Sunday 5 October 2025 Ankara, Türkiye Above: Başkent Millet Bahçesi Park, Ankara, Türkiye There is an old story about the ostrich, repeated since the days of Pliny the Elder, that when danger approaches the bird buries its head in the sand, imagining that what it cannot see cannot see it. In Natural History, Pliny the… Continue reading The ostrich in the room
Category: Tradition
The cheese transporter
“Inside every human being, there is a loneliness greater than any storm. Some try to fill it with people, others with dreams. And a few, poor souls, only ever find the silence inside growing louder.” Sabahattin Ali, Kürk Mantolu Madonna (Madonna in a Fur Coat) Above: Turkish writer Sabahattin Ali Spring arrived this week, with… Continue reading The cheese transporter
The Ballad of the Whispering Swamp
Now gather ’round where the fireflies danceAnd the fog drapes low like a bridal trance,Where the trees lean in with a listening grace,And the swamp wears time on its wrinkled face. They say there’s a place by the Dnipro’s bendWhere the world forgets how the war must end—Where frogs sit still like philosopher kings,And counsel… Continue reading The Ballad of the Whispering Swamp
This mediocre adventure
Journal de Jules Renard February 28, 1895 “I think that if I had to choose a profession all over again, I would not be a writer. I would be a peasant. A peasant doesn’t need to please anyone but the land. The land does not flatter in return. Writers grow hunchbacked over paper, hungrily awaiting… Continue reading This mediocre adventure
Next stop upon request (Runaway train)
Above: The logo of Swiss Federal Railways – the national railway company of Switzerland The train lurches with a sudden screeech, the hum of forward motion swallowed by the high eee of braking and the collective gasp of surprised passengers clutching at poles and seats. The train halts between Egnach and Arbon, a silent pause in motion.… Continue reading Next stop upon request (Runaway train)
Seeing red
Part Three of Peace of Mind / Part Two of The Road to Rorschach Sunday 6 April 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz Above: St. Leonhard’s Chapel, Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz I returned yesterday evening from a five-day mini-vacation in Bologna, Italy. Memory, at least mine, is much like a pot of tea. It needs time… Continue reading Seeing red
Circus
Sunday 6 April 2025 Kreuzlingen, Canton Thurgau, Schweiz “Damn everything but the circus! The average ‘painter’ ‘sculptor’ ‘poet’ ‘composer’ ‘playwright’ is a person who cannot leap through a hoop from the back of a galloping horse, make people laugh with a clown’s mouth, orchestrate twenty lions.“ e.e. cummings Above: American poet Edward Estlin Cummings (1894 – 1962) Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the… Continue reading Circus
Control, Alter, Delete: The era and error of erasure
Saturday 22 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: St. Leonhard’s Chapel, Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland As I try to revitalize my spirits in regards to my dual ambitions as teacher and writer, I slowly return to life through the writing of this blog. I have tried to keep a chronicle of calendar dates since… Continue reading Control, Alter, Delete: The era and error of erasure
The road to Romanshorn
Peace of Mind, Part One of Four: Sunday 16 March 2025 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Above: Landschlacht Bahnhof, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland “You must change your life. You must change your life not for a particular reason or to achieve a particular goal, but because life is change. To change one’s life means to be in… Continue reading The road to Romanshorn
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