Above: Bullring, Antequera, España Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 21 August 2024 I love my wife. But loving someone does not necessarily mean that you are comfortable with the differences between you and your romantic other. My wife is an efficient German. She does not wish to waste her time. She had witnessed flamenco dancing in Valencia… Continue reading An introduction to death
Category: Literature
The torment of the Tarasca
Above: The Tarasca, Antequera, España ‘Twas brillig and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe;All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird and shunThe frumious Bandersnatch!” He took his vorpal sword in hand:Long time the manxome foe… Continue reading The torment of the Tarasca
Antequera: In transit
Eskişehir, Türkiye Saturday 10 August 2024 “No young person under 40 is ever to be allowed to travel abroad under any circumstances. Nor is anyone to be allowed to go for private reasons, but only on some public business, as a herald or ambassador or as an observer of one sort or another.“ Plato, The… Continue reading Antequera: In transit
Let the sun rise over Antequera
Above: Sunrise, Antequera, España Eskişehir, Türkiye Tuesday 6 August 2024 I want to liveI want to giveI’ve been a minerFor a heart of goldIt’s these expressionsI never giveThat keep me searchingFor a heart of goldAnd I’m getting oldKeep me searchingFor a heart of goldAnd I’m getting old I’ve been to HollywoodI’ve been to RedwoodI crossed… Continue reading Let the sun rise over Antequera
Of a jazz that I feel
Above: Composition for Jazz, Albert Gleizes (1915), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 24 July 2024 Last Sunday evening at Starbucks with a new student after my classes at the school have ended. He is an educated man, a well-seasoned man, despite being half my age. Not that unusual. But to… Continue reading Of a jazz that I feel
An extraordinary woman
Monday 22 April 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye The lemon-coloured MG skids across the road and the woman driver brings it to a somewhat uncertain halt. She gets out and finds her left front tire flat. Without wasting a moment she prepares to fix it. She looks towards the passing cars as if expecting someone. Recognizing this… Continue reading An extraordinary woman
Along the avenue
Sunday 8 April 2024 Beyoğlu, İstanbul, Türkiye “What are the odds so long as the fire of soul is kindled at the taper of conviviality and the wing of friendship never moults a feather? What are the odds so long as the spirit is expanded by means of rosy wine and the present moment is… Continue reading Along the avenue
The Donkey Trail 3: A view to die for
Eskişehir, Türkiye Friday 31 May 2024 Above: Mount Säntis, Switzerland Here is my problem. Two problems, actually. I have the workings of a plot, but I cannot decide what details to include or exclude from the story. I also want to capture the emotions of the characters by showing, not telling, what they are feeling.… Continue reading The Donkey Trail 3: A view to die for
Dreams of Fielding
“A comic writer should of all others be the least excused for deviating from nature, since it may not be always so easy for a serious poet to meet with the great and the admirable. But life everywhere furnishes an accurate observer with the ridiculous.“ (Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews) Above: English writer Henry Fielding Eskişehir, Türkiye Monday 21 April 2024 Henry Fielding is one of… Continue reading Dreams of Fielding
The house of the rising sun
Eskişehir, Türkiye Sunday 21 April 2024 “The brevity of life, the failing of the senses, the numbness of indifference and unprofitable occupations allow us to know very little. And again and again swift oblivion, the thief of knowledge and the enemy of memory, makes a void of the mind, in the course of time, even… Continue reading The house of the rising sun