Gerrit Kouwenaar
portrait of a landscape
A table full of fruit, but natural, naturally
too large for a house
and so sweet and nutritious one never saw fruit,
therefore
a landscape
come near, dearest and friends, yes also
those wearing a butcher's knife before
and behind their foreheads
come nearer, lick stone, and behold
a landscape
not made by hands but trodden by feet
the hands can startle the eyes: so tangible
that food is belated
fruits like hollow chambers, grey with juice, pile up
alongside bread, bullets, lungs, veins
louse-fat cows graze in the shadow of names
noise is the screaming of sawdust
here is something. silence. here begins. silence. here
arises, expires. silence. the reverse:
smoke: endless laughter, music, merry-
go-rounds, nourishing berries and a god cursing us
from a trap. like a wolf.
like a word.
too large for a house
and so sweet and nutritious one never saw fruit,
therefore
a landscape
come near, dearest and friends, yes also
those wearing a butcher's knife before
and behind their foreheads
come nearer, lick stone, and behold
a landscape
not made by hands but trodden by feet
the hands can startle the eyes: so tangible
that food is belated
fruits like hollow chambers, grey with juice, pile up
alongside bread, bullets, lungs, veins
louse-fat cows graze in the shadow of names
noise is the screaming of sawdust
here is something. silence. here begins. silence. here
arises, expires. silence. the reverse:
smoke: endless laughter, music, merry-
go-rounds, nourishing berries and a god cursing us
from a trap. like a wolf.
like a word.
Translated by Peter Nijmeijer
Page(s) 76
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