Laan van M
Your weekly dose of fresh poetry #105
This is where what once was the longest street
in Europe, or maybe even the world - at least,
according to my brother - terminates. And maybe,
it still is. The longest, that is. It's definitely here
that it terminates, where once urban planners imagined
the city's limits would forever be, not realising how it
encroached - meter by meter, tree by tree,
grass blade by grass blade, brick by brick -
on the wildlife habitats, colonising them, replacing
holes and warrens with houses-called-villas and
stacks of one-floor homes, all with tiny (concrete)
gardens. What once was the edge of town, now is
the entrance to a new quarter.
But if you turn around, swivel, pivot on your heels,
turning your back towards where still rabbits and foxes
roam, you have a journey ahead of you into the heart
of a city that is ever evolving. A journey on what once
not just was the longest street in Europe, or maybe even
the world - at least, according to my brother - but also
unofficially served as the border between have and
have-not, between sand and peat. A journey through
time, as you see the rings of growth, demarcated by
building styles according to the moment in time
they were constructed. And if you go down this street,
all the way to the end that is actually the beginning,
you will find yourself in the heart of a city that prides
itself on being the international capital of peace
and justice, of which we never can have
enough.
My brother always told me the Laan van Meerdervoort - an avenue in The Hague - is the longest street in Europe. Some sources will confirm that, others will likely mention different streets in different countries, with varying definitions of what a street is supposed to be. And that is precisely the fun of it. Local legends and historical events will certainly have played out on or near these long avenues. They are filled with local stories. Wonderful stories, horror stories, war stories. Love stories.
Even on the not-longest streets and avenues everywhere around us, there are stories to be found. Or imagined. Just look around you. And maybe you will find such a story. Let me know if you do.
Something to listen to
Let’s start this week’s something to listen to section with… something to listen to AND to watch. It’s a poem that refers to an acronym that’s bouncing around in the NFT artists social media channels: #WAGMI. It stands for… well, let poet Angad B Sodhi explain it in this poem titled #WAGMI Anthem:
And please listen to this episode of my podcast, in which we travel to the desert to meet Amy. Her poetry is all about seeing the beauty of the world:
To close off: a new playlist this month. This time, it’s filled with music from movies and series. As always, a delightfully eclectic mix:
Poetry elsewhere
Alex Price is a very good poet, and a kind and generous soul. He provides a daily cinquain prompt on Twitter but also writes other forms. Like this one. It’s about crows, but also about much more. Enjoy this untitled poem:
Most poems you read are, in one way or the other, polished by the poet. There’s always a form of evolution from the initial version. In this post, the poet Sherman Alexie shows how his poem The Spider Amendment evolved from the first draft to the second:
The beach is such an inviting canvas. You can write anything in the sand, with part of the idea being, that in the end, the sea comes to erase it all. There’s beauty in inherently temporary writings. The poet with the nom de plume Five Minute Stories captures that beauty very well in this poem The Writing Is In The Sand.
Hallo Arjan! How are you?
I loved this newsletter, and I felt much inspired by your poem on the longest street. It made me ponder on many considerations, on how life unravels itself, but we not always perceive it, and one must go back to where it all started to recognize and acknowledge the changes along the path. That is why, going back and retrace, from where it all started, opens up to a series of unexpected insights leading to new perspectives.
Thank you for sharing your life notes on moving through time and places.
PS: I just discovered that the shortest street in the world is in Wick, Scotland. It is called Ebenezer Place and is long, pardon, short only 2,05 m.!😃 At the end of it, there is a hotel entrance, which determines the width of said street. I guess this street might also inspire a few life reflections, and Ebenezer could also offer an insight or two.
I liked your personal write- up on the street