DUTCH DESIGN Poem by Astrid Lampe

my streamlined Dutch interior could wait
cashing in on the emotion we celebrated in full flow
the promotion of my interpreter to water engineer:
sooner or later he will be able
to reclaim my little wet-foot-country

stanza for stanza, practically magically
land overrunning my water

pure profit area, on a certain day when a cold frog choir
throws itself wholesale into this pumping-station
croakingly gets itself milled it is the same polder god
a god with golden balls and stolen foot soles
that squirts dune sand

warm, from me to you
moonstruck glistens now

stanza for stanza my love a country that stretches out
this country that stretches itself, plot by plot, what once
began soberly with a spot
ended up as a sky in which your navel gained height
and still

the same god
that dubs an interpreter a knight equips
the engineer with knowledge and wooden shoes

how he allows my Flevoland to become a model!

that same knight who proudly
makes me an oil magnate of his state

donates to this emirate his pearl
in the shape of a palm

My oh my …. !

this (…) Dutch Design Dubai
eyes everywhere, prince consort!… your nest of beautiful virgins
artificial thrown up raised up -
flung, island by island, pure profit area