5 min poems - Shadows

 

O shadow

You keep track of me in the day

You stalk me in the night

Soothing my lonely figure

You leave me in the rain

Isolating me where there is no light

For your next meet, I am waiting

For a decent goodbye, I shall fight O shadow You keep me company Yet you are hollow...

Am I right?

- Kais

The shadow of flowers

From where I lay, the flowers below me swing slowly

My hand, as it sinks down, into its own shadow, the shadow of flowers.

My hip points upwards towards the surface.

It’s far, and as I sink I lose the definition of sharper lines. On the metal, a shadow flickers, like a pedal of a flower, floating up there.

- Rosa

Good-vibes-is-my-lover.track.mp3

To give all the weapons to the people who deserve them, you should first find your arms.
How will you reach past borders when you're unable to feel?
Your fingers turned blue, your tongue has no words to chew. Two ingredients to become a teacher, yet your mind has no clue.
The corner gets smaller, even without arms, you’re frozen. So, teach. Teach what you don’t know. Teach the people how to live. How to live in a world of chaos?
Assume tomorrow, swim in one straight line. Walk from corner to corner, follow the rules, agree to the agreements, and keep your fucking eyes closed. 

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Open your fucking eyes, disagree with the agreements, break the rules. Run through the hallways fast, take a dive into a wild river, and live today like there is no tomorrow.
Accept chaos and discover life. Don’t teach but ask.
You can now open doors, your arms move again, think about it. There are plenty of words to say, point them out each one with one finger.
Feel it,
inhale the good vibes and reach out to each other. Reach far, so far past borders. Stretch and create a connection.

arms lost

 04-12-23 2nd day of the Bootcamp at Danseurs Citoyen Sud in collaboration with Sounds of Change

Choose a drawing made by another participant in the previous exercise and write down all the words you think of when looking at the drawing in two minutes. 

marriage                        arms lost

love                               no blood

blue                               unfinished

fingers                           sure but

hands                             unsure about

sharing                           future

mutual respect               who?

visibility                        agreement

one person                    world

self-love                        rules

two                                religion

together

not alone

reaching out

not reaching

hands cut off 

Write two 'poetic' sentences with the words you wrote down. 

Together we reach out to be sure but unsure about our future. 

Our arms are lost, our fingers turned blue, we made an agreement and followed the rules. 

Team up with two other participants and create one story together with all the material you have worked with today. 

 

 

To give all the weapons to the people who deserve them, you should first find your arms. How will you reach past borders when you're unable to feel? Your fingers turned blue, your tongue has no words to chew. Two ingredients to become a teacher, yet, your mind has no clue. 
Teach the people how to live. How to live? An unanswered assumption to share these arms.
Follow the rules, agree to the agreements, teach without knowing, live the reality, live in chaos. 

On this nether land

There is a silence in this country 

On this land

A silence of no worries, and fewer thoughts leaving space to wander

Walk freely 

On this land

Rain fills up the footsteps you left behind in the mud of a grass field stretching out next to a train track 

Always a church far away, in sight

There is a silence in this country

On this land

A silence of no worries, and fewer thoughts leaving space to wander

Sigh in the night

Sing at the bus stop 

It won’t really matter and you will be appreciated 

You’re not always right to break the silence with your opinion

Sigh in the night 

Sing at the bus stop 

The more noise the closer the silence

Rain fills up the footsteps you left behind in the mud of a grass field stretching out next to a train track 

Amp up the noise, remember the words that hurt, and save them for the moments you channel tactility 

Noise as a reference for comparison 

Compared to Silence

Tactile silence in the fields filling up your muddy footsteps with fresh rainwater

You smell it

On this land, next to the train tracks

Slowly, step by step

Three ways to move your hands 

Don’t 

Make 

A 

Sound 

Ssssst 

Be still 

Listen

Feel 

Channel tactility 

1. Pinch your fists closed
2. Caress carefully compare 
3. Push and pull

We’re telling stories, in this land of silence

Silence for some, noise for others 

It can be tiny, that’s okay

Walk freely 

On this land

Three ways to move your hands always a church in sight it can be tiny ssssst the train is coming now sigh in the night 

https://open.spotify.com/album/7uJLi3TtRhHKD7LtlRoEem?si=VGSGFYL4QRS6viprZcuj_Q

Do you know the secret of a good morning?

Good morning secrets
A man wearing a red shirt leans against the wall of a store called ‘Secrets’, written in white letters on a red surface. Two symbols of a white flower hug the letters from each side. The night shutters of the shop are already closed. The man is holding a white plastic bag that slid down to where his elbow bends. In his hand, he holds onto a non-smartphone close to his ear. Hello? Hello!

stare he stared at me I looked back

stare twice

third stare         eye-contact starts being awkward

two questions

What do they sell in a Tunisian shop named Secrets? What would this man be hiding?

I look at the sign, I look at him, I look down at the street. Both the man's T-shirt and the sign of the shop are colored red. They are inseparably connected.  

Questions unanswered, I look again. The red sign with the white letters, my eyes flutter down to where the man is standing. Our eyes meet again, I look away, right before me. 

I keep walking, by now, I had passed by the store and left it behind me. However, my two questions came along. 

But I do know a secret

Good food gets you through the night. Three proper meals in one long evening that end with falling asleep to a so-so movie you both know you only watch to have an excuse to stop thinking and allow your body to agree with the tiredness, give in, and disappear in the soft mattress.

Good food gets you through the night. It was morning by then, and one of them asked if we wanted something from the shop. Maybe water? Fruit if they’d have it. He came back with a few things among which an apple (an apple at 7 in the morning!) As some would describe it, with our last brain cell, we were actively trying to improve our salsa dancing skills with a tutorial by Salsaventura [1] called “Salsa Beginners 1 - Salsa Basic Step for the Absolute Beginner - Detailed explanation.” Our dancing was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of three baguettes filled with harissa, vegetables, and eggs. Our friend who had earlier returned from the shop had since spent his time in the kitchen making us proper breakfast. Even though a few hours earlier, somebody had shared their couscous with us at the studio. And not long before that, I had eaten a full Libanais sandwich meal with fries…

With our bellies full, our far too long extended brainstorm session about a body movement workshop finally came to a natural end, and Monty Python's Life of Brian sent us to sleep. 

[1] See the references widget for the link. 

Vrouwen worden katten

En mannen worden honden

Un dialogue entre un vendeur de marché (H) et un touriste néerlandais (F) en Tunisie

Un dialogue entre un vendeur de marché (H) et un touriste néerlandais (F) en Tunisie

 

H         Ah oui, ça marche, surement.

Je suis ici avec ma voiture rouge. A demain aussi, si ce ne marche pas. Okay ? Behi ? 

TRENTCINQ DINAR

 

F          Mais… la radio ça marche chway chway… TRENTCINQ ?? Et avec un cd ça marche ?

            Peut être quinze ? Dix-cinq

 

H         Lé lé lé quinze. Trent.  

 

F          Vent.

 

H         Vent cinq. 

 

F          Behi, mais si ce ne marche pas je retourner à une heure, c’est possible ? Vous êtes ici ? Houni ?

 

H         Oui, ey. Avec ma voiture rouge. 

 

Une heure plus tard le touriste néerlandais retourner avec le radio. Avec un cd ce ne marche pas. Une fois arrivé, le vendeur est introuvable. La voiture rouge est partie. 

Avant que le touriste n'achète le lecteur CD, probablement le fils du le vendeur a montré au touriste comment fonctionnait le lecteur CD. Il a amené le touriste dans un autre magasin qui vendait de petites choses en cuir. Un homme plus âgé, à moitié audacieux, reposait là sur des oreillers recouverts de carton. Il avait l'électricité.

Après que la touriste n'a pas pu trouver le vendeur du marché, elle a essayé de vendre le lecteur CD « cassé » à l'homme qui avait l'électricité. Sans succès.