Thursday, November 12, 2020

Writers: John McGahern

Beckett, Joyce,
Flann O'Brien, Edna O'Brien
O'Casey, O'Cadhain,
O'Connor, O'Faolain, O'Flaherty,
etc., etc.,
there're so many great Irish writers.
And there's John McGahern.

 

John McGahern (12 November 1934 – 30 March 2006)

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Balcony view

On a late autumn morning ...

... the head not having in the clouds.
[for a change]

 

Monday, November 09, 2020

Saturday, November 07, 2020

Saturday Night Music – Gregory Porter



Gregory Porter * 4 November 1971

A case of you



Joni Mitchell *7 November, 1943

"Just before our love got lost you said
"I am as constant as a northern star"
And I said "Constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar"

On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
Oh you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
Still I'd be on my feet
oh I would still be on my feet

Oh I am a lonely painter
I live in a box of paints
I'm frightened by the devil
And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid

I remember that time you told me you said
"Love is touching souls"
Surely you touched mine
'Cause part of you pours out of me
In these lines from time to time
Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine
You taste so bitter and so sweet

Oh I could drink a case of you darling
And I would still be on my feet
I would still be on my feet

I met a woman
She had a mouth like yours
She knew your life
She knew your devils and your deeds
And she said
"Go to him, stay with him if you can
But be prepared to bleed"

Oh but you are in my blood
You're my holy wine
You're so bitter, bitter and so sweet

Oh, I could drink a case of you darling

Thursday, November 05, 2020

Beers & Books XXVII

Alright, a beer and a film.

Alfred Wainwright (17 January 1907 – 20 January 1991)

The Englishman who Went up a Hill and Came down a Mountain

Miserable fools

Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.

Arthur Schopenhauer
(22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860

Tuesday, November 03, 2020

Beers & Books XXVI

Morale in times of globalisation
- -
I think in English the title is
The Art of the Impossible

Václav Havel (5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011)