Spinozablue: An Eclectic Journal of the Arts

Posted on: March 20, 2008

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Selected aphorisms, from Signposts to Elsewhere:

Miracles are proud creatures; they will not reveal themselves to those who do not Believe.

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If Love, as they say, is blind then, Lust must be deaf, dumb and blind.

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Temptation: seeds we are forbidden to water, that are showered with rain.

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In life, as in love, graceful leave-taking is the epitome of gratitude.

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Myths are history, too; the history of the human imagination.

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History does not repeat itself, human nature does.

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Our wisdom always mocks us, since it knows more than we can.

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The thoughts we choose to act upon define us to others, the ones we do not define us to ourselves.

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It is wise to know oneself, if only to add to the sum of human knowledge.

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Impulses we attempt to strangle only develop stronger muscles.

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The biographer’s art is that of confessing through the mask of another’s personality.

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In life, as in love, graceful leave-taking is the epitome of gratitude.

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To better appreciate our parameters, we must act as…

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Posted on: March 19, 2008

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At Lucia’s

 

 

After the rain has ceased,
the timber boards and stools are back
right away in the middle of the farmyard.
Kittens and chickens play tag
among the legs of the regulars.

Careful hands relay tablecloths and tableware,
there it is again—my dear bottle of fizzy lambrusco!
Then just-toasted polenta e ciccioli turns up,
straight from the plate of the wood stove.

The sky opens,
discloses the plain beauty of the Lombard campagna.
Boscage and lea are slowly unmisted in the distance,
toward the laggard sunset.
The air is just bracing,
not bleak or ungentle.

It so happens at times the only difference
between the half-full and half-empty glass
is a radiant but guarded smile behind it,
traced around fleshy lips and red cheeks,
seeming to whisper bentornato!

The eyes meet time and again
like furtive accomplices,
more smiles slip out in the lamplight shadow,
more wine gurgles down into the scodella—
 alla salute!

What more should one ask of life?
When no patron is left inside the osteria,
and none is outside—
tonight will tell.

 

 

First published in Poetry…

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Posted on: March 18, 2008

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We have some new poetry, this time from Sheema Kalbasi, an excellent poet I had the pleasure to meet last year at a book festival. There is something unique, exquisite and dreamy in her work, something that informs and amplifies the images of war and peace, tragedy and freedom, family, love and laughter she depicts. She is intrepid.

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Have added yet more new poetry and some aphorisms to the Spinozablue mix. An Italian poet and an Egyptian-American aphorist, both of whom bring something truly out of the ordinary to these pages. Alessio Zanelli and Yahia Lababidi are young poets, already with an international following and deserve wider recognition.

 

 

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