Books

Fog Suite

Fog Suite

What I love about language
is what I love about fog:
what comes between us and things
grants them their shine. Take,

for instance, the estuary,
raised to a higher power
by airy sun-struck voile:
gunmetal cove and glittered bar

hung on the rim of the sky
like palaces in Tibet—
white buildings unreachable, dreamed and held

at just that perfect distance:
the world’s lustered by the veil.

Mark Doty
Sweet Machine

Thank you, Amy.

Love After Love

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott
Sea Grapes

All these things that I’ve done.

Good artists copy, great artists steal.

Pablo Picasso.

The Spanish artist made quite a bold statement, but there is a bit of truth within it. It is only through copying others that one can find their own way. But copying isn’t comparing you to others, and that has to be clear. Copying needs to be a form of inspiration, the beginning of our own and unique version.

This past week I’ve met new people and witnessed the every-day life of friends. I’ve had time to myself, to explore outside and to re-discover myself inside. We can dream and think of perfect lives and ideal worlds, but when it comes to reality, we must leave dreams aside and work on living a way that allows us to go to sleep with a smile in our faces and without a regret in our consciences.

A good friend recommended me a book titled “59 seconds“, by Richard Wiseman. It explores the art of writing a diary, small gestures of kindness and thinking assertive in order to reach the goals we set ourselves. This is one of my favourite quotes so far.

Expressing gratitude, thinking about a perfect future and affectionate writing have been scientifically proven to work, and all they require is a pen, a piece of paper and a few moments of your time.

In fewer words, be sincere, real and express yourself.

Wild Geese.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting —
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.