Where is Siem?
There he is.
Can you do an errand for me?
Goodness, beautiful...
... but I hear Lichthart's voice and not yours.
It's lacking that.
You think it's useless?
Tell me. - No. No way!
What I mean is...
How should I say?
You shouldn't look at those poems by Lichthart.
Try and evoke your own mood.
One does it by listening to music...
... another needs candlelight...
... another needs a drink...
Some have to suffer. - Suffer?
Yes... pain...
Canaries sing best in a cage.
The Yanks wanna saddle you up.
Did you write a poem for Muis?
Pass me my bra.
I've known lots of men, but no one has written me a poem.
I asked Siem, but he says he can't.
It isn't easy.
Will you write me a poem?
You need the right mood.
A poem, just for me.
"Between bars her tongue twists..." - Go on, go on.
"... without eyes..."
"... softer than a tear..."
"... under the sign of Cancer..."
"... with red claws of dawn..."
Come on, or we'll be too late for visiting.
I'm not going.
Why not?
I don't know. l'm going to the cinema.
Very well.
Grandma...
Coming for a walk?
Sometimes I miss this. It's lovely outdoors.
You feel this every day in Opwoud.
Is it better there?
Not better, it's different.
As a child, I knew I'd live in town one day...
...even before I'd been there.
Everyone told me not to: parents, friends, neighbours.
But you went anyway. - Just to see what it's like.
To see what they were so scared of.
This week I dreamt I was walking through the orchard with my father...
... the reeds by the dike were yellow. It was autumn.
I used to go out with my father on the tractor.
We drove through the orchard together.
My father is a trumpeter.
He lives in America.
He played in the Casa Blanca for a few weeks.
That's when my mother met him.
And then?
And then he was gone.
In April it rains blossom in the orchard. Just like confetti.
You should come too. - That would be nice.
Come here, Constant.
This is for you!
National Poetry Contest.
Poets, great and small, take note...
SEND IN YOUR POEMS FOR THE CONTEST!
THE BEST WILL BE PUBLISHED
CLOSING 14 AUGUST
Look at this.
Hey, Dot!
We slept in the grass.
A lovely spot.
You should go too. - Why?
Why should I go there?
Okay, Dot. I'm going down to see who's in the bar.
You won't see anyone.
I wouldn't even know how to get to that spot.
Muis...
Bonsoir mon sucre!
Constant!
He comes from Australia, his father has more than...
INSPIRATION: MUSIC, CANDLES, DRINK. PAIN
Everything okay?
Well...
Constant!
Oh Muis, tomorrow I ride to you with intoxicating flowers.
What happened?
Are you all right boy?
"Couldn't be better," said Icarus and he crashed.
All these candles!
You know I won't have that!
Thank you very much!
He nearly burnt the house down.
What happened?
You drove him mad with rubbish about poets and inspi...
Inspiration... - Shut up!
It's all over, Siem.
This boy is going astray.
He can't cope.
It's driving him mad.
There's been a fire.
You don't want that, do you?
Or do you? - No.
It's all over.
I don't want to hear another word about poets. Agreed?
I had to play the triangle first. - I'm not a child!
And I am?
You don't write poems anymore? - They were terrible.
They just brought this from hospital.
Your mother...
She wanted to, but she couldn't.
She just couldn't.
You understand?
Grandma...
You only have to read it once.
I just want to know what you think.
Whether it's good enough for the contest. Christ!
I promised your grandma. You know that.
Calm down, okay?
Are you still awake?
It's already 12:30.
I don't feel sleepy.
Are you all right?
Really?
What d'you think of Eddie Constantine, Muis?
He's got a moth-eaten face.
If they beat him he laughs.
The harder they hit him, the more he laughs.
That drives them mad, get it?
I got you a present.
You want it now?
Come on.
Thanks, Muis!
It's for your new school... and your poems.
Use them a lot, and you'll think of me.
They're nice.
This is good.
I'll take them with me, unless you want them.
Take them? Where to?
I wanted to tell you.
I'm leaving.
Soon...
Back to Opwoud? - For two weeks...
... and then I'm going to Australia.
Dave wrote to me...
... and he sent me a ticket.
He wants me to come.
I'll gamble on it.
There are pieces of wilderness as big as Holland...
... where no one lives at all.
Just a few kangaroos.
Christ, all the way to Australia! - If I don't like it, I'll come back.
But it's so far away. - What's the difference?
Ten miles, or 10,000...
I'm scared stiff!
But you don't have to go. - Yes I do.
Because I'm scared of it.
I have to go. Otherwise I'd feel like a coward.
You have to try new things in life.
New things... I'm going.
I'll miss you, Constant.
Are they biting? - Yes, great.
You read it?
We have a deal, remember? A man, a man... a word, a word.
Cowards talk good.
What? - Eddie says cowards talk good.
There's nothing wrong with my ears.
Maybe you should put something else on the hook.
Not bread, maggots.
I've got a better idea.
Do you want to hear? - I can't wait.
I'd send in that poem, if I were you. - You did read it!
It's superb!
But I won't say a word...
Okay?
Hey, I'm first...
Boys come first, after the adults.
Grandness has no size.
A ship on the river looks immense...
... but tiny at sea.
Thank you.
Another taxi driver killed.
Since when do you read the paper? - Soccer results...
That's Monday. Today's Friday.
Coming?
Yes, I'm coming.
Dot is waiting for you.
POETRY CONTEST SUCCESSFUL
Go on!
Hey, boss!
Come here.
Come on, or we'll be late.
I'm really going.
"Poetry contest successful.
"Of the 449 submissions, the jury led by the poet Lichthart...
"...chose the best five poems. The poets are Mrs Meesters...
"... Constant Wegman from Amsterdam!
"Next week the five selected poems will be printed...
"... on the same day as the radio broadcast.
"The winner will be announced during the broadcast."
Superb!
Now you have to practice every minute.
To the tops of my plus...
... or the nights of my minus...
... we travel on together...
I recognise you in the gesture...
... in the flash of frightened eyes...
... your reflection ripples on the water...
"We're two lonely cowboys!"
... beyond the stars and close...
...to the tops of my plus...
... or the nights of my minus...
... we travel on together...
I'm not exaggerating if I say we have a very surprising poet for you.
His name is Constant Wegman and he's only 14.
That's right...
He comes from the capital.
Where do you live?
On the Zeedijk - I see.
Pick up the phone.
What did you say?
Put the radio on!
Thanks!
Hurry up!
Now we shall start.
The poem is entitled "Under the Bridge".
Beyond the stars or close...
... we travel on together...
... to the tops of my plus...
... or the nights of my minus...
What's going on here?
We travel on together.
I recognise you in the gesture...
... in the flash of shy eyes...
... your reflection ripples on the water...
We travel on together.
The jury...
Now we'll announce the winner.
It's been a neck and neck race, listeners.
But the jury has reached a unanimous decision.
The winner of the National Poetry Contest is...
... Mrs Meesters, the teacher from...
It was fixed.
It must be have been fixed!
I bet the teacher is a member of this club!
Maybe she was better.
See that?
Filthy rat!
Hey, Lichthart! Filthy rat!
Look at that!
Christ! How can that be?
THE FIVE SELECTED POEMS
There it is: the new Shakespeare.
I haven't spoken my mind to him yet.
Is he here yet?
I hope they didn't read it in the paper.
Your grandma only reads the racing page...
... and about murders. Don't say a word.
Not a word.
Hello, Constant.
Well done!
What did we agree?
I warned you!
Eddie strikes back...
There's something about you...
New shoes?
There nice shoes. - No, I already had them.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
You're not wearing your glasses! - I don't have glasses, idiot!
Aren't you going?
No, I think I'll stop.
And all those wonderful days out to Arnhem and Meppel?
And the uniform!
You're wearing lipstick!
Really?!
Lovely weather...
Weather for doing nice things... going somewhere.
Lovely weather...
Don't think Eddie Constantine would stand in the rain.
"Merde," he'd say.
"Standing there with my nice suit and my gun in my armpit..."
"... dancing in the rain..."
"Une salade," he'd say.