Outside of the Academy
Twenty Poets of Argentinaed D Samoilovich and A Graham-Yool, Redbeck Press 2004 This is best kind of book; the Introduction not only gives us a thorough background to modern Argentinean poetry, but also invaluable notes on the poetics used, so often missed in translations. The poets are chosen by having published two plus books by [ ]
The Robbed Nest Idly watching the swing of her breasts:it was the soft flutter of a sparrow, he protestshe d long suspected she protected there, tracking the pulse in her neck, to seethe soft slow incline each way free. You make me resentful of my body, she sayswith your attentions, inquisitiveness,instead of your freedom to be [ ]
I remember back in in the late 1970s and 19080s, people would speak with horror of the street surveillance in German cities. Street cameras, they said, and everywhere.This must have been in response to the Red Army Faction murders and crimes. And living slap against the USSR and satellite nations: Cold War mentality. About the [ ]
Great thanks to Claudio Capriolo s excellent la regina gioiosa site https://clamarcap.net here is a whirlwind performance of Robert Palmer s (1915 - 2010) Toccata Ostinato, and performed with great brio by Feona Lee Jones (someone to follow-up on, definitely). As I can no longer link to Youtube, here is the code, for anyone who would be willing [ ]
The Poet’s Wife All he remembered was her undressing,as he tuned into the night sounds of Venice.All she remembered was the night fragmentingaround their son’s cough, all that went with this.She purposely did not look his way, betrayher irritation: He obviously would notbe fretting all night. Sleep took him anyway. [ ]
There are so many untold stories. Early mornings I would be waiting, shivering, for the early bus to go to work. One companion of those mornings was a Romanian man. Once he told me, ‘Boating was my life, then. I would have happily spent my whole life sailing on the Black Sea. One year,’ he said, [ ]
I have been a little quiet on here for a while. The reason is ( does reason have anything to do with it?) I ve been caught up in painting/decorating. Ugh. We found this lovely paint, no smell, good pigment, friendly to pets and people alike.And this colour, Forest Green, very welcoming, relaxing.Ok, we said, we [ ]
Some time ago, let s say two to three years, someone we know made an astonishing find. It s a bit of a low-key rigmarole of a tale, but bear with me,He had ordered a book from an obscure, small-scale seller. The book itself was on an obscure subject, and so, rare, old., but not too expensive. [ ]
It was a very pleasant spot for summer lunch breaks, a bench overlooking the small lake. It was about half a mile down the road from where I worked.Lindow Common. The area was very peaty, and so had a low-lying and birchy vegetation. The lake itself, in consequence was, virtually black. The writer Alan Garner [ ]
The Japanese Tanabata Festival On the 7th day of the 7th month, every year, is the Tanabata Festival in Japan.Why only then?It is all based a story from early Japan. Tanabata Festival, Hiratsuka notesofnomads.com It is the story of two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, who represent the stars Vega, and Altair. They are only allowed [ ]