Wageningen, Melting Pot
Or, a bubble full of bubbles
Afloat in the vast Netherlands
Alone like a space shuttle
City of freedom, liberated from
Most of human troubles
Nearly 80 years of peace that were
Built up amongst the rubble
Attractive? “yes!”, her population
Growing like a stubble
Within a couple years
Who knows it may as well be double
I see new families, young mothers
And since greenery
It’s scenery covers
Among them many nature lovers
With University in town
That now on own campus stands
A new bubble took its shape
With scientists and with students
Drawing in a crowd, that now
Surely complements
Those who came before:
Original inhabitants
Throughout Binnenstad, Centrum
Nude, Noordwest
Wageningen Hoog,
Beneden- Bovenbuurt, the rest
Wageningen, bubble
With a permeable wall
With people from all over
That is international
A bubble, not an island
Welcoming those who seek asylum
Fleeing from a raging war
Seeking peace and hope
A future in a twinkling star
Or a shiny ball of soap?
A twinkling star she is there
Sparkling with an open mind
A mix of incomes, genders,
Orientations you may find
But also; ages, music tastes
Religion, where we live
The clothes we wear
Colour of hair,
The gifts we like to give
Where you were born
Dutch or foreign
Languages we speak
The way we talk
An open book?
Or only a sneak peek
Your favourite colours
And, the way you like to dance
A lone wolf, or surrounded
Maybe drowning in the friends
The people you know
Or the things you like to do
Making art, playing sports,
Or, getting family through
With hard work daily,
That is, sweating on the grind
It’s easy to distinguish
To discern with human mind
I conclude that: “all of us differ”
In some peculiar way
Call it: “Unique”, or “weird”,
In either form yes one could say
Thus paradoxically, or
strangely remarkable,
In a sense
What connects us all is our
Difference
Hence
Acknowledgement of that is key
The challenge then, through that to see
How to combine, to bridge the gaps
Synergize, find where our steps
Our paths they cross, run parallel
A story who’s part all can tell
Wageningen, bubble full of bubbles
Melting pot
Today our bubbles meet
All at the same time in one spot
From all walks of life
Meeting another on this path
In one gigantic or humongous
Call it: Bubble bath
May Wageningen be a melting pot
A bubble full of bubbles
In which a mix of tastes, types,
people, cultures shuffle
Doubles, triplets, quartets
Rather not alone
Shall ice cream scoops
Droop, melting in a cone
Cicuto or Anton-ios
Diverse lists, portfolios
Of connections and relations
Traveling new roads as if we were on a vacation
Yet at home
Melting, in that ice cream cone
(A zone, with tastes that are flamboyant or anew
Try it out, perhaps it’s tastier than anything you knew)
Meer dan 200 mensen, door elkaar gemengd geplaatst aan lange eettafels in de grote kerk. Prikkelende performances en
interactieve opdrachten voor de bezoekers leiden tot het versmelten van verschillende bubbels in Wageningen. Dat is,
samengevat, Melting pot. Melting Pot dinner experience | Events | POPUPOP. 3 gedichten.
Bob ter Haar
