was the reason I stayed in Haarlem. The song says it all.
