Dead poet

In issue #156 of your weekly shot of fresh poetry, we examine the cyclic nature of life

Just a piece
of marble and some paint.
Nothing of the great writer is here.
Still, I cycled here. To
be inspired?

A while ago, I visited the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris. A lot of famous people, among them many artists, have their final resting place there. But when you go there, you won’t meet them. They are dead. They are not there. Just there graves, and some fans. Sometimes. Still, there’s something there.

In The Hague, there’s a cemetery that some refer to as the Père Lachaise of The Netherlands. I went there the other day. Looking for the grave, or actually: urn, of Louis Couperus, a famed Dutch writer and poet who, like me, was born in The Hague. Of course, he was not there.

But I did find inspiration.

Where do you go to find inspiration?

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Poetics in life

Street art has come a long way. I remember holding the single Uprock by Rock Steady Crew and being in awe with the amazing piece of graffiti on it. From an underground movement, a sub-culture in that period, street art has moved into the mainstream. Now, you can see buildings and tunnels and other infrastructural elements decorated with giant commissioned pieces of art.

And then you take a walk in the park and see a flower chalked on the pavement by kids. Sweet art.

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Poetry elsewhere

Images can be powerful in poetry, especially when they are strong like the wind on the North Sea coast.

David

uses that in this poem, which makes you feel the strong salty winds in your face. Enjoy tides out:

tides out | poem

The cyclical nature of life also comes with complex experiences. Experiences that influence us, but whose impact is difficult to grasp for the half that does not have them. Poetry can help in bridging that gap, as Daffodil Jones shows with this strong and spiritual poem about menstruation. Enjoy experiencing Feminax.

History keeps repeating itself until we know it is and we act on it. That poets are very well placed and perfectly talented to bring us awareness, is clear in this beautiful poem by

Rae

. Enjoy experiencing Tsagaglalal:

Tsagaglalal