Cemetery Gates
A dreaded sunny day
so I meet you at the cemetry gates.
Bilderdijk and Beets are on your side.
A dreaded sunny day
so I meet you at the cemetry gates.
Bilderdijk and Beets are on your side,
while Herman Gorter is on mine.
So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
all those people, all those lives, where are they now?
With-a loves and hates and passions just like mine
They were born, and then they lived, and then they died
Seems so unfair, I want to cry.
You say: “There the light reflects in the blue crystalline
and you pretend to have thought it up yourself.
But I have a library subscription, sir,
and I know whose version I prefer!
You say: “’Ere long done do does did”
words which could only be your own
and then produce the text from whence was ripped
some dizzy whore, 1804.
A dreaded sunny day, so let’s go where we’re happy
and I meet you at the cemetry gates.
Oh, Bilderdijk and Beets are on your side.
A dreaded sunny day, so let’s go where we’re wanted
And I meet you at the cemetry gates
Bilderdijk and Beets are on your side, but you lose
cause Herman Gorter is on mine.
*
Armchair
It smells like figs after a rainstorm.
A long time ago it gave up, but I didn’t listen
to its croaky song. It has a broad back,
a territory, and heartbreak, of course.
It is the last of an ancient lineage
and so not very adventurous
but so cosy, caress it and it sighs
or clatters like an old letterbox,
heartfelt fatty, warm air octopus.
Old sorcerer’s dog who only barks
when the moon manages
to beat the voodoo
tangle into skeins.
*
You take one of the most iconic songs of the 1980s and translate it into Dutch. And then you translate it back into English and look, it actually got slightly better. When will those English people finally learn that they can whitewash their own language through Dutch? A missed opportunity by Morrissey not to start talking about his library subscription. We owe this invention to Bart van der Pligt, by the way; if I am not mistaken, this was his translation. One line is actually by Vondel. He also made a superb midi drum sequence for this song which never found its way to musicians, who are too busy performing these days. Too bad!
Armchair is one of those poems from the animated universe which is the real energetic universe we all used to live in. We all know one of those fantastic armchair wizards, I think, and as I was translating it I suddenly heard Morrissey again, you’re the one for me, fatty. I guess I’ll never manage to escape the grip of that octopus.
Martijn 25-01-2023
Cemetery Gates / Armchair
Cemetery Gates / Armchair
About the author
Martijn Benders has published twenty-six books, eighteen of which are in Dutch. Critics such as Komrij and Gerbrandy have hailed him as one of the greatest talents of his time. He has also written three philosophical works, one of which is in English and focuses on the Amanita Muscaria, the Fly Agaric. Publishing on the international platform of The Philosophical Salon, he has also gained international recognition as one of the most remarkable thinkers from the Netherlands.
Books
There exists a considerable group of leftist individuals who vigorously opposed the prevailing coronavirus narrative, including some of the world’s leading philosophers, such as Agamben and Kacem. However, this stance was heavily censored and vilified by what is referred to as ‘neocon-left’ or ‘woke-left’, as something associated solely with what they deem ‘far-right’. In my book, I discuss the reasons behind these actions, the underlying motives, and how this is emblematic of a new form of fascism aimed at seizing power permanently.
The middle section of the book is dedicated to poetry. It features a beautiful selection of poems from the Mediterranean region, by poets from Turkey and Greece, who have been imprisoned and tortured by the regime.
The final part of my book is a manifesto against literary nihilism, as manifested in the Literature Fund. It reveals how this fund is dominated by a group of Christians and ‘wokies’, which is undesirable in a free society.
Amanita Muscaria – The Book of the Empress is an exceptional work that sets a new benchmark in the realm of mycophilosophy. While one might be tempted to classify the book within the domain of Art History, such a categorization would fail to capture its true essence.
Amanita Muscaria – The Book of the Empress – De Kaneelfabriek, 2023
You don’t have time to read this, but that’s because you are no longer human. If anything remained of the original person within you, the old mycelia of childhood, you would learn a great deal from this book. In fact, its magical knowledge might become your most valuable possession. This is a book about human imagination and how it fell into the iron grip of transdimensional cockroaches. Additionally, it offers magical tips to significantly improve your life and time acceleration. M.H.H. Benders also takes a light-hearted yet scathing look at the entirety of Dutch literature. What more could you want?