Yanaika will soon be handing over the baton as city poet. That is why we captured her poems on video, so that they can still be heard later in the city where they were written.
With this poem, we kick off a short series with city poet Yanaika Zomer. An ode to living with the wind.
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He who does not blow, does not wind
I only learned how fast I could cycle
in a student city, spring had opened my coat
and drove the cold from the air.
For a brief moment I had wondered if I in first gear
or two sat, the bike path had just been asphalted
or that the people here were just driving slowly.
But I had my hometown on my feet.
The third adjustment, an incline test,
even on flat roads. Headwind is the starting point,
If you can go faster, you’ll have her in your side once by grace.
She belongs here. I had almost taken her for granted.
and even ostracized on the Langevliet.
I didn't yet know how directionless
I would be without her.
Always full on the pedals,
You can shield a woman from the wind,
but the wind not out of her hair.
Give me a counterweight, a balance.
Air, a sigh where sun hours
and the days drag on until Jaap takes over.
I feel displaced as soon as she lies down,
a cyclist in the middle of nowhere and much too far from home.
