Vistas and faces – NRC

I set off with in my wake, of course
my beige dwarf poodle
We walked long, soon
was built along the A1 near Muiden
the first blockage visible
Still in the morning darkness, an airstrip
preceded by tractor lights
by a solemn police column
Across the water, at Spy College
in the scouting building of Almere,
had one just started the day with arithmetic,
mathematics averse to alternative truths,
although the word problems turned out to be devoid of immigrant names
Dirk and Dirk alone has 15 marbles
In the distance, on the dike, our Prime Minister was cycling
It was hard to see if he was coming our way
so we walked on
The cathedral of Utrecht loomed
but first we climbed the Pyramid of Austerlitz
The spirit of Napoleon haunted it
and while I stood there
I had to think of the title of Vasalis’ bundle
Vistas and faces,
how every view bears the face
of the power that causes or maintains it
Plumes of smoke over the Amazon
Jar Bolsonaro
The tar sands of Alberta
Justin Trudeau
The view from Lusail Iconic Stadium
Sepp Blatter
Or closer to home:
The smoldering suburbs of Kyiv
Vladimir Putin
The beaches of Lesvos
The beaches of Lampedusa
The beaches of Calais
Ursula von der Leyen
Or even closer to home:
Mega stables in the Brabant fields
Peter Adema
Caroline van der Plas
Christianne van der Wal-Zeggelink
Then a strip of land broke up
from car showrooms and outlet stores
For only 12 euros I tapped two multipacks
position underwear on the head,
a purchase with which I for a while
was in seventh heaven
But at the gates of heaven they go through a list with you
with all the times you have been cheated as a consumer
(‘Note: only two rooms left’ –
when you on April 7, 2012
hastily booked a romantic weekend in London.
“Was that you?” Yes, Peter, that was me)
and soon I landed on earth again
this time in underwear
in a size that was just not comfortable
in a color I didn’t like
Anyway, we approached Gelderland,
the land of my ancestors,
where, in addition to wolves, jackals now also live
which you distinguish as follows:
When the jackals howl, the dogs bark back,
but when the wolves howl, the dogs shut up
We were both silent, poodle and me,
while we looked at the flattened body
of the young wolf that lay before us
On his back the rough marks of a paintball impact
A thin trickle of blood came out of his mouth
that would eventually attract other wolves
That seemed symbolic to me
The sort of scene one would later paint
if one wanted to remember this time
Wolves with a dead wolf (2022), acrylic on canvas, 2074
In the distance, on the dike, our Prime Minister was cycling
It was hard to see if he was coming our way
so we turned north
and entered Kroondomein Het Loo
We found the king in protective clothing
and hunter boots with insoles
He shot at a boar, which fell to its knees
when the kingdom of the dead welcomed him
It started to drizzle
It drizzled all over Overijssel
It was the kind of autumn day that teaches you what autumn is as a child:
You want to stay inside but you’re already outside,
but it smells like fun there
that you find inside, so you stay outside, with that smell,
that delicious mix of fire and leaf rot
It was a pity that the autumn day fell into winter
It wasn’t until Appelscha that things cleared up
On a bench I ate two ammonia biscuits
and a can of pressed potato starch
in the cream cheese and onion flavour
We ran out of time, the future
had already started in Groningen,
where from the nurseries
ancient folk songs sounded
I am a real-time archivist,
I throw away all things
No one knows what’s true anymore
so just believe what I tell you
In sight of Winsum I was exhausted
My legs shook with the ground
Fortunately, a large bowl of soup was waiting
and a big bone for the dog
in a church converted into a bed and breakfast
In the distance, on the dike, the prime minister cycled,
a silhouette against the setting sun
that colored the sky orange, like melons
So many times I have felt that this life is moving too fast for me
although I can still enjoy a long walk
and although this flashy existence sometimes also comforts me:
Showed up on my phone before bed
messages one by one
which gave me undeniable courage
We missed you
We’ll try again tomorrow
We are at your door between 10.00 and 18.00