zkv61

zkv60

Klaus Høeck's contribution to chess literature - now in English!

       i open with the

king’s pawn (aggressive) and walk

       into the dark and

       the somewhat doubtful

aljechin defence (more

       beautiful than lu

       pins) that is to say

black knight to f6 and my

       serbian oppo

       nent also has at

tack in his thoughts i begin

       my counter-attack

       we follow the main

variant to black knight d

       7 (bent larsen’s

       move against mikhail

tal as dangerous as wild

       roses) it is here

       that the white knight is

to be sacrificed which i

       do as the theory

       advises (but in

correctly then calls the po

       sition unresolved)

       the game now contin

ues with the necessary

       forced moves (into the

       wilderness) to the

decisive fourteenth move that

       is to say the black

       queen from d8 is

moved to a5 (origin

       ally discovered

       by a swede but most

ly accredited to the

       russian bagirov

       after a quiet in

termediate move (deep in

       to the shadows) the

       sword’s blow then falls that

move which i have patiently

       been waiting to car

       ry out in real

ity after lengthy a

       nalyses done at

       home – i now move the

white pawn forward two squares from

       a2 to a4

       two exclamation

marks – for even though the move

       doesn’t look like much

       it gives a win in

all the variants (as is

       often the case) see

       the position in

the appendix and try for

       yourself to find the

       decisive move that

leads to the win before read

       ing the solution

       i have chosen to

incorporate this game in

       the collection here

       because it makes up

my humble contribution

       to chess theory

       and i hope that pre

cisely as a poem it

       will survive in the

       rose-garden of mem

ory a bit longer than

       it otherwise would

A poem by Theobald Hock

Poem by Morten Nielsen

A 'nelkan' poem

Virtually unknown poem by Leo Vroman, from around 1970

Another Dèr Mouw 'heath' poem

zkv59

Dèr Mouw: English translation of one of his 'heath' poems

’t Is nacht. ’k Zit op de hei. Nergens geluid.

Over me staat, als transparant kristal

rondom een oude berggod in zijn hal,

een halve bol van stilte, die me omsluit:

’k hoor, hoe heel ver een lang gillende fluit

een tunnel boort; mijn berg kraakt overal.

Een blaf, ginds, hakt een gat; en recht en smal

knapt een spleet open, tot mijn oor hem stuit.

’k Hoor ’t levend bloed, dat in mijn slapen gonst –

Neen: ’t is het hart van de aarde: het trilt, het bonst,

of ’t niet de god uit zijn verdoving wekt.

Om goed te luistren, doe ik de ogen dicht,

maar ’k word gehinderd nu door ’t sterrelicht,

dat tikkelend door fijne gaatjes lekt.

It’s night. I’m on the heath. Nowhere a sound.

Above, like a transparent crystal wall

round an old mountain god within his hall,

a hemisphere of silence, all around:

I hear far off a whistle shrill and clear

boring a tunnel, rock creaks everywhere.

A bark, there, hacks a hole; a straight and hair-

line crack splits open, till checked by my ear.

I hear live blood, making my temples buzz –

No: it’s the earth’s own heart: it quakes, it thuds,

enough to rouse the god from his deep doze.

To listen better, I shut both eyes tight,

but I’m prevented by the stars’ bright light

that trickles through a sieve of tiny holes.