bodhi svaha

Sylke Kingma (1998) is a Frisian writer, born in Steenwijk and raised in the village of Ried. She studied Social Work in Leeuwarden and continues to deepen and refine her expertise within the field. Her work in personal guidance provides a wellspring for much of her poetry.
She seeks to capture, articulate, and further explore the struggles that accompany the human experience. These existential tensions often form the heart of her writing, and through a holistic perspective she aims to inspire and motivate others toward connection. Her greatest source of inspiration lies close to home: the landscape, the Wadden Sea. Since 2024, Sylke has served as co-project organiser of Diele fan it Waad, an annual poetry initiative that gives voice to the relationship between people and the land they inhabit.

bodhi svaha

devotion is the wind that drives me
beneath my deep-red wings
faded by earth and sun, skilled
at reading the sky and God
knows where I’ll come home

intergenerational transmission
is my trusted compass
Dad once told me that
people are simply deaf animals
who can no longer hear the wind

toxic gunpowder fumes from your
game board slowly creep towards me
comforting calm of an eastern soul
drifts away while the familiar feeling
of threat seeps into my veins

I’ve learned that existence is adjustment
seeing through the illusion of control
since then I no longer grasp, stand still
in the samsara of tide and silt
simply by moving with it

it has never been my ambition
to bend the world to my will
resilience as a form of respect
amidst the constant shifts
I do not want to seek, only find

thálasa! thálasa!

the trumpets blare for my thunderous
descent as herald of spring
today you welcome me blind
for where I’ve come from
cold for where I’m heading

as an extra in your play I stand
on stage for a fraction of a moment
but I was not put into this world
to distract you from self-made doom
I will no longer warn you

calmly I move on
observing the façade until
you can no longer go on performing
but must surrender to simplicity
unity in living and surviving

when you soon reach the turning point
begging God on bended knees for
sound ground for your children, then
silence your noise and just listen
to the hymn of the wind

gate

gate

para gate

parasam gate

bodhi

svaha



translation edited by Laura Watkinson

Contents