BG 107 – Haiku (EN)
winter at the hearth
thick book gentle in both hands
glowing adventure
English Texts
Here you’ll find all English texts together.
BG 105 – Kitty from Hamburg
Just last week he had called her. She had sounded cheerful.
“No, no, no, don’t!” she’d yelled, laughing.
“What’s that, aunt?”
“I was talking to Kitty from Hamburg.”
“To who?”
“My kitty!” she laughed, “I was talking to my kitty!”
“Ah okay.” That spoiled rotten cat of hers…
“She ran off with my bead again, hahaa!”
She had always been a little strange, his great-aunt.
And now she was lost.
This morning she hadn’t come to drink a cup of coffee with her neighbors, the Nose couple, at her usual time. She didn’t answer the phone, the newspaper was still in the mailbox, the back door still locked, and she didn’t even respond to the doorbell.
Oh my, oh my.
Couldn’t he come by with the spare key? …
BG 104 – For the New Year I wish you:
– a good health
– nice contact with other people
– pleasant experiences
– good luck working on your goals
– enjoy your activities
– a lot of relaxation
– solutions to the climate problem
– recovery of nature
– more positive than negative moments
And above all I wish you:
– the insight that you yourself can contribute to these things.
BG 102 – Sentence
Because when you get up, longer and longer, but shorter too, sat on the chair, that you look at things from a higher perspective, but from a smaller angle, from up there, to down down, yes, twice down, look, but just not see, because when you get up and get taller and taller, stay, stay in the same place; you can imagine that you down, that you go down, or maybe even back on the chair, but certainly not too long, and then she said, because you still have to, you, today, still do so much and think of so much, and then she said, but for that you have, that you don’t have time to get up, no dówn, to sit up dówn, but you must now actually go, or to descend, but that you today, that you now, would rather descend up than ascend down.
BG 100 – I lived a hundred lives
Although I don’t get out much, I already lived more than a hundred lives this year.
How is that possible?
I read over a hundred books and in each of those stories I empathized with the main characters.
I visited almost the whole world together with tireless travelers, I relived early love together with teenagers, I endured setbacks together with people of all ages and backgrounds, I fought off attackers together with people who wouldn’t let it happen anymore, I fought against injustice together with people who refused to be suppressed any longer, my personality developed together with that of people who struggled through obstacles in their lives, my compassion grew together with that of people who went through a lot but learned to forgive, I felt a vibrant new energy together with people who pursued their passions, but also the ultimate emptiness together with people who reluctantly started every new day, I prepared for death together with people at the end of their lives, I mourned together with those left behind, I found solutions for complicated problems together with real go-getters and their friends, I programmed and hacked my way out of tricky situations together with computer nerds, I won matches together with champions, and lost them together with people who didn’t make it to the top, I barely survived together with people who were struggling, I committed murders together with hardened criminals, tracked down criminals together with disillusioned detectives, I solved the climate problems together with clever minds, I traveled through the last stretches of untouched nature together with nature lovers, and I experienced how much effort it takes to create something original – that pleasantly surprises, or provokes thought – together with other artists and writers.
By the time I die I will have lived not one but a thousand lives!
BG 99 – Data and us
Now that we are easily connected with lots of our fellow humans,
have round the clock access to communication equipment,
and social media websites where we can share everything,
we increasingly feel the need to convert everything we see and hear,
and everything we do and feel into digital data as soon as possible
and add it to the large global database of human meta-data.
To confirm that we matter.
Here’s a thought: we matter, even without that database.
BG 97 – Random Questions
May I ask you something? Do you have a sweet tooth? Do you prefer to drink tea or coffee? How long can you stand on one leg? Do you know a good joke? Do you paint? Walls or paintings? Do you have pets? Are you strict? With yourself or with others?
BG 96 – What we are looking for
We all find what we are looking for.
If we look for negativity, for destruction, decay, degradation, quarrels, for doomsday scenarios and for differences between us and the other, we will find those.
But if we look for love, for construction, positivity, cooperation, for solutions to difficult problems and for similarities between us and the other, we will find THOSE.
Our happiness in life largely depends on what we look for, what we focus our attention on, and what we put our energy into.
BG 94 – We are all writers
As a matter of fact, we are all writers. We all use language to tell others about things we have experienced in the most interesting way possible. Even if what we experienced – especially if what we experienced – didn’t seem that interesting in itself. We turn it into an interesting story with our self-chosen words and sentences, to impress our listeners.
A word artist is hiding in each of us.
BG 92 – Coincidence
Our 22 years old daughter was born on a day in April.
Our 3 years old girl next door on the left was born on the exact same date.
And our new baby boy next door on the right too!
BG 91 – Sentence
She had noticed that the younger woman in the corner of the cramped living room every now and then wriggled a little on the strict hard chair assigned to her, and that during the long dull conversations of the older ladies around her, who fanned themselves in between talking, or wished they had brought something to fan themselves with, she alternately rearranged the straps of her bra inconspicuously and searched hopefully for incoming messages on the screen of the telephone hidden in her palm, all the while keeping the pretense of listening exceptionally well and, nodding and smiling politely, agreeing with whatever it was that the elderly woman who was speaking to her confidentially at the time – sigh – was firmly asserting.
BG 88 – Washing your car for your Instagram
Just outside Quiet Belgian Village, on the Big Road (yes really, that’s what it’s called), is a car wash. Now don’t imagine a fully automatic car wash, but simply a long roof with a row of semi-open sheds beneath it, separated by fences, in which you wash your own car. The Maakster had just hosed down her car and drove it outside to clean the interior with a vacuum cleaner.
A dark blue BMW, model expensive, arrived in the shed next to her. The vehicle looked as if it could have been cleaned at home in less than two minutes with a dust cloth. A couple of twenty-somethings (f/m) got out, who didn’t exactly look like people who were about to wash a car. The Maakster, in an old pair of jeans and with water-resistant old shoes on her feet, looked rather shabby in comparison.
The slender, muscular man wore baggy khaki floor-length trousers, and beneath them …
BG 85 – Coincidence
Every year in the period from the beginning of September to the beginning of December, the ages of me, my brothers and my love form a neat row.
This year:
58 – my dear brother P
57 – me, B
56 – brother A
55 – my wonderful husband M
PBAM!
BG 84 – 100 Words Fiction
In the tent
Camping in the woods has never been your favorite activity, but you had to come, otherwise they would be short of a man. So to speak. After all, you are not a man. In a tent you cannot pretend that there are walls, and a zipper is never a door. Of course you can’t actually prick up your ears, but you can try really hard to hear the carefully restrained steps of the man who doesn’t sneak through the trees towards your tent. You brace yourself. And then just hope he doesn’t have a preference for men.
BG 82 – It’s raining cards, hallelujah
During her daily walk through Quiet Belgian Village this morning, The Maakster stopped abruptly when she saw something glistening in the sun in the driveway to a house. Bending down, she saw that it was a bank card. The address on the card matched that of the house she was standing in front of, so she decided to ring the bell. The door didn’t open, but out of the corner of her eye she saw a movement behind the window. She rang the bell a second time and this time looked directly at the window. There she saw someone just ducking behind a curtain. When the front door still didn’t open after ringing a third time, she walked across the neatly mowed lawn and knocked on the window. An elderly woman appeared, hesitantly, cheeks flushed with excitement. The Maakster smiled kindly, held up the bank card with one hand and pointed at it with her other hand. The old woman put her hands over her mouth, got even redder, and finally decided to open the front door just a little bit. She cleared her throat and tried to sound stern:
Read More »BG 82 – It’s raining cards, hallelujahBG 81 – Random Questions
May I ask you something? Can you ride a horse? Did you enjoy going to school as a child? Can you program? Can you knit? How many jeans lay in your wardrobe? Do you think toilet paper should hang loose side forward or backward? Does that really matter? Who is your favorite television host? Do you like to eat bananas?
BG 79 – A thriller in 33 words
She blinked in the bright daylight.
The doctor came to tell her that she had survived the accident. She hadn’t broken anything and could go home tomorrow.
A pillow suddenly blocked her view.
BG 76 – Sentence
She didn’t normally shriek, so the other kids, who stood in a circle around her, had never heard that before; but she thought it was about time that the adults in their goody terraced houses behind their freshly mowed little yards on either side of the street realized that they, the youth of today, were still there, so she braced herself and let out the loudest and longest shriek that could technically be produced with human vocal cords, after which she noted with satisfaction that a deafening silence fell over the dull street.
BG 75 – ‘Falling’ down the chimney
This is a true story. It actually happened dozens of times before we had our chimney covered with chicken wire.
Imagine: three jackdaws standing on the edge of the chimney. Their black silhouettes stand out against the clear sky.
Kow, kow! Whoppa! There I go!
Oh shit! Kow, kow, kow! It’s so cramped in here.
Kow! I can barely move my wings.
I’m almost stuck between the bricks.
And who the hell turned out the lights? Kow!
Ouch, who’s throwing a branch on my head. Kow, ouch!
Wait a minute now, it’s my turn! My!
Flapflapperflap. Kow, kow!
Whoops, I slide further down.
My wings rub against the sides.
Flapflapperflapflap. Wooow!
And even further. Oops, ai, kow, kow, kow! Flap, flap.
Pff, bah, all that soot, pff!
Say, who’s tossing that walnut on my head? Kow!
BG 73 – Still
This is the dialogue I wrote for the Belgian outdoor theater project ‘Het Bankje 2021‘.
Listen to the performance by voice actors here (in Dutch).
– Nice weather today, right?
– (silent)
– I said nice weather today.
– Yes. I heard that.
– And?
– And what?
– Is it nice weather today?
– I just heard so.
– And do you agree?
– No, I don’t agree.
– Why?
– Why what?
– Why don’t you agree?
– Agree with what?
– That the weather is nice today.
– I think it’s cold.
– But it surely isn’t that cold today?
– Yes it is.
– Yesterday was colder.
– A little, yes.
– Today the weather is nice.
– I don’t think so.
– Why?
– It’s too cold for me.
– It’s too cold, you say? …
BG 70 – 100 Words Fiction
Even though that isn’t true
You have said that – oh yes – you would like to camp in a tent in the garden. That you like that, almost under the open sky, with your almost naked body, when it is as warm as it is now. You have said that you – yes of course – want to continue, even though your girlfriend has canceled. You have said that you have no problems with itchy and buzzing bugs and that you can sleep well on such a thin mattress on the uneven ground.
And that you fortunately never have to pee at night.
BG 69 – Meeting
Bang! The door unintentionally slammed shut behind them as he released it. From out of the strong wind she had stooped in, under his arm, and before she even had a chance to do it herself, he helped her out of her coat and hung it on the coat rack together with his. With a protective hand against her lower back – his hand felt surprisingly warm through the thin fabric of her T-shirt – he led her inside. She decided that later when they left, she would hold the door open for hím.
A friendly employee guided them to a table for two in a quiet corner at the back of the bistro, where they had a good overview, but also some privacy. They arrived just in time: by now rain was clattering against the nearest window. She laughed when both of them ran their hands through their windswept hair at the same time.
As a matter of course, …
BG 66 – Special Compliment
Special compliment from her gynecologist:
‘Your breasts are in excellent condition …
… for your age.’
BG 65 – Sentence
Makes herself bigger and wider than she actually is, steps so close to the offender that he forgets what personal space means again, finally accepts the glass of beer that she had refused time after time until then, pulls the young man’s half open white shirt under his black leather jacket forward, and pours the contents gracefully over his almost hairless chest, with a most friendly smile followed by a definite ‘I said NO.’
BG 63 – 100 Words Fiction
They pretended to be smugglers
That they were smugglers, she had said, that that was ‘ooh’ exciting! That they had to watch out for customs. He didn’t know who that was, customs. Luckily, she had said that she would come back later to get him. He had believed her. That she had had to take his coat of course, as proof. It was cold. That he could find the way by looking at which side of the tree trunks the moss grew. But it was dark. She would come back to get him. He wasn’t sure he still believed her.
BG 62 – The Angry Wife
On her daily walks through Quiet Belgian Village, The Maakster of course also meets other residents on foot. She wishes them a ‘good morning!’ or ‘have a nice day!’, because that makes the world a little prettier. Some of the residents greet back friendly, but others pretend not to have heard her, or quickly turn their head away. That doesn’t stop The Maakster.
Quiet Belgian Village is a bit of a closed village and many of its residents are used to only associate with people they have known from birth. They feel uncomfortable with newcomers, even the ones that have already lived there for quite some time. Older people sometimes react confused: ‘But … er … I don’t knów you?’,
BG 59 – Random Questions
May I ask you something? What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Do you sleep on one pillow or on several? Do you install your software yourself, or have someone else do it for you? What would you rather get: a bunch of flowers or a bottle of wine? How much is one plus one? Always? How many hammers do you own? Do you prefer to wear gold or silver? Have you ever lost something valuable?
BG 58 – Writing Competition ‘The Bench’
Hurray, I am one of the 20 winners of the writing competition ‘The Bench’!
‘With ‘The Bench’ Creatief Schrijven vzw, OPENDOEK and Kunstwerkt were looking for original dialogues that took place between two people on a bench. We received no fewer than 242 entries. After careful consideration, jury members Pascale Platel and Daan Pleumeekers selected 20 laureates. Their texts will be played by actors and canned as podcasts. Visual artists will make an ‘image’ to accompany it. In the summer they can be heard via a QR code on benches in more than 100 towns [in Belgium].’
BG 55 – Chinese Food
On Fridays Marc usually fetches food for them from a Chinese restaurant. On Sundays they eat the leftovers. Because it is only a short time ago on Wednesdays, and is not going to take long either, it sometimes seems like they eat chinese all week long. That is of course not the case. Marc cooks often and delicious!
BG 53 – Special Compliment
Special compliment from a neighbor, admiring something she made:
‘Everything your hands touch turns into gold!
Could you hold this for me?’
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