Fernando Pessoa: Alchemist of Sensations
by Asia Leonardi “My soul is a hidden orchestra; I know not what instruments, what fiddlestrings and harps, drums and tamboura I sound and clash inside myself. All I hear […]
Dana Gioia’s “Summer Storm”
I always liked Dana Gioia’s poem “Summer Storm” and as we leave summer I thought I would share it with the blog. My friend Hazel says this was the poem […]
Thoughts on Plague Literature
by Fraser Hibbitt In Albert Camus’ The Plague (1947), the narrator comments that ‘there have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people […]
Variations of Beauty and the Beast
By Asia Leonardi “Amor vicit omnia”, “love triumphs over all”, even with the most monstrous appearances, is what the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast seems to invoke, a tale […]
The Case for Dreams
by Fraser Hibbitt During his imprisonment, Socrates supposedly composed some lyrics, something he had never bothered himself with before. Puzzled by this behavior, his friend Cebes asked him on the […]
That Day When Elephants Marched Across Brooklyn Bridge
by Vittorio Compagno The history of New York City is studded with unusual and extravagant events. From the annual traditions that take place New Years Eve in Times Square, to […]
Murakami’s Norwegian Wood: Death, Winter, and Love
by Hazel Anna Rogers I first read Haruki Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’ when I was 17, in my first relationship. As it happened, it was my first foray into Japanese literature, […]
Happy Anniversary to J.R.R. and Edith Tolkien
Here at the blog we celebrate some dates and anniversaries in our quirky way. The seasons, DNA Day, Bitcoin Pizza Day, Bitcoin’s Birthday, and in today’s post the anniversary of […]
Writing In Winter
by Hazel Anna Rogers It is snowing outside today, a rare sight on the south coast of the UK. Rarer still would be for the snow to settle and stay, […]
Psychogeography: Maps, Borders, Paradise
by Hazel Anna Rogers When I was young and being driven somewhere or other, I would always notice and ponder the physical space between signs indicating where we were arriving […]
Homage to Samuel Beckett
by Fraser Hibbitt There is a myth from Ancient Greece – containing a well-known proverb that reverberated in Greek thought. It involves the creature Silenus, the teacher of the wine […]
On the Wonders of Classical Music
by Hazel Anna Rogers I have always listened to classical music, though perhaps that’s rather too vague a term for all of the wonderful varieties of music the name “classical” […]