Poetry Issues #22 was published and distributed in January and February 2020 in five volumes, online and in postcard format. Below you can read the pieces, view the accompanying visual artwork and get a glimpse at the postcards. The next issue will follow in spring.

 You can read more about the poetry issues project here.

Poetry issues #22, 5/5: The Cat – Journey

This week poetry issues #22 is completed with Part 5, containing the poem "The Cat" and the visual piece "Journey". Together with Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 they comprise the winter issue. Poetry issues #23 will follow in spring.

You can find out more about the poetry issues project here.

Poetry issues #22, 4/5: The Ship – Affair

The past three weeks, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of poetry issues #22 were published. This week, Part 4, containing the poem "The Ship" and the visual piece "Affair," appears here. The following Friday the last part of the issue will be published.

You can find out more about the poetry issues project here.

Poetry issues #22, 3/5: Erupting – Home

The past two weeks, Part 1 and Part 2 of poetry issues #22 were published. This week, Part 3, containing the poem "Erupting" and the visual piece "Family," appears here. The following two Fridays the last two parts of the issue will be published.

You can find out more about the poetry issues project here.

Poetry issues #22, 2/5: Hibernation Advice – Family

Last week Part 1 of poetry issues #22, containing "A Balcony" and "The View" was published. This week's poem is "Hibernation Advice," and "Family" is its accompanying visual piece. Every Friday for the next three weeks, a new poem will be published along with its unique artwork. Together, they will comprise poetry issues #22.

 You can find out more about the poetry issues project here.

Poetry issues #22, 1/5: A Balcony – The View

Every Friday for the next four weeks, a new poem will be published, along with its unique artwork. Together, they will comprise poetry issues #22.

You can find out more about the poetry issues project here.

I am happy to announce that the poem "Seasons (het jaar rond)" that Alida van Leeuwen and I wrote in collaboration has been published in the newspaper LisserNieuws on October 1st. "Seasons (het jaar rond)" is a two languages experiment, and the result is quite interesting. Here is the poem (without the spelling mistake that appears in the paper):

Seasons (het jaar rond) - Duo dicht Maria Exarchou/Alida van Leeuwen

It starts in winter as a distracting recollection
of poppy red dispersing in the late afternoon sun.

Ik voel de eerste zonnestralen
zie zonnig geel en vurend rood
en spring vol vreugde de lente in

Riding the tip of the rainbow I shed my old skin
freed by the explosion of purple in the meadows.

De warme kleuren van de zomerse zon
geven alles een nieuwe tint
Mijn zonnebril beschaduwt de wereld

I don't want this life to end. I find closure in
silver autumn clouds: Like seasons, we'll return.

Een zucht vol winterse geuren
vullen mijn daagse dromen
De temperatuur daalt

Update

The show mentioned below was followed by another one with the same theme, on another location of BplusC, at Stevenshof Library, Trix Terwindtstraat 6 in Leiden. The show began early May (2019) and is on until the 15th of June. Here's an impression:

Leiden 2019

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Just like last year, the library of BplusC (Nieuwstraat 4, Leiden) is celebrating poetry with a unique group exhibition. And since it is 350 years from the death of Rembrandt, this is an exhibition in his memory. The show has already started (on the 29th of January) and will be on until the 25th of February.

For now, if you can't visit the library in person to enjoy the works of almost thirty artists, you can read my contribution here:

The Night Watch

A darkness as thick as molasses —

a spoonful of struggles yet to come.

There is humanity in simple gestures,

frailty in men carrying useless guns.

Depth is carved on dancing shadows

a soft light enters within from above.

A kind hand smoothens the contrasts

until a night is not a night after all.

Update: Visiting the show, I was happy to find out that another one of my poems, "Psychographics" from the Poetry Issues project, is also included. Enjoy below a small sample of a beautiful exhibition curated by Alida van Leeuwen:

[At the same time, another exhibition is taking place in The Hague.]

A very special labor, the January-February issue. I hope you enjoy stories of identity and struggle:

Scales

Better watch people

from afar, like big cities.

Admire their beauty

from a distance and avoid

touching their fences.

On Saturn I'd be

five kilos less and that's what

matters more in this

floating universe where not

a thing weighs more than I.

Family Gatherings

All children wanted to be men

and no one cared to pick

homegrown rosemary and dill

for the women in the kitchen.

The boys came in pairs to steal

little cheese pies, then went on

with their precious outdoor life

of playing football and riding bikes.

The girls feared nothing more

than becoming their mothers

with lives spent over lemons

and eggs in hot fish soups.

We didn’t know then that kitchens

held so many secrets, far more

steaming than backyard politics.

Women have been always winning.

Breathe

The crashing density  the stuffy thoughts

Of asthmatic lungs      gulping

The fake air               with greed

Everyone is trying

To grasp                   what they can

An old woman's         out of luck

Girlish games

Tired pigtails             unwashed

Nicotine and coffee    but

Without infatuation

The earth is flat         just

Give me oxygen

I'll Play it Cool

Every time

you want to hurt me

you twist your tongue

to warm it up

before it hits me

with whip-like speed.

I was never fast

with words and now

your gun of a finger

is pointing at me.

I will remain silent.

You cannot win.

The Duck Painting

It’s hard to tell if it is monochrome

or just faded into a pale delft blue

and why it's hanging in the living room

in this furnished simulation of some

home. I’ll change it – a lasting addition

in the long list of intentions. I start

counting the ducks but get distracted

by the frame. Gold and metallic and

more eighties than my mother. She

had one that looked the same. So,

there’s a faint reminder of who I am.

You find strange ways to connect

when life is condensed to a trolley bag.

 [You will learn more about the Poetry Issues project here.]

Five months ago, I mailed these works to a person I have never seen, to be included in an upcoming mail-art exhibition entitled What Makes You Happy. This group exhibition is taking place now in The Hague and you can read more about it here (.pdf courtesy of Alex Witter).

This is the second time my work is being included in a group exhibition in the Netherlands. The first one was here. I'm looking forward to many more!