The longest project I’ve been working on lately is a tiny book of poetry that I want to announce here. It’s called 24 Poems. I worked on it for some years, without really feeling as if I had been working. It would probably be fairer to say that I enjoyed my time with this project.
Well, the moment to end it arrived. And to present it to my readers’ reactions. I honestly didn’t expect some of those reactions to be so warm and close, empathetic and so moving. Certainly, many have been polite and indifferent. As life usually is!
You can catch a glimpse of what is between the covers here, by looking inside the PDF below.
I just love Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings. I always browse through her newsletter with the curious anticipation of the amazingly interesting connections she offers her readers. For her a constant labour of love, for me an amazingly serendipitous discovery.
As in this announcement of “a charitable celebration of science and nature through poetry”. How does she announce it? Intriguingly:
<“The Universe in Verse” is going
West! (April 18, California)
UC Santa Cruz
Quarry Amphitheater
1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA
95064
Doors: 6:00PM
Show: 7:30–10ish PM
Rain or shine, news-hyped virus
panic or sanity. Dress warmly for outdoor springtime, wash your hands with
soap, hot water, and critical thinking.>
For someone coming from a culture which does not necessarily appreciate time, except one’s own obviously, giving a time for “Doors” and then another for the actual show hints at profound social differences. The best part, however, is the last – a strong, unapologetic promise that this is a serious event which requires not only passionate love of science and poetry, but also a clear sense of humour and in-depth critical thinking. Lovely indeed.
Fragmente din “Mâna stângă a întunericului” de Ursula K. Le Guin. Întotdeauna mi-a plăcut SFul, deși nu întotdeauna am avut timp să citesc. Le Guin este o lectură care te fascinează.
“Ei bine, în Handdara … nu există nici teorie, nici dogmă. …Poate sunt mai puțin conștienți de diferența dintre oameni și fiare, fiind mai preocupați de asemănări, de legături, de întregul din care fac parte toate ființele.” M-am gândit toată ziua la Tormer’s Lay, și am spus cuvintele,
Lumina este mâna stângă a întunericului
și întunericul este mâna dreaptă a luminii.
Doi sunt unu, viața și moartea, întinși
Împreună ca iubiții în kemmer,
Ca mâinile împreunate,
Ca sfârșitul și calea.
Vocea mi-a tremurat când am rostit aceste versuri, pentru că în momentul în care le rosteam mi-am amintit că fratele meu a citat aceleași versuri în scrisoarea pe care mi-a scris-o înainte să moară.
p. 232 – 233
Winter planet. Planeta iarnă. Image source: https://queenofpeaches.com/2014/02/14/the-winter-the-moon-the-darkness-the-space/
“Well, in the Handdara … you know, there’s no theory, no dogma. …Maybe they are less aware of the gap between men and beasts, being more occupied with the likenesses, the links, the whole of which living things are a part.” Tormer’s Lay had been all day in my mind, and I said the words,
Light is the left hand of darkness
and darkness the right hand of light.
Two are one, life and death, lying
together like lovers in kemmer,
like hands joined together,
like the end and the way.
My voice shook as I said the lines, for I remembered as I said them that in the letter my brother wrote me before his death he had quoted the same words.
