pen

Call me vintage, I’m older than the building.
Signing in ink until these ’things’ arrived,
contracts and cheques, letters and sometimes a card
to the pencil-skirted secretary whose stocking seams I longed to trace.
Today I rest in a pen’s nest on an empty desk
and dream of a novel I’ll write.

car

I’m retro, I know. How I shone in the sun, smelling of wax
and my meters all showing low numbers. The leather they loved,
my suspension, acceleration and smooth, easy braking. Sure, I drank a lot,
who cared, no one knew where it would lead. You all go electric these days,
but you miss me, don’t you, baby?
Tell me – I know you do.

woman

What?! What did I do in 25 years? What did I do in 25 years? OMG,
what didn’t I do? Finished college, law school, got my first
and second job, had my first child and then nursed my mom, lost my
husband and 3.5 stone, thank God, bought houses, changed jobs, got another
degree, one more child, jeez… I’m tired.
I’m not even forty.

building

I’m ‘fifties’, you know, three times older than you and it shows.
Time flows… what will happen, who knows, first I harboured BP, when hats and vests
were gentlemen’s wear at the office. They took away
my large mosaic panels from the hallway, I miss them, but hey,
I’m still the foundation, the basis. My mission was always to keep you
cool and warm, safe and dry.

AMS-IX 25 years old!
Dit gedicht schreef ik als bedrijfsjubileumpoëzie voor het 25-jarig jubileum van AMS-IX, Frederiksplein 42, Amsterdam; april 2019
Foto: Collectie Stadsarchief Amsterdam: Frederiksplein 21 april 1972