“O call back yesterday, bid time return.“ William Shakespeare, Richard II Tuesday 11 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz The fog drifts over the Bodensee (Lake Constance) like a whispered secret, delicate as breath on glass. It moves with the hush of something ancient, curling in tendrils over the water’s surface, dissolving as it meets… Continue reading Shadows on the sea
Category: mortality
Invention of self
“Life is other than what we write.“ André Breton, Nadja (1928) Friday 7 March 2025 Landschlacht, Schweiz Above: Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Literature is both a mirror and a chisel: One reflecting the world as it is. The other carving out the world as it could be. This blog may not be literature, but the… Continue reading Invention of self
To lay the keel
Tuesday 3 March 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye “Nikos Kazantzakis asked his God for ten additional years. Ten additional years in which to complete his work – to say what he had to say and “empty himself“. He wanted Death to come and take only a sackful of bones. Ten years were enough. Or so he thought.… Continue reading To lay the keel
Truth on trial
Eskişehir, Türkiye Thursday 13 February 2025 A hand, trembling, rests upon the worn leather of a Bible. A voice, heavy with authority, asks: “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?“ A moment of hesitation. A flicker of doubt. The weight of the words… Continue reading Truth on trial
Battle scars
Eskişehir, Türkiye Wednesday 12 February 2025 We tell ourselves war ends when the treaties are signed, when the guns fall silent. But for those who bear its scars, war is never truly over. The fight continues — not on the battlefield, but in the struggle to heal, to be seen, to be whole again. And… Continue reading Battle scars
Home?
Tuesday 11 February 2025 Eskişehir / Ankara, Türkiye The day begins in the embrace of motion — a train bound for Ankara, a city that has become familiar yet remains distant from the rhythms of my daily life. The capital of modern Türkiye has many roles to play. It is the conflicts between these roles… Continue reading Home?
The road to Nirvana
Saturday 8 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye Time is a river. Its current carries us through moments of human striving — some triumphant, some tragic. Each event, each life born into history on this day, speaks to a quest: For truth, for escape, for justice, for a world beyond suffering. But where does that journey end?… Continue reading The road to Nirvana
The rebellion of time
Wednesday 5 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye My bed chamber is small, yet vast. Shadows stretch long and gaunt, leaping at the walls like the emaciated fingers of a dying man. A single lamp, feeble yet defiant, cast its wan glow upon my desk strewn with papers, their edges curling like lips whispering forgotten verses. The… Continue reading The rebellion of time
A Tapestry of Poetic Resilience
Tuesday 4 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye On this day, history whispers through words penned by poets, through voices that capture the beauty and ugliness of man’s common struggle against his own mortality. The air of February 4 is thick with reflections — on fleeting existence, on love and laughter, on the grit of survival and… Continue reading A Tapestry of Poetic Resilience
Ripples in Time
Monday 3 February 2025 Eskişehir, Türkiye What makes a life worth remembering? A long, long time ago (“American Pie” was written in 1971 and the time McLean is going to talk about is the 1950’s. This seemslike a long time ago ’cause of all the turmoil that occurred in the 60’s.)I can still remember how… Continue reading Ripples in Time