Beers & Books CCVII – John Burnside

...

John Burnside * 19 March 1955

Saturday Night Music – Fazil Say

Fazil Say *14 January 1970

March 5th: Fine date for a tyrannicide

5 March. Ten days to the Ides, when, according to Shakespeare, 2066 years ago Caesar asked incredulously: 'Et tu, Brutus?'
"What do you think about Putin?" I ask my friend who, as almost always, is busy proofreading his 1669 pages short opus magnum 'Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell'.

Tetrapilotomos, without looking up:
- I would have expected Vladimir Putler to march into Kiev sitting on the pipe of the lead tank. Then the little prick could at least have shown the world once that he has a giant pipe.
- Putler?
- Well, or Hitin, if you prefer. Riding in bare-chested on a Sibirian tiger would of course be even cooler. But the pants poisoner is too cowardly to do both. By the way, today is the 69th anniversary of Stalin's death.
- Ach, indeed? Why do you mention this?
- A fine date for a tyrannicide, wouldn't you agree?

Beers & Books CCVI – Giorgio Bassani

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
*

Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000)

The Moonlight is speechless ...

... and so am I, almost, on the first anniversary of Claude's death, which is why I let her speak.
She sent me this poem in December 2018.



THE MOONLIGHT IS SPEECHLESS...
 
She worked hard at being able
to think THINK instead of PENSER
to write a flawless letter to England as well as to France
to add Shelley to Lamartine
to exude Gallic charm mixed with British romanticism
 
she studied books and dictionaries
she travelled far and she lived everywhere
she met dignitaries and the people next door
she reached French and English fluency
in her dreams, tears and laughter
 
and when she wore this two-colour dress with elegance
she discovered
that the heart has no language, no culture of its own
 
The moonlight is speechless...
stars in one's eyes mean more than "Je t'aime, beloved"
and two clasped hands across a table
across a warm sea of silence
can tear down
better than a thousand well-chosen words
the tower of babel
one erects every day in one's soul.
 
CPG     (1970)

Thank you for everyting, Claude. De tout coeur.

Beers & Books CCV – John Montague

An Occasion of Sin
(short stories)

John Montague (28 February 1929 − 10 December 2016)

Put in Highest Alert!!

 Omnium puts its vocabulary on highest alert.

Beers & Books CCIV – Irwin Shaw

. . .

Irwin Shaw (27 February 1913 – 26 May 1984)

Beers & Books CCIII – Michel Houellebecq

...

Michel Houellebecq *26 February 1956

Beers & Books CCII – Victor Hugo

Between the government which does evil
and the people who accept it
- there is a certain shameful solidarity.
*
The great acts of love are done by those
who are habitually performing small acts of kindness.

Victor Hugo (26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885)

Friday is Skyday

. . .

Beers & Books CCI – Anaïs Nin

It takes courage to push yourself
to places you have never been before...
to test your limits... to break through barriers.

Anaïs Nin (February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977)

Monochrome Monday

. . .