Saturday, May 28, 2005


The Surrounding Area and Part of the Parco Pollino


I guess that what with the discussion over at http://litwindowpane.blogspot.com/ about the choice of a writer's studio and the excitement and fretting over buying a new home over at http://loveandsalt.blogspot.com// : I got to thinking that I'd probably choose, if I could, to use the covered balcony of our home in southern Italy as an al fresco writer's studio where I could read, sip caffe macchiato, swat flies and write poetry. Although, not necessarily in that order. Ah la bella vita!



This Calabrian home is in the Parco Pollino: an area in Calabria where all the flora and fauna are protected. After sundown you might be able to spot wild boar crossing the fields in search of roots etc...Wolves are on the endangered list here; but the asps are plentiful. Gotta love that viper! Anyway it's our home away from home.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

The Homeless Cake



I’ve driven the miracle mile before, but never with a twelve pound cake teetering precariously on the front passenger seat. Sunday 9:00am: I pick up the cake in question – not just your run-of-the-mill baked good, but my daughter’s confirmation cake at the bakers. Then I slowly make my way from the bakers, driving at the breakneck speed of 10mph careful not to come to any abrupt stops. I was supposed to drop off the cake and other assorted sweets off at the reception hall where the function was to take place later that day. But its doors were closed. So there I was lugging it around town – instigating a cortege of vehicles wherever I went; trying to placate all the irate drivers that I met on my odyssey with a shrug of the shoulders. Meeting with the well-wishes of their middle fingers.

In the end it finally reached its destination and my daughter was confirmed later that day – a holy sacrament where all good Catholics reaffirm their faith. It’s sort of like a religious booster shot. Most other cultures and their respective religions - both modern and primitive have incorporated the right of passage to demarcate a change in social status and all that this transformation accords within their cultural frameworks. Catholicism, on the other hand, is heavy on indoctrination. Amen to that brothers and sisters … amen!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005


When The Rain Comes!

Monday, May 16, 2005

What - Me Subversive?

Yeah! I too took the plunge and submitted to the test. Seems like I'm bent on revealing the meaninglessness of existence - but not on Tuesdays - that's my bowling night. Hey, there's only so much you can ask a subversive to do.

You scored as Postmodernist. Postmodernism is the belief in complete open interpretation. You see the universe as a collection of information with varying ways of putting it together. There is no absolute truth for you; even the most hardened facts are open to interpretation. Meaning relies on context and even the language you use to describe things should be subject to analysis.

Postmodernist

100%

Cultural Creative

88%

Materialist

81%

Idealist

81%

Romanticist

69%

Existentialist

69%

Modernist

50%

Fundamentalist

50%


Sunday, May 15, 2005

The Poetry of Healing:

”The earliest of civilizations, from many Native American cultures to that of the ancient Greeks, recognized an inextricable interrelationship between poetry and healing; surely, the best poems we have today demand that we listen, and not just with our ears, but with our whole hearts. …"

[T]he healing potential of poetry is related via [Raphael Campo's] personal experience in reading poetry with patients. He will relate several vignettes that exemplify how poetry can help to restore the role of the clinician to that of healer. He will show how engaging our creative faculties can help us ultimately to practice medicine not only more humanely, but more joyfully as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(From: "The Poetry of Healing" -Rafael Campo, M.D.)


I don’t know about you, but when I walk into the doctor’s office with a herniated disk I’m really looking forward to hearing him/her recite a couple of strophes to get me back on my feet again. Who needs an MRI or morphine?..... I think I prefer to get my doses of poetry at a poetry reading and not in ICU. Doc, let the proffessionals handle this would you!

Monday, May 09, 2005

Stuff You Just Couldn't Make Up!

An on-line friend of mine sent me this link http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nick+Bruno and asked for confirmation of its accuracy. Only my wife (photographed here next to me) can say for sure.

Friday, May 06, 2005

They Shoot Poets - Don't They( The Namesake)

Repossessed by my muse. Actually, I'm submitting it to several journals. I apologize for retrieving it as it is intrinsically relevant to the Blog's theme. Yes, this blog does have a running theme...Sheesh!