BG 318 – Liefdegem (Home of Love)
For an art and poetry project, which was also mainly intended as a connecting project in these times of polarization, fueled by the relatively new but ineradicable so-called social media, the municipality in which we live, Lievegem, was renamed ‘Liefdegem’ for two weeks around Valentine’s Day. A lovely play on words. ‘Liefde’ is the Dutch word for ‘love’ and ‘gem’ is the ending of the name of many Flemish villages, and long ago had the meaning of ‘house of’.
So ‘House of Love’. Wonderful!
Since we are both quite creative, we couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Moreover, we have two large windows facing the street on a fairly busy road, one in the living room and one in my studio. Before we moved in, both rooms together once formed the living room, and they are only separated by a row of bookcases.
I wrote two poems in half an hour, so the groundwork was quickly done. A Dutch poem (‘I love you, so excessive’) and an English poem (‘Love the World’), because …