Amsterdam Poems

Foreign Love in Amsterdam

I loved you
the way one loves
a cathedral with shattered stained glass,
not knowing whether light
would ever pass through again.

On the bridge at Leidseplein,
I held your hand like a prayer
I never dared to utter.
It was cold.
But love,
warmer than all the painted walls
of Van Gogh.

The tram passed
between us
like a final judgment.
And we said nothing.
Because sometimes silence
is all we

A Life Well Lived

Why does Amsterdam taste like chocolate chips?
Dance parties with friends make me laugh.
Who said that rhythms weren't a part of work?
I listen to songs more than half
Of my life, I wonder who stole the moon.
Can anyone put it back?
I found a sun in the school's boiler room.
I warm my face in a crack
In the concrete,

Always

you always had a way with words
like Amsterdam
whose running rhymes
of bicycles and harpsichords
and bridges over canals caused
us both to steer each other's hold
to mouths whose distance
was decreasing, 
slowly through museum pieces
though I always hoped to linger
nestled inside yours

Amsterdam Catch

AMSTERDAM CATCH

I stand here and watch as the men unload
Herring, fresh from the North Sea morning catch
Here on this cobbled path I can now see
That our hard toil can support liberty
For all our women’s work there is no match
Fair sharing in life is the only code

Keep some for ourselves, the rest to market
A fair price

Amsterdam

Amsterdam.
Calm, gentle.
Cycling, boating, walking.
Tulips, cobbles, bakeries, fresh air. 
Eating, drinking, sight-seeing.
Modern, historic.
Holiday.

Two Lips In Amsterdam

Phyllis Upman was a young maid
When she learnt the rules of her trade:
Show men what they want
Behave nonchalant
And be sure to pull down the shade! 

n.b.  Window shopping in 
Amsterdam is a more popular
tourist attraction than tulips 

Amsterdam

***I personally don't indulge in "soothing weed" 
                       but the Dutch and many others certainly do***









                 

Amsterdam

If you seek to fully understand,
This complex human jam,
You just need a ticket in hand,
To fly to Amsterdam!

History walks the streets here,
In every pavement stone,
You find friendship and cheer,
 On every face In town!

Watch the cyclist to the right,
They have the right of way,
Trams, buses are packed tight,
As the Dutch start their day!

Explore the city

Ode To Peach Amsterdam Vodka

you are the sick
the disgust in the swallow
the cringe in the choking

we are the same in our affections
cheap and quick
taste and spit
we are the same in our forgiveness
heavy and grieving
a bathroom floor bereavement 
a curved spine casualty
empty

unflattering and unforgetting in all your doing
i lie heavy 
a fish bowl of a stomach
a stomach of a body
solemnly

Tulips of Amsterdam

If you were to inquire of me
To impart my knowledge about flowers 
My answer would be this
I have seen with my own eyes the Tulips blossoming in May
In Holland's field's 
On a sunny day
The likes of which my eyes had never seen before
Colors divided into rows so rich 
Try as I could 
I could never

Amsterdam

Those little bridges
Perfect eyebrows
Half-moons
trampled by feet
that don't care
callously tarry.

The questions in
extinguished glances
a play staged for
dwindling feet
for faces are shameful
from corners of eyes
under fading half moon
a price charged
negotiated in the red glare
of evening wet cobblestones.

The heavy sweet scent
nickers around corners
eyebrows raised
over glassy eyes
sitting between evening
hordes of cut-off legs
senseless lemmings
that walk, walk
to nowhere.

***

August 21, 2017
Copyright © Darren

Ode To Amsterdam

They ventured in to Amsterdam to have a little break.
Alas it all went very wrong when they tried a slice of cake.
Before that fateful moment it had all gone very well,
Dinners, walks and seeing sights – and then they really fell.

They stopped to have a bite to eat at a lovely little place.
The men arrived

In Amsterdam

Walking past a "coffee shop,"
The weed comes wafting out.
Though once I would have thus indulged,
Today I'll do without.

Somehow that's been tucked away,
A relic of my past,
Like youth and risks and craziness - 
It wasn't meant to last.

But how that smell just brings it back!
With every single whiff
I'm tempted just to take a toke,
But I'll stick

Amsterdam

Right out side the coffee shop,
   Below St. Peter's hands
      The purveyors of indulgences
   Have set up little stands

And should some half-waked baker
   Come and stir about the pot
       The double-arched McDiocese
   Would (likely) thank me

Amsterdam

Amsterdam
By

M Saleem Chaudhry

Annelies of Amsterdam is our guide

She  took us to her home town for cosmo's ride
Amsterdam is a city of canals so wide
Where everything is open, not much to hide
The treasures of art, deep sea and culture
She showed with pleasure and with pride
A replica of maritime venture converted
in to museum

A floating Chinese restaurant

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