CHESTNUT JOE Poem by F. van Dixhoorn

a cheerful evening

1. swaying
ashen backs
of elephants
like grass in their passing
shake the bushes
rip off a few branches
to chew on slow and pensive

2. the cook
for the food

3. for a westerner
what westerner
does not have




a cheerful evening
his cheerful evenings

1. chestnut joe

2. at the piano
a whole day

3. rolls back
it is the cold
of the night before
the cold has a hold
on us

1. rolls back
it is the cold




of the night before
the cold has a hold
on us

2. at the piano
a whole day

3. chestnut joe

1. I cheerfully begin
once more
what do we see
when our eye
is not constantly
eclipsed
by recoiling eyelid




2. the cook
for the food
shines likewise
3. has lost
meaning
now that in the distance
a permanent river crossing
is being built
1. at the end
of the day
when everybody wants to go home
at once
2. during the building
of that new bridge
during gale-force winds
a serious accident




a blockade
of that bridge
3. to the others
who with grand gestures
draw through the air
how the bridge should be
1. this time I walk into
the park
from the back
even as the crowns
touch each other everywhere
2. I look at
the other strollers
only earth nameplates
on stems
of bare plants




it gives me pleasure
to look as if
there are nuts
3. not only do
the surroundings disappear
the object too
on which initially
the attention is focused
1. she is absolutely right
what you have too often
seen no longer works
this is how monkeys play
2. a double role
3. until we have had enough
1. by evening helicopter
they are shattered




when at last
together

1. the newspaper lies about

2. in the room
the rest is quiet

3. it is good
that seldom
leaves
the living room
of the owner

1. it is good
that seldom