POETIC LINES

GLOBAL LANGUAGES

2008-12-31T09:09:00.000-08:00

A globe moves as a big balloon in a swimming-pool
and teaches transparent geography to the swimmers

The language of love
is silent and seeking
in life's loudly speaking
from down to above.

The language of silence
in love with creation,
a soul's inspiration
is full but still widens.

The language of silence
and love seem the same:
they show us the flame
but speak without violence

Of burning and brightening sunny salvation
of finding some peace on our blue-shining block.
Love makes man and wild flowers spread on this rock
where all life is looking for balanced vibration.

**********************************
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí (Girona).Text and picture.
'Poetic lines', 2008.

SONG OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

2008-12-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

The waters are crystalline clear, my dear
and white waves form longlasting rollers.
Young people and older ones play without fear:
Where are strange umbrellas and bowlers ?

The clouds and the winds are playing their game
of change in pictorial meetings.
And nature again is a beast not to tame:
a friend and a foe full of greetings.

The turmoil of tidings in summer and spring
in winters and autumns of colours
form now altogether a wonderful thing:
there's life without €uros and dollars.

This rhytm of natural beauty and strength
seems playing around with sheer kindness.
A lingering life is now asking for thanks
and then takes away all our blindness.
...........................................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí, (Girona)
Text and photograph. 'Poetic lines',2008

ELSA MUNDET, A LITTLE GIRL NEXTDOOR

2008-11-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

When we see your lovely face
and you say so soft: 'Bye bye'
you become so full of grace
that we always wonder why.

Full of joy and friendly laughter
often asking why and how:
Oh, it's Blacky that you're after
grey and white, our fine wow wow.

When you are in play and walk
smiling is your finest talk
with your friends or mum and daddy.

If you loudly raise your voice
we can only make one choice:
you're a wonder, not a baddy.
........................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí. Text and photo
of Elsa Mundet. From 'Poetic lines', 2009

BREGJE

2008-11-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

Written on the 'La Gola' beach

Your name, lovely daughter
is brilliantly shining;
two syllables only:
please never feel lonely.

I could write much more
in lines filled with sorrow
but that's for tomorrow's
or yesterday's shore.

I just want to tell you
in soft simple words
that you are my Bregje:
a word sometimes hurts.

.........................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí
'Poetic lines' 2008. Sunrise in Isla
Cristina,Spain. December 2008

LOVE AND HATE

2008-11-18T10:01:00.000-08:00

For my daughter Manine*

Love has so many faces, Manine,

one every moment, black, brown or green.

Open your eyes and you'll see very clearly

how all those faces do love you so dearly.

Hate has no face, is the end of a world

doesn't know anything, is filled with dirt,

kills all your feelings, makes you feel sad

gives you a pain in your stomach and head.

Love is a giving thing, happens and is

sometimes a smile and often a kiss.

Loving is friendly and makes you feel good

keeps you in health and in a good mood.

Hate is a black hole of nothing but blindness

holding you down in your own tears and dryness.

Love is a feeling of happily giving.

Love makes you really feel: 'Yes, I'm living' !

..........................................................................

*The Dutch name 'Manine' is pronounced 'Maneen'

Jan Arends, 'Catalan poetry, 1987. The photos

show Manine and my granddaughter Dana.

BETWEEN

2008-11-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

Love disappeared,

hate became hurry.

I looked around:

too much to worry.

Green were the fields

and shining the sun.

Hate disappeared

when love had begun.

....................................

Jan Arends, Text and photo

'Poetic lines', 2009

ETERNAL TIME

2008-11-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

The Past was to be
and Present is being

But future will be
just starting from Now

Going on, on and on
in Eternity...wow!
..................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí,
Text and photo. 'Poetic lines'2009

CRUISE ON THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA

2008-11-02T04:27:00.000-08:00

During this cruise the
sun kept on shining.
This jumping light
caused lovely dining.

We drank water and wine
and met people so fine.
The days on this line
made us feel divine.

So joyful and happy
on blue Planet Earth:
this big rolling stone
goes on giving birth.
...............................................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí,
Text and photo.'Poetic lines' 2009

COLOURS IN SPRING

2008-11-02T00:58:00.000-07:00

White blossom that changes from red into pink
in springtime with sunshine when people just drink
and play in this colourful landscape of beauty
where nature is doing is heavenly duty.

Green apple-trees growing in fields near the beaches
tell us with their colours how far springtime reaches.
And in all this music of life's jolly swinging
I hear my dear Carmen so caring and singing.

Look, Blacky our grey dog is now full of white
he spent in the cushions a quite happy night
and when we got up he looked very bright.

He plays and he jumps full of joy and of life,
his teeth are as big and as sharp as a knife
but he is the best friend of me and my wife.
.......................................................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí,
Text and photo. 'Poetic lines', 2009

HEY, THAT MUST BE BLACKY !

2008-10-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

His olive-like deep-shining eyes
say welcome and wait for hello.
His hair sometimes glitters and flies
around us and makes such a show.

His beard mostly drips and it dances
when food is not far from his mouth.
He is our dear dog and he glances
as member and part of our house.
..........................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí, text and photos.
From 'Poetic lines' 2009

BLACKY OUR CATALAN SHEEPDOG

2008-10-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Our jolly dog with floppy ears
two eyes like olives and no tears
waits for some gentle morning-words:
he has already seen the birds.

His wagging tail it sweeps the floor;
he puts himself next to the door
and watches every little change:
his world seems simple but not strange.

His soft and fluffy bunch of hair
falls round his body and takes care
of good defence against the cold:
he is a loving dog we're told.

He is a comrade and a friend
using the house from end to end
and in his presence and his being
we notice things we were not seeing.
..........................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí.
Text and photo's. 'Poetic lines' 2005.

CYNICAL PEOPLE

2008-10-31T04:26:00.000-07:00

Niccolò Machiavelli 1469-1527

It's easy to be cynical
and put your little self
outside this world, this miracle
inside a stonehard self.

It's easy to be cynical,
protect yourself from strangers:
maybe a little clinical
but far away from dangers.

It's lovely to feel wonderful
and live some simple joys.
This world of ours is beautiful
and we're but tiny toys

When life cures us from cynicals
and stops some type of clinicals.
When feelings form our source of life
in which we swim or jump and dive
................................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí.
'Poetic lines', 2003

BUILDING OF A BIRD'S NEST

2008-10-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

A fluff was created
and moved in the air:
a sparrow that waited
took it with great care.

The bird made a flight
a dance at its best
and got it all right
to serve for a nest.

Weeks later we heard
some sounds out of silence:
new lives and new birds,
new life without violence.
..............................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí
Text and photo. 'Poetic lines', 2009.

BEAUTY IS SIMPLE

2008-10-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

When morning brings a cheerful day
and sunlight comes from far away
then simple lines of warmth and waters
remind me of my cheerful daughters

Whose voices call me from so far
and make me feel a shining star
of love and feelings deep and nice:
this seems a bit like Paradise.

The laughing lines of Carmen's smile
do linger with me for a while
her face so warm and tender.

And Blacky's olive-coloured eyes
look funny, sad and even wise:
they cause my sweet surrender.
............................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí. Text and photo
of a Zigicactus-flower. 'Poetic lines', 2003.

A SIGN OF LIFE

2008-10-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

I'm walking as a sign of life
whilst struggling in the wind.
I walk together with my wife
see flowerbeds that softly hint

Towards a cloudy, greyish sky
that covers and goes wild:
a story or a windy lie
told to a growing child.

Nature does tell me proper things
and plays with many darts:
whatever in my body sings
is love of life that always starts.
.......................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí, Poetic lines,
2003. Photo of Roses by the author..

A RHYME FOR CARMEN

2008-10-27T03:44:00.000-07:00

My life and my wife
are two poems in one:
some lines and a life
in a love that we won

With colours and flowers
in sun and in showers
a dog full of hair
and a love that we share.
.........................................
Jan Arends. Torroella de Montgrí. Text and
photo's. From 'Poetic lines', 2009
.

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

2008-10-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

For my wife Carmen

A moment of silence
when nothing appears
but brightening sun-dance
in dreams of my years.

Soft silence of sunbeams
is colouring you:
a woman in blue jeans
a beauty so true.

Pink roses of silk stuff
look quiet, observing
the sunbeams where white fluff
seems shining and burning.

The shining of sunbeams
appears with the thought
that I drew some long lines
with mercy thanks God. .

.................................................
Jan Arends, Torroella de Montgrí
Photo of the moon over Parlavà
by an unknown photographer.
'Poetic lines' 2009.

CIVILIZED WORDS

2007-02-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

For Myf who said that 'civilizations
are but a thin layer of veneer'

Words of love and charity
queue to enter in these lines.
Are they made of vanity
hidden in the must of wines ?

Layers of words are thin and end
in shining covers of veneer.
Civilized they're standing up and
form some lines so soft and clear.

Watch the moving of a finger
on a well-tuned guitar-string:
sounds can tell you everything.

Jumping words of love and kindness
float around both you and me
making life a song to be.

...........................................................................
Jan Arends, 'Poetic lines' Torroella de Montgrí, 2003.

A SONG FOR THE PROFESSIONALS OF GUILT AND SIN

2006-12-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Spanish actor José Sacristán

Please listen to me,
gentlemen, far from gentle
excluding our women
abusing your mantle

in warning for sin
whilst spoiling our kin.

Remember the words
of a rabbi so lonely
who made us his children
but wasn`t a phony.

He asked only mercy
no sacrifice worthy.

Just leave your mistructions
ashamed of false powers;
please gentlemen
study
the movements
and beauty

of all that is simple
and constantly moving:

Life's love
in a flower.
.........................................................................................................................................................................
From 'Poetic lines, Torroella de Montgrí, 2003 by
Jan Arends who also made the photo of an Azucena

CARMEN REBORN

2006-12-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Your sunny laugh and busy fingers
are slowing down but sometimes lingers
a smile behind your pains and sorrow
spreading some hope for a tomorrow

When on a beach: what crystal thought!
the sun will shine and you'll be caught
by fresh and blinking lukewarm water:
that lovely girl is whom I fought for.

Those weeks of pain will disappear
clear, healing water bears your cheer
of joy and freedom, fresh and funny:
there swims my Carmen brown and sunny.

After those weeks have tumbled down
I'll see you in a fresh new gown.
That will protect your newborn life:
let's live that joy, my loving wife.

......................................................
From 'Poetic lines', Torroella de Montgrí, 2003
by Jan Arends who also made the photo of Carmen
and the parakeet in Haarlem, The Netherlands.

FLUFFS IN THE WIND

2005-11-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

This picture of nature and the richness of its colours was made
near the Mediterranean Sea on the Costa Brava, that famous and
impressive Wild Coast

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to Annechien Prey

We're but fluffs in the winds
of Eternity:
feeling love
from above
in our happy-to-be.

When the winds start to blow
from a freezing direction
a soul should remember
the sunshine's reflection.

How the flowers and trees
bow in stream from the North:
see their colours so sharp
and protected their course.

Playing fluffs in the wind
bringing hope, no despair:
an Eternity's hint ?

AN EXCEPCIONAL EX LIBRIS

2005-11-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

From reading a book a new idea
(symbolized by a corn-ear)
can come up and become fertile

Ben Tomlow
designed this ex libris for me. It appears in many of my so beloved books and in also in other creative applications.

Ben was a colleague for some years.
He was a great typographic designer indeed.
Together we worked in a book publishing
company in Holland. His exquisite taste,
his patience in explaining alternatives
and his intense hate of vulgarity made him
one of the best colleagues I ever had.

He fought for his ideas and studied
in the evenings to make his work
every time more beautiful.

Thanks again, Ben, for so many lessons
in typographic beauty that you have given
to me.

MY MUSE IN MAJORCA...

2005-11-13T19:15:00.000-08:00

Every now and then poetic lines arrive.
Some of those lines appeared in this blog.

Carmen enjoying a laughing lunch on the Island of Majorca.

Some simple lines for Carmen

My wife and my life
are two poems in one:
some lines and a life
in a love that we won.

AN ORANGE FLOATING IN THE SEA

2005-11-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

Carmen and Roger swimming in the Mediterranean Sea
near the estuary of the Rio Ter in the summer of 2004

An orange floating in the Mediterranean Sea

There was an orange in the sea
I saw it, floating, dancing
and wondered if it came to me
or just was there for fancying.

An Eastern wind that moved the waves
brought it in my direction:
the foamy, salty water gave
a sunny-fine reflection.

I took my shoes off and my socks
and stepped into the waters:
the sandy beach was free of rocks
and laughed like sunny daughters.

It started leaving but came back,
I took it with both hands.
This tiny thing, an orange wreck
a hopeful sign in salty dance.

BEACH LIFE

2005-11-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

My niece Marina Torres posing on the beach of La Gola
del Rio Ter with the Medas Islands on the background

.......................................................................................................................................

Beach life

The sea touches a sandy shore
where people who were young before
throw lines with bait of little fish
to get a big one out of this

Fantastic blue-green moving water:
my thoughts now wander to my daughter.
The rhyme and rhythm of these lines
take me away to other times

When we were younger: not so much
and with a strong and eager touch
enjoyed then every beam of sun
before the midday had begun.

We looked for shells, enriching food
that Carmen made so tastely good.
A neighbour's baby joined the meal
and I'm still happy when I feel

That all these good things on the shore
meant happiness: a simple door
that opens when your smile and mood
make you as human feel so good.

Maybe that fisherman's still trying
to get a big fish from the blue.
I put myself down without crying
and whispered softly: 'I love you'.

A SIGN OF LIFE

2005-11-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

In Catalan this little red ball of beauty surrounded by green colours is called 'a galleran'.

It was waiting to be eternalized in a little height called 'Mas Pinell', very near the Mediterranean Sea.

A sign of life

I'm walking as a sign of life
whilst struggling in the wind:
I walk together with my wife
see flowerbeds that seem to hint

Towards a cloudy greyish sky
that covers and grows wild:
a story or a windy lie
told to a growing child.

Nature does tell me proper things
and plays with many darts.
Whatever in my body sings
is joy of life that starts