This year, my entire family passed away, except for my mother. My sister died of a very early
cancer, my father died a week after a neighbour persuaded him to go and get the shot.
to go get that shot after all.
No, I can’t prove anything. I have no laboratory here, no battery of scientists. I only have words at my disposal, words with which to cope with my family’s death.
So I wrote a collection in which both family members play a leading role, as well as a bunch of poets who all died a strange death that, on closer examination, didn’t seem right. Not just some random poets. Poets who were overwhelmingly the best, and who stood for great political change with their work.
You can download that collection for free here:
Poetry to Read in the Dark (2022) (1652 downloads)Yesterday, I heard sirens all day in Mierlo, relentless ambulance sirens. At the same time, the study on excess mortality is being blatantly sabotaged by the ruling parties, and we are still talking about excess mortality sitting near 20% by December 2022.
I could tell you here how I feel about that, but such a thing should not be necessary in an intelligent society. Therefore, I prefer to let the poetry collection speak for itself.
If you want to give me something in return for the collection, say something about it, recommend it to others, or buy the paper book.
In any case, I wish you a very happy 2023, and hope that you will come or stay on the right side of the divide. Don’t feed the Troll.
Martijn Benders, Mierlo, 31 December 2022
