He wrote poems whose philosophical dimensions transcend any region. Although his verse forms are traditional, he was a pioneer in the interplay of rhythm and meter. Robert Frost, born San Francisco (Mar. 26, 1874), and dead Boston (Jan. 29, 1963). At the age of 38, he sold the farm moving with his family to England, where he could devote himself …
Read More »WHEN THE MUSIC BECOME POETRY – One Dance, by Drake
ONE DANCE – Baby I like your style. Grips on your waist front way, back way.You know that I don’t play streets not safe, but I never run away, even when I’m away. Oti, oti, there’s never much love when we go. I pray to make it back in one piece. I pray, I pray. That’s why I need a …
Read More »THE GRAPES OF WRATH – Novel, by John Steinbeck
He was an American author of many books (including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and five collctions of short stories). His works always explored the themes of fate and injustice. Before achieving success as a writer, he dropped out of college, working as a manual laborer. In the first 75 years since The Grapes of Wrath was published, it sold …
Read More »THE WAKE – Poetry, by Jules Supervielle
THE WAKE We saw the wake, but nothing of the boat, because it was happiness that had passed by. They gazed at each other, deep in their eyes a perception at last of the promised clearing, where great stags were running in all their freedom. No hunter entered that country without tears. It was the next day, after a night …
Read More »WHEN THE MUSIC BECOME POETRY – Maintenant je reviens, by Jean-Louis Aubert
MAINTENANT JE REVIENS > Maintenant je reviens, a ce que j’ai toujours été, je reviens a pied, reviens en février, maintenant je reviens, a ce pour quoi je suis fait, je reviens chanter, est-ce bien un métier? Je reviens de tout, ce qui n’est pas moi, non ce n’étais pas moi, je reviens vers vous, et je n’en reviens pas, …
Read More »LIVE, FLESH – Poetry, by Pierre Reverdy
LIVE, FLESH Rise up corpse and walk nothing new under the yellow sun, the last of the last of the coins of gold, the light that flakes away, under the layers of time, the lock on the breaking heart. A thread of silk, a thread of lead, a thread of blood after these waves of silence. Signs of love’s black …
Read More »THE STRANGER – Novel, by Albert Camus
Albert Camus was born on November day in French colonial Algeria. Despite his family’s extreme poverty, he attended the University of Algiers, and after dropping out of the university, he entered the world of political journalism. While in wartime Paris, he developed his philosophy of the absurd. For him, existence seemed simply, absurd.                               The Stranger (published in 1942), it is …
Read More »SPORTS GOODS – Poetry, by Philippe Soupault
SPORTS GOODS Brave as a postage stamp. He went his way, gently clapping his hands to count his footsteps. His heart as red as a wild boar, beat beat, like a butterfly, pink and green, from time to time he planted a little flag of silk, when he had marched enough. He sat down for a rest and fell asleep, …
Read More »THE LITTLE PRINCE – Novel, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
After France’s defeat in 1940 (and its armistice with Germany), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his wife fled occupied France, and sojourned in North America, where he became one of the expatriate voices of the French Resistance. Its earlier memoir, recounted his aviation experiences in the desert of Sahara, the same experiences in this novella. In July 1944, Saint-Exupéry’s aircraft disappeared …
Read More »ALL GROWN-UPS WERE ONCE CHILDREN – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his simple secret
THE LITTLE PRINCE 1/3 – After France’s defeat in 1940 (and its armistice with Germany), Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and his wife fled occupied France, and sojourned in North America, where he became one of the expatriate voices of the French Resistance. Its earlier memoir, recounted his aviation experiences in the desert of Sahara, the same experiences in this novella. In …
Read More »THE SIMPLE SECRET – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry / The Little Prince, images by a dream
THEATRICAL SCENES WRAPPED BY HARMONIOUS PALETTES – Countrysides, city and inner landscapes of Pieter Quast
PIETER QUAST 1/3 – He was a Dutch painter (born and died in Amsterdam). Pieter Jansz Quast gave his age as twenty-six when his marriage banns were published on June 29, 1632. For its wittier imagery, the stage performances in The Hague and the theatrical characters etched by Callot, yes, was they really important. Observing its works you can admire …
Read More »PIETER QUAST (1605/1647), DUTCH PAINTER – Small social genre paintings and theatrical scenes
MIRROR, MIRROR EYE SEA – Poetry, by Jimmy Brouwers
MIRROR, MIRROR EYE SEA It pains me when I look the mirror in Her eyes, I see a night robbed from its stars. A portrait dead inside, A Sol that lost its glee. Dreamt all dreams away. One thing remains too glow, the Razor came to play! The Silver beast carves a crevasse through the reddened sea. Gazed upon by …
Read More »THE DINNER – Novel, by Herman Koch
This Herman Koch’s novel takes place in a well-known Amsterdam restaurant. It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two brothers (and their wives), meet for dinner and some unsavoury truths emerge. Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their single act, an act that has triggered a police investigation. Highly controversial tale of two families …
Read More »