Communication only partial
the latching you designed
seems to glitch
So that signals disappear
down some tremendous
existential void.
Wires are somehow more
secure than your bluetooth
despite its representation
as a reliable mechanical
gearwheel safely
locked in a Newtonian Universe.
How can I connect
with you? What message
can reach you up there?
Here I remain
with weakened pulses
and unreliable links
living with Beckett and Bion.
The priory in particular looks quite imposing and austere.
Here is a view of the Coastguard Station and Tynemouth Priory, seen from across King Edwards Bay, on the North-east coast of England.
They both are, in their own ways, continuations of the cliffs below. The coastguard station with its massive concrete architecture, the priory with its soaring stone columns. And as if to emphasize how transitory are our human constructions: both are now disused, at least for their original functions.
Parts of the original priory which still survive are the West side of the nave, from the 12th century. “..in January 1539 the priory fell victim to the nationwide Dissolution of the Monasteries” says the English Heritage website. The headland then became a military fortification in wars which followed, right up to the 1939-45 conflict, where guns were stationed there. Some of the gun emplacements remain…
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Lovely colours against the darkness surrounding.
“Redon’s interpretations of the life and sacrifice of Christ contain elements of his liberal social outlook and generally underplay the traditional devotional aspect of such imagery. The present work is especially beautiful for its spiritual treatment of abstract elements in the composition. Interlocking vertical and horizontal forms frame the scene, and Christ is viewed half-length, emphasizing the interior drama of his suffering. The rainbow-like arc of light behind the cross represents the hope of salvation. The colours radiate forward from the rear of the composition in the way that light passes through stained glass. The overall effect is serenely contemplative; the picture seeks not inspire religious fervour, but to provide a balm for the troubled mind. ‘Redon identified Christ’s redemption of…
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Sounds very poignant and in the Bowen and Pym vein!
Anita Brookner is probably best known for novels like Hotel du Lac – those exquisitely-crafted stories of loneliness and isolation, typically featuring unmarried women living quiet, unfulfilled lives while waiting for their unobtainable lovers to make fleeting appearances. However, just like its predecessor, the superb Latecomers,Lewis Percy differs from Brookner’s earlier novels in that it features a male protagonist – in this instance, the eponymous Lewis Percy. Nevertheless, it is another triumph, demonstrating that Brookner is just as adept at mining the inner lives of her male characters as she is at dissecting their female counterparts. I loved this novel’s closeted, claustrophobic mood and hope to find a place for it in my end-of-year highlights.
The novel follows Lewis from his student days in Paris in 1959 to his late thirties, some sixteen years later, by which point he remains a man out of his times – bookish…
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That sounds interesting and a complement to a book I read a couple of years ago called Border by a Bulgarian writer who has decamped to Scotland. Central Europe always fascinating, sad and seemingly historically tangled.
(Multiple translators)
A slightly strange one this, which was recommended as a good read on Serbia in the Lonely Planet’s Armchair Explorer book (which I’ve currently lost amid the chaos caused by our building work, but hope eventually to unearth).
The title made me wince a bit, but this is a non-fiction book that is a mixture of national pride, self-deprecation and black humour, written and illustrated by Serbian novelist and artist Momo Kapor (1937-2010), and seemingly always intended for an English-speaking readership.
Unapologetically reinforcing as many stereotypes as it debunks, the book is interesting on food and culture, often witty, and sometimes gratingly sexist:
“things have changed … especially the Belgrade girl. She is no longer a somewhat plump little woman, whose appeal was in being unprotected and helpless … Today’s Belgrade girls are marked by an often slender, tall figure… [man in late 60s then waxes lyrical…
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Frantisek Kupka, 1871-1957 – Internet Archive
~Sunnyside
Great to see the figures as you remark!
Near Newcastle Central Station there is a new development called the “Centre for Life” Times Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4EP. It includes scientific research establishments, an interactive science museum for children, and various cafés and events spaces. It was built 1996-2000 to the designs of Terry Farrell and Partners on parts of an old cattle market. In the centre of the wide windswept space is this delightful building, from another era.
It is the Market Keepers’ House, 1840, designed by John Dobson, a prolific Newcastle architect of the time. His work is everywhere in the City. He designed the Church of St Thomas the Martyr, for example, and the Central Station. And he also gave us this miniature masterpiece, with its pleasing curves and…
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A lovely scene!
“In 1886 the critic Fénéon defined Cross’s style in the following words: “a light palette, objects, beings indicated with flat colours, light brushwork, a pretty fantasy.” These flat, toned-down colours (mixed with white) are here displayed above all in the traditional bonnets and in the bodies of the women bent over in the sun. In contrast, the pink stippling in the dark green mass of the tree is already a response to Divisionism, in an effort to render the glints of the complementary colour that appear on a coloured surface. The painting was shown at the Salon des Indépendants in March 1891 as was the first work (a portrait of his future wife) in which Cross used rigorous neo-Impressionist techniques.”
READ FULL ESSAY: Carmen Thyssen Collection
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penwithlit