Tag: 25 Pins in a Packet
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‘The Claws of the Puma’, Patricia Verdugo
“Yes, if the tormentor could express himself-then nearly everything would be gained. only he could fix on a pin this harmful insect- only he sees through it. But the tormentor never speaks, he is the most laconic being that was ever created. he forces his victims to do the talking, the wailing, the stammering- he himself is silent-one might […]
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“Looking for Mother” by Dorothy Molloy
I ransack her room. Loot and pillage. I root in her trunk. Crack open the tightly sprung boxes of satin and plush. Pierce my breast with her butterfly brooch. I pose in her hats, French berets, mantillas of lace, the veil that falls over her face, the boa she wraps round her neck. I […]
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“The Immortal” by Elisaveta Bagryana
The Immortal Now bloodless and almost fleshless unmoving , unbreathing, voiceless. With eyes half closed and sunken, what matter if -Anna or Maria, the fine lids will never rise, the clenched lips will not move or ever again utter a moan or sigh. And look how already white and strange is that ring upon her […]
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“Lazarus” by Ágnes Nemes Nagy.
Round his left shoulder, as he got up slowly every day’s muscle gathered in agony His death was flayed off him like a gauze. Because second-birth has such harsh laws. From: Between by Ágnes Nemes Nagy.Trans, Hugh Maxton. Dedalus Press , Dublin and Corvina Press, Budapest.
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The Perils of Indulging in Cosmetics ; ‘Il Libro dell’ Arte’.
I thought I would put a small excerpt from Cennini’s excellent Il Libro dell’ Arte on the blog today: “You would have occasion in the service of young ladies, especially those of Tuscany to display certain colours to which they take a fancy. And they are in the habit of beautifying themselves with certain waters. But since the Paduan […]
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Two poems by Liliana Ursu.
Poem with a Griffin, a Pike and Peacocks. I am reading a poem while it rains. The day blinks through windows guarded by a griffin; its talons flex, its tail switches. Do you remember those summer showers high in the mountains? The dull pop of a toadstool beneath your bare foot in the dew-covered […]
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A Saturday Woman Translator, Sheema Kalbasi.
With You by Mehri Rahmani Your tender revolt Contained by the illicit apple Pounds in red And your eye’s shattered diamond A woman in seclusion Revolves into a star With you On the surface of water I am thirsty Place the skies in your eyes Blaze out the star So that I can see you […]
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Work and Contemplation- by EBB
” The woman singeth at her spinning- wheel A pleasant chant, ballad or barcarolle; She thinketh of her song, upon the whole, Far more than of her flax; and yet the reel is full, and artfully her fingers feel With quick adjustment, provident control. The lines, too subtly twisted to unroll, Out to a perfect […]
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The Poetics of Engagement: Marianne Moore.
This Book Of Marianne Moore‘s Prose is entitled The Poetry Of Engagement, edited by Grace Schulman, University of Illinois Press 1986. I have printed one other piece by Moore on this blog. I tend to ignore critique except to contextualise the social and historical life of the poet, those movements that brought the writer to settle […]
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‘A Cold Coming’ by Tony Harrison
The poem A Cold Coming was first published in protest against the First Gulf War. It was re-published on February the 14th 2003. It is by the magnificent anti-war writer and poet Tony Harrison. This morning I am hoping that other routes to global understanding are sought. It feels like a whole generation of kids […]
chris murray | text work 