GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT

 

GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT

 

The Mountains Of Bogotá

To Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg & Co.

We greet you from the sunny, but sad, mountains of Bogotá

 —Eduardo Bechara Navratilova, publisher

 

The cloudless sky,

bathed in sunlight,

and, among the leafy green,

the cheerful songs

of all kinds of birds

as if prosperity

is not for a few

but for everybody

as if the sky

is not too high

and happiness not attainable

and too far away.

 

The Light

 

It dawns…

the sun rises

out of nowhere,

ignites

what only apparently

comes from afar

though it is near

and within us—

the light.

 

Sky Image

 

Snow-white clouds painting themselves

on the azure sky above the lake

forever forming and unforming

pulling themselves slowly

to a somewhere

or a nowhere

who knows?

 

 

The White Sheet

 

As the day longs for the dawn

so too does the white sheet

long for the word

for the stroke of a pen

and the heady scent

of blue ink

for the stringing together of letters

the birth

of a new poem.

***

 

Nighthorn

for Paul Celan

 

Full moon

strangling light

on the black water

of the lake

magic circle

where mosquitoes dance

the ghosts of deceased poets

 

following the nighthorn’s call

lost in the haze.

  

Everything Changes,

Everything Remains

 

       The nameless is the origin

         of heaven and earth

         ─Lao-Tse

 

So much has happened,

but nothing has changed

only apparently

everything seems different from before,

and there is hardly anything or nothing

any more recognizable,

although the Road, the winding path

that leads to enlightenment, is unchanged,

and continues to exist, but for more

than only the eye.

***

 

Heart

 

Don’t listen to the heartbeat

as ticking of a clock

whose duration is finite

but as a wonder

one can hear and feel

in the innermost

of one's own being.

GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT

 

GERMAIN DROOGENBROODT is an internationally appreciated poet, translator, publisher and promoter of modern international poetry. He wrote short stories and literary reviews, but mainly poetry, so far 14 poetry books, published in 19 countries. As founder of the Belgian publishing house POINT Editions he published more than eighty collections of mainly modern, international poetry, he organised and co-organised several international poetry festivals in Spain, is vice president of the Academy Mihai Eminescu, in Romania, 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 set up the internationally greatly appreciated project Poetry without Borders, publishing every week a poem from all over the world in 31 languages. Several famous artists made paintings and sculptures inspired by his poetry and international composers composed music to his poems. He visited countless times the Far East and studied Chinese philosophy which inspired his poetry, TAO pretend Chinese which greatly appreciate and published his poetry in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Japanese pretend his poetry is ZEN, four of his poetry books have been published in Japan, including a collection of haiku. Germain Droogenbroodt who received more than a dozen of international poetry awards as poet and as promotor of international poetry, he is yearly invited to give recitals and conferences at universities and at the most prestigious international poetry festivals. He was recommended for the Nobel prize of Literature 2017.