Germain Droogenbroodt

Hold

The roots

which underground

search for water

are much more

than roots

searching for water

but hold

for the tree.

Bedazzled

From the dawn he thieves

the poppy-red glow

and eye-blue

from the ripple of the sea

from blossom and bloom

the intoxicating perfume

and if sometimes the day

leaves him with empty hands

then he bedazzles

with the wine of yesteryear.

 

La Cava *

to Ado Franchini

Chiselled in the abdominal wall of the mountain:

la Cava

Continuously sloshing

the urging of the water

On the horizon

disappears between mountain and mountain

the lake

Leaving behind the wrinkles

the wordless questioning

of time.

* Cava, Italian for quarry, where the poet was staying, at Lake Como in Italy,  writing this poem

 

I Plant A Coco Palm,

A Lychee

And A Custard-Apple

I dig a hole

in my garden’s stony ground

ensile in humus

weed and fertile soil

the roots of my exotic trees

from which I

stiff and aged will taste

the sweet fruits of memory.

 

Sunday Morning

At Lake Como

With joyful birdsong

the day unfolds its red wings

white clouds appear in the vault of the sky

and dissolve into the ethereal azure

with clock chimes the sun appears

and on the green shoulders of the mountains

and Sunday’s rest descends

like a long awaited silence.

Germain Droogenbroodt

Germain Droogenbroodt, was born in Belgium but lives already 31 years in Spain. He is an internationally appreciated poet, translator, publisher and promoter of international poetry. He wrote short stories and literary reviews, but now poetry, so far thirteen books, published in 29 countries. He translated – he speaks six languages - more than thirty collections of German, Italian, Spanish, Latin American, English and French poetry and rendered Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Korean poetry into Dutch. As founder and editor of the Belgian publishing house POINT Editions (POetry INTernational) he published more than eighty collections of mainly modern, international poetry. In 1996 he set up a new poetic movement, called neo-sensacionismo with the famous Chinese poets Bei Dao and Duo Duo. Germain Droogenbroodt organised and co-organised several international poetry festivals in Spain, is also vice president of the Academy Mihai Eminescu, co-founder and advisor of JUNPA (Japan Universal Poets Association), artistic advisor of the Italian movement Poetry & Discovery, and founding president of the Spanish cultural foundation ITHACA. He also collaborates with the Italian poetry publication Margutte. His poetic oeuvre is many-sided, but having visited the Far East more than 60 times and being a great admirer of Chinese philosophy, his poetry has become very philosophic, making a start with his poetry cycle “THE ROAD”, (translated into Chinese by Bei Dao as TAO) a poetic bridge between the East and the West, inspiring important painters, such as the Indian Satish Gupta, who illustrated 5 of his books His poetry, considered Taoist and ZEN has been published in Chinese in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Germain Droogenbroodt is yearly invited to give recitals and conferences around the globe. In China he was invited at the Qinghai Lake Poetry Festival, guest of the Shanghai Writers’ Association, guest of honour in 2018 at the Wuxi YiJing conference and at the 2nd Shanghai International Poetry Festival. He was nominated for the Nobel prize of Literature in 2017.