Tag: Literature

  • My Face to the Light: Alice Walker’s Thoughts about Christmas

    Cover of "Anything We Love Can be Saved"
    Cover of Anything We Love Can be Saved

    As I was reading Alice Walker (best known for her book The Color Purple) collection of essays entitled Anything We Love Can Be Saved, I thought her ideas only represented me on an abstract – perhaps metaphorical level. I can relate to her situation only in certain aspects, others I can’t even begin to understand. In my opinion, she is rather centred around a purpose and she definitely has a leit-motif (the Goddess, for example), but, as I said, I don’t fully understand her situation, so I won’t be judging her for some linguistic clichés (I know I have mine, and I’m pretty sure each individual, social/enthic group or country has plenty as well!).

    In any case, from the whole book, I chose an essay that I think is still very much current, even after fourteen years. It’s about Christmas and its sometimes empty, sometimes ideologically charged stories. First, the subtitle is quite interesting and very much poetic: “seed catalogs like paper flowers”. (more…)

  • Sometimes I Wish I Had Poetic Talent

    Twilight over the river Aude, Hérault, Langued...
    Image via Wikipedia

    Well… I was walking near one of the canals in Tottenham Hale towards the twilight (not that twilight, ugh, I can’t even use this word without sparkly cheesy connotations any more, bless you whatever-is-your-name-woman-who-invented-sparkly-vampires-sensitive-to-the-humans’-emotions) and it just felt … umm… like poetry.

    If you watched the video before reading this post, then, very good, if you didn’t please watch it. It’s basically a poem by Mihai Eminescu, something of a lullaby, but also describing nature going to sleep. I won’t go into interpretations (just search for “Somnoroase pasarele” – if you know Romanian – or “Drowsy birds” could be its English translation: find the poem here, in Romanian, English, Hungarian, Modern and Ancient Chinese). Here are the lyrics as translated in English (from that site – the version which is really nice, not the other one, *cough* Sleepy Birds… But it still can’t catch the nuances that it does in the Romanian language, it’s maybe why they say poetry can’t really be translated, it can be at most re-written, but its form and rhythm are built within the music of certain language and that language alone):

    Drowsy birds

    Drowsy birds at even gliding,
    Round about their nests alight,
    In among the branches hiding…
    Dear, good night!

    Silence through the forest creeping,
    Lullaby the river sighs;
    In the garden flowers sleeping…
    Shut your eyes!

    Glides the swan among the rushes
    To its rest where moonlight gleams,
    And the angels’ whisper hushes…
    Peaceful dreams!

    O’er the sky stars without number,
    On the earth a silver light;
    All is harmony and slumber…
    Dear, good night!

    (trad. de Corneliu M. Popescu)

    Well, anyway… While I was walking along the water – and feeling guilty that I forgot to take some treats with me again and all the birds were looking at me quite irritated – I felt like singing this song (because it was made a song by George Popescu) while I was watching everything natural and human going to sleep. At times like this I really wish I were a poet, but for some reason I can’t find words (that is poetic words that can describe an image or another), it feels really difficult to give shape to feelings – especially if they’re complex and include a whole pantheon of elements.

    Well, I was thinking that Eminescu must have taken a walk like me, some 200 years ago. The only difference? He wrote a poem, which was given music, and which is now a part of the Romanian heritage. What did I do? A blog post. A conventional blog post, with a YouTube video link. It’s not that I want to point at myself and say “Sinner, heathen, stupid, whatever”… It’s just that I wish I could write a poem as simple and beautiful as that. Plus, if in the 1880s, if there had been such a thing as blogging, I guess he’d be blogging too. And most likely not the poems and nice stuff, but normal, opinionated, perhaps even politically incorrect posts.

    But don’t let me destroy the dreamy feeling I have with silly assumptions. I’ll leave you with the drowsy birds and bid you a very good, peaceful night!

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  • 12/12 Ave Maria païen, Notre Dame de Paris

    Ave Maria païen, Notre Dame de Paris

    What a moving song! I feel her plea, her heart and her Soul reaching out to Mother Mary and Spirit moves. Wow! Brought tears and chills. Incredibly touching… Ave Maria indeed.

    The musical Notre Dame de Paris debuted September 1998 in Paris. Song: Ave Maria païen (the 21st song). Musical: based on Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo. Music: Riccardo Cocciante, Lyrics: Luc Plamondon. Has played worldwide, been translated to many languages and had the most successful first year of any musical. As of 2007 the score has been recorded 7 times .

    It’s Full Moon today (Snow Moon 11:37am EST, 4:37pm GMT) and a Grand Mutable Cross is in the heavens ushering in a time of choices and changes. There are many new possibilities, forks in the road with lots of potential for positive change. We are being guided to strive for our highest ideals, spiritual Truths and wisdom. To find out more about the Grand Mutable Cross see The Aquarius Papers.

     

    La Virgen de Guadalupe by Salvador Dali (1959).

    It’s also Guadalupe Day Mexico’s most important religious holiday. Today people from all over Mexico travel to the chapel on Tepayac Hill in Mexico City to worship and celebrate. In 1531 at the the former shrine of the Aztec Mother Goddess Coatlicue on Tepayac Hill, the Virgin Guadalupe (mother of Jesus) appeared to Juan Diego. She asked him to build a chapel on this sacred ground.

    Large fiestas are held in Mexico and Central America honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. All day people visit the church and pray. As an offering of thanks, some people pin small objects shaped like hearts, arms, or legs  (milagros) on or near the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

    May your holidays be blessed and safe. Happy Guadalupe Day!

     

    daliandwife The incredible painting above left is called La Virgen de Guadalupe by Salvador Dali (1959). Dali’s full name is Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain was a surrealist painter. He attended drawing school in 1916 and 3 years later had his first exhibition. His extensive artistic endeavors include painting, film, sculpture, and photography. You can find out more and see many of Dali’s wonderful works at virtualdali.com.

    ~Bonnee Klein Gilligan

  • Paris…

    a poem by Bonnee Klein Gilligan

    Eiffel Tower, Paris - Photo by Light   ©2003-2008 Bonnee Klein Gilligan. All rights reserved.

    Ah Paris ’tis the city of love

        a beautiful place indeed.

    Enjoy yourself and if you like

        have a pastry for me.

    A croissant, pasty or a tart

        with cream, and fruit, and crust.

    Such a delight with every bite 

        is sinful, and a must.

    Have an espresso at a street cafe

       and watch the passersby

    In thought, or talk, or steadfast walk

        so busy with their lives.

    Enjoy a walk along the Seine

        or boat ride to the Louvre.

    With easy access everywhere

        you can also ride the Tube.

    Enjoy your trip to Paris

        have a glass of wine for me.

    And over here I’ll taste it

        on my lips, just wait and see.

    I taste a red, hardy and full

        it’s peppery and smooth.

    Oh no it’s white, a crisp delight

       it’s flowery… oh no it’s bright.

    Did you have two, or maybe three

       I’m so confused it must be me.

    I taste a tart, and coffee too

        my senses don’t know what to do.

    Enjoy your trip to Paris

        and I’ll be here with you

    Or is it there, I just don’t know

        with you I’m split in two.

    I don’t know what I’m doing

       and I don’t know what I see

    All I know that I like you

        and you’ll have the best from me.

    Enjoy your trip to Paris friend

        best wishes, bon voyage

    I don’t know how to end this

       so I’ll just press the pause…