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A LITTLE BEFORE TURNING SIXTY: Poem by Alkyoni Papadakis

1 Comment / Poetry /

A little before turning 60 I learnt to love my every cell.
To balance between my needs and my wants without swaying.
To have confidence in myself without requiring anyone’s confirmation.
To accept myself with all those things I did right, but also with my mistakes.
To make my own choices without any interference by others.
I learnt to dream without being afraid.
To hope without becoming a coward.
To give myself without spending me in the process.
I learnt that the greatest values ​​of our lives
are hidden in the smallest and everyday things.
The most beautiful moments I share with people who deserve them.
The most important ones are those moments that carry bits of our souls.
And the most beautiful ones are those that shaped our existence.
Just before turning 60 I learnt to estimate people through actions –
not through words.
I estimate them all in the end – not at the beginning of our acquaintance.
I accept them as they are without trying to change them.
I enjoy my solitude. I enjoy my sorrows.
I coexist harmoniously with my fears and my weaknesses.
I give myself unconditionally. I love without limitations.
I feel without barriers and boundaries. I trust without doubt.
I learnt that mistakes are human weaknesses and forgiveness is a great power.
I know that the greatest wealth on this earth is within us.
That people that have suffered the most are the ones with the most wonderful smile.
The most dignified are those who hide their tears in their brightest gaze.
And the happiest are those who have discovered themselves.
We have learnt the biggest lessons from the people who have passed
through our life.
The most beautiful piece of knowledge is the one given to us by experience.
Each of our wounds is also a badge of wisdom.
Our every pain is a prize of courage and endurance.
Every new day is a divine gift and a great blessing.
I learned to say NO to others where I have to say YES to me.
I have learnt to get away with dignity from where I am redundant.
I learnt not to accept any demoting regarding my morals or dignity.
I learnt to cherish my peace of mind and take care of my physical health.
I colour the canvas of my life with beautiful colours that warm my existence.
I recognize my limits. I tame my patience. I keep my cool.
I review daily my opinions and I respect the opinions of others.
I look behind people’s sad looks. I observe from behind closed shutters.
I listen behind blocked silences.
Just before turning 60 I learnt… what a beautiful short journey our life is
A journey with a wonderful view.
It is sufficient for us to open the windows of our soul and face the world every day.
Because happiness is a lifestyle!

ΛΙΓΟ ΠΡΙΝ ΤΑ ΕΞΗΝΤΑ

Λίγο πριν απο τα 60 έμαθα να αγαπώ κάθε μου κύτταρο.
Να ισορροπώ ανάμεσα στα πρέπει και στα θέλω μου
χωρίς να ταλαντεύομαι.
Να έχω εμπιστοσύνη στον εαυτό μου
χωρίς την επιβεβαίωση κανενός.
Να με αποδέχομαι με τα σωστά και τα λάθη μου.
Να κάνω τις δικές μου επιλογές χωρίς ξένες παρεμβάσεις.
Έμαθα να ονειρεύομαι χωρίς να φοβάμαι.
Να ελπίζω χωρίς να δειλιάζω.
Να δίνομαι χωρίς να ξοδεύομαι.
Έμαθα πως οι μεγαλύτερες αξίες της ζωής μας
είναι κρυμμένες στα πιο μικρά και καθημερινά πράγματα.
Τις ομορφότερες στιγμές τις μοιράζομαι
με ανθρώπους που τις αξίζουν.
Οι πιο σημαντικές είναι εκείνες που έχουν κάτι από την ψυχή μας.
Και οι ωραιότερες εκείνες που χάραξαν την ύπαρξη μας.
Λίγο πριν τα 60 έμαθα να μετρώ τους ανθρώπους με πράξεις
και όχι με λόγια.
Να τους υπολογίζω όλους στο τέλος
και όχι στην αρχή της γνωριμίας μας.
Να τους αποδέχομαι όπως είναι και να μην προσπαθώ να τους αλλάξω.
Απολαμβάνω την μοναχικότητα μου. Διασκεδάζω τις λύπες μου.
Συνυπάρχω αρμονικά με τους φόβους και τις αδυναμίες μου.
Δίνομαι χωρίς όρους. Αγαπάω χωρίς περιορισμούς.
Νιώθω χωρίς φραγμούς και όρια. Εμπιστεύομαι χωρίς αμφιβολίες.
Έμαθα πως τα λάθη είναι ανθρώπινες αδυναμίες και η ‘’συγνώμη’’ μεγάλη δύναμη.
Πως ο μεγαλύτερος πλούτος σ ‘αυτή τη γη βρίσκεται μέσα μας.
Ότι οι πιο πληγωμένοι άνθρωποι είναι αυτοί με το πιο υπέροχο χαμόγελο.
Οι πιο αξιοπρεπείς είναι εκείνοι που κρύβουν
τα δάκρυα τους στο πιο λαμπερό τους βλέμμα.
Και οι πιο ευτυχισμένοι αυτοί που ανακάλυψαν τον εαυτό τους.
Τα μεγαλύτερα μαθήματα τα έχουμε διδαχθεί
απο τους ανθρώπους που έχουν περάσει από την ζωή μας.
Τις πιο όμορφες γνώσεις, μας τις έχουν δώσει οι εμπειρίες μας.
Κάθε πληγή μας είναι και ένα παράσημο σοφίας.
Κάθε μας πόνος κι ένα βραβείο ανδρείας και αντοχής.
Κάθε νέα μας μέρα ένα Θείο δώρο και μία μεγάλη ευλογία.
Έμαθα, να λέω ΟΧΙ στους άλλους εκεί που πρέπει να λέω ΝΑΙ σε μένα.
Να αποχωρώ αξιοπρεπώς από εκεί που περισσεύω.
Να μην επιδέχομαι μειώσεις στο ήθος και στην αξιοπρέπεια μου.
Να διατηρώ την ψυχική μου ηρεμία. Να φροντίζω την σωματική μου υγεία.
Χρωματίζω τον πίνακα της ζωής μου
μέ όμορφα χρώματα που ζεσταίνουν την ύπαρξη μου.
Αναγνωρίζω τα όρια μου. Δαμάζω την υπομονή μου.
Κρατάω την ψυχραιμία μου. Αναθεωρώ καθημερινά τις απόψεις μου
και σέβομαι τις απόψεις των άλλων.
Κοιτάω πίσω από τα θλιμμένα βλέμματα.
Παρατηρώ πίσω από τα κλειστά παντζούρια.
Ακούω πίσω από φραγμένες σιωπές.
Λίγο πριν τα 60 έμαθα… πως είναι ένα όμορφο
και σύντομο ταξίδι η ζωή μας με υπέροχη θέα.
Φτάνει να ανοίγεις τα παράθυρα της ψυχής σου
και να αντικρίζεις καθημερινά τον κόσμο.
Γιατί η ευτυχία είναι στάση ζωής!

Poem by
Alkyoni Papadakis/Αλκυόνη Παπαδάκη

A LITTLE BEFORE TURNING SIXTY: Poem by Alkyoni Papadakis Read More »

Our Body is a mirror of our Emotions and our Soul

Our Body is a mirror of our Emotions and our Soul

1 Comment / Education, Health & Spirituality /

Have you ever wondered what your soul would look like if it took a human form?
We know it all so well, as proven scientifically, that our emotions cause changes in our body and, ultimately, our health.
Scientists and health advisors, as well as everyday people, have realized by experience that:
 Whenever you ignore or do not “listen” to your discontentment or discomfort, your body will respond to you
with a headache.
 Whenever you oppress your anger, then it will respond with gastritis.
 Whenever you don’t deal with your fears but only try to bury them, they will cause you constipation.
 Whenever you don’t express some “No’s” that have to be said, then your body will respond with stomach
disorders.
 If you don’t follow your passion, it might bring on a sort of cell poisoning (skin diseases, heart disorders, etc.)
 If you don’t listen to your creativity and your talents, this will result in weight gain.
 If you don’t address negative influences by external causes, it will bring on a rash (dermatitis).
 If you don’t speak out your truth, then your thyroid will show you symptoms of malfunction.

We need not only feed our body but the soul and spirit as well. Therefore, if we don’t feed all three aspects of our essence and neglect our spirituality, inevitably we will have a body prone to getting sick.
We are not taught so, but we can find a way to “listen” to our own needs. Every unaddressed and neglected feeling leaves a scar on our body and organs, which is undeniable.
Our body is a mirror of our emotions and our soul. Let us cherish and protect it.

Olga Acheimastou
©Olga Acheimastou

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The restart of the Race for the cure

1 Comment / News /

On 5-8 May 2022, the XXII edition of the Race for the cure took place in Rome, in the historical setting of the Circus Maximus, organised by Komen Italia, under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic.  At this link, the official video of this XXII edition:

More than 50 thousand people took part in the Race of Rome; in four days, 1400 free services for the early diagnosis of breast cancer and other female pathologies were provided in the Health Village, especially for women in socially fragile conditions, including some Ukrainian refugees. The Race for the cure is the world’s largest event to raise awareness of breast cancer prevention and counteract the delays created by the pandemic. The pink tide of participants took more than 40 minutes to cross the starting line and broke a special record.

As always, the protagonists of this special event of health, sport and solidarity were the ‘women in pink’ – women who have personally faced breast cancer – who with their testimony have contributed over the years to a radical cultural change in the approach to the disease.

The Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri and the President of the Lazio Region Nicola Zingaretti, together with the US Ambassador to the UN agencies Cindy McCain, Prof. Riccardo Masetti, President of Komen Italia and the godmothers of Komen Italia Maria Grazia Cucinotta and Rosanna Banfi, officially kicked off the traditional 5 km run and 2 km walk. Also present at the start were the Councillor for the Environment of the Municipality of Rome Sabrina Alfonsi, the Councillor for School, Training and Work, Claudia Pratelli, the Director General Organisation Ministry of Culture Marina Giuseppone, Violante Guidotti Bentivoglio, CEO of Komen Italia, and Prof. Giovanni Scambia, Scientific Director of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, together with corporate partners Duarte Dias and Barbara Saba of Johnson and Johnson, Monica Cerroni of the FASDA Fund, Fabio Fossati of the AF group, Simonetta Soverini of Unisalute, Alberto Stanzione of Pfizer, Patrizia Pavone of Roma Capitale, volleyball champion Andrea Lucchetta with the General Secretary of the Italian Volleyball Federation Stefano Bellotti and many other personalities from the world of journalism, television, the web, sport, culture and for the youngest ones the Winx.

The Health Village, coordinated by Prof. Daniela Terribile (Vice-President of Komen Italia) and Dr. Alba Di Leone, was visited by Health Minister Roberto Speranza, and was carried out in collaboration with the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS. 

Since 2000 to date, thanks mainly to the Race for the Cure, Komen Italia has been able to invest more than 21 million euros to set up more than 1,000 projects for the protection of women’s health in Italy.

The Race will pass through 6 other Italian cities: Bari (13 – 15 May), Naples (20 – 22 May), Bologna (16 – 18 September), Brescia (23 – 25 September), Matera (30 September – 2 October) and Pescara (7 – 9 October).

As for the 8 May Race in Rome, first across the line in the women’s category was Elisa Palmero of C.S. Esercito in 17’06”, followed by Sara Carnicelli of Athletica Vaticana A.S.D. in 17’09” and Angelina Cavalieri of Podistica Solidarietà in 19’24”.

In the men’s category: first classified Riccardo Passeri of TZ Fitness S.S.D.ARL in 15’44”, Domenico Liberatore of Podistica Solidarietà in 16” and Lorenzo Rieti of ASD Atletica La Sbarra. More and more women in pink participated individually and also in teams. Stefania Pomponi of Podistica Solidarietà crossed the finish line first in 21’01”, followed by Ilaria Piscitelli of G.S. Cat Sport Roma in 21’02” and Michaela Gessini of Italia Marathon Club SSDRL in 24’19”.

Once again this year, the Race for the Cure was held with the patronage and participation of the Lazio Region, Roma Capitale, C.O.N.I., Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Italian Army, Carabinieri, National Fire Brigade, Italian Football Federation, Italian Volleyball Federation, Italian Athletics Federation, Italian Basketball Federation, Italian Golf Federation, Italian Rowing Federation, Italian Cooks Federation and Rai Social Responsibility.

The event is made possible by the precious collaboration of hundreds of volunteers and thanks to the generous support of numerous companies sensitive to health and prevention issues. The main partners are: Amgen, Fasda, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, Gilead, AF Group, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Unisalute. Aveeno and Biafin are partners in the ‘Women in Pink’ area. Official suppliers Hertz and Lete. The installation of the Emotional Room this year was made possible thanks to the contribution of Valmontone Outlet. The technical organisation of the race is, as usual, entrusted to GSB RUN (Gruppo Sportivo Bancari Romani).

Fundamental also this year was the support of the Press, Advertising, TV and Web that played a role in promoting the Race for the Cure.

Join the next Race for the cure in Bologna (16 – 18 September), Brescia (23 – 25 September), Matera (30 September – 2 October) and Pescara (7 – 9 October)!

For information www.komen.it

For donations and registration: www.raceforthecure.it

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“FINO IN FONDO” LITERARY POETRY PRIZE

1 Comment / News /

Collect your thoughts in poetry and participate in the Sixth Edition of the “Fino in Fondo” (All the way down) Literary Poetry Prize

The Prize is organised by the Libero Pensiero association to support the initiatives of Komen Italia, as a contribution to its breast cancer prevention activities, in memory of Francesca Voi, a young girl who fought for a long time against a terrible disease “Fino in fondo”. Francesca’s strength, courage, tenacious patience and will to live are an example for all those, men and women, adults and children, who are confronted with illness, pain, suffering and fear, or for those who strive ‘To the End’ for justice, dignity, equality and freedom.

Poetry gives body to emotions and allows even the most intimate and painful thoughts to be represented, processed and transformed, in order to share them with others, thus reducing their destructive force. There are two Sections of the Prize: the “Fino in fondo” (All the way down)” section; and the free theme section. The competition is open to all and runs until 10 September 2022. Lyrics in a foreign language are also admitted, provided they are accompanied by an Italian translation. The official language of the Prize I Italian.

Follow us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/premio.finoinfondo.

For info, write to: premio.finoinfondo@gmail.com . You can download the call for entries here: https://www.budur.it/BANDO-fino-in-fondo-2022.pdf

This Sixth Edition is supported in its promotion by the Writers Capital International Foundation, the Cultural Association “Di Terra e di Parole”, the National Association of War maimed and invalids – Barletta Branch; the National Association of Fighters and Redoubts – Barletta Branch.

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POETIC LANGUAGE AND VISUAL ART. FROM POETRY TO IMAGE AND PERFORMANCE

1 Comment / Art & Culture /

Although the image can be considered a resource of desire, poetry is, instead, a voice that comes from within. Image and poetry are governed by a figurative and sensual design, evoking a union to create something new in an interdisciplinary way. Poetry makes you fly, and the image makes you dream. The poet represents the image using the word, so the language of poetry is given over to the task of imagining the image and making the unthinkable see. In turn, the artist represents poetry using the visible, so that the language of art is given over to the task of representing poetry and making the message visible. An intrinsic and empathetic relationship arises, externalizing and intensifying the mimicry of a unique world, expressing feelings and emotions, thereby pursuing a representation of an innovative vision of the environment.

In this context, we can speak of poetry, characterized by the close interaction of verbal and visual language, where the image accompanies the verse, while the visual discourse of the image interacts with the word to elaborate the poetic world. The visual appeals to emotion through action, while poetry, in turn, emphasizes the predominance of a verbal register, both fields focused on philosophical and intimate reflection, with a message that is wanted to be transmitted both with the word and with the visual. From this interaction of verbal and visual signs, a sense is born and develops that establishes a synergy and a relationship of interdependence, that is, constituting an indivisible and unalterable aesthetic and formal unit.

The collaboration of the poet and the artist will be decisive in the relevance of the image or visual art in relation to poetry, linked to the internal organization of the components of the work, bringing the poems to fruition combined with the images. In some cases, it is about poetry created for images, in other cases it is the reverse, it is about images created for poetry. At this point, both poet and visual artist can decide the degree of autonomy or dependence between poetry and image, so that each image-poem can be read independently or maintain a unifying sequence, where the illustrations are presented together with the poems, in a certain order that suggests a journey through an aesthetic and thematic unit, both from a verbal and visual point of view. The interaction between images and words in the construction of meaning is considered essential, neither poetry nor image are a secondary complement to each other, both have their own characteristics attributed to the poetic self and the artistic self.

Poetry is characterized by its internal cohesion, its rhythmic and sound qualities, the predominance of poetic connotation, a meaning, freedom, expressive and linguistic creativity, linking with the artistic dimension characterized by its interpretive qualities, emotion and sensitivity. , expressive creativity and the aesthetic part of art. In this way, both expressive elements (verbal and visual) form an aesthetic unit and converge in the construction of meaning, resulting in a work made of words and images.

When image and poetry evolve into live art, performance art&poetry appears. Art in action or performance, as avant-garde art linked to poetry, shows actions carried out by the artist within an interdisciplinary context. Here, the performance needs the presence and execution of the artist himself, who plays an important and fundamental role, involving time, space, the body and the relationship with the public. His goal is to generate a reaction, sometimes with the help of improvisation and a sense of aesthetics, linked around concepts of visual art. It is not just a stage performance, it is a unique and sublime experience, where it merges with the poetic message. Poetry in performance emerges to distinguish vocal interpretations based on the word from artistic interpretations, in a joint work of scenic and visual interpretation. Performance poets draw on the rhetorical and philosophical expression of their poetics, while the artist often challenges the audience to think in new and unconventional ways, to break the concepts of traditional arts and to transform the traditional and academic idea of ​​the art into an aesthetic experience.

Analysing the various aspects of poetic language and visual art, we can see that there is an innovative journey that goes from poetry to image and performance, or on the contrary, from visual art to poetic language. The two have always had a very close relationship. In this way, we can say that “art is silent poetry and poetry is speaking art”, as Simónides of Ceos (VI-V BC) already expressed and later Horace placing poetry dependent on the image.

From this dependence between poetry and art we can affirm that poetry can build something that does not exist or represent the plastically unpresentable, while visual art can represent the entire underlying world of poetic language and give it scenic life, either as an “epogram”, a verbal inscription on an object or body in a subsidiary relation to the word, either as “ekphrasis” that allows a detailed description of the object or body and places the image and the word on the same plane, or as “emblem” or “emblematic poetry”, where the object or body is more than an image, it is a code, it cannot be silent and needs the support of the word.

Article by Articles / By Joan Josep Barcelo & Filippo Papa

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International launch of “The Adventures of Roulis Nefroulis” to be held on July 2

1 Comment / News /

Athens: The international launch of ‘The Adventures of Roulis Nefroulis’ will be held on July 2, at 8 pm at the Event Hall of Serafio of the Municipality of Athens. A number of prominent personalities, representatives of the Literary Field, the Academic community, as well as distinguished representatives from the field of Medicine and other scientific fields will attend the programme.

‘The Adventures of Roulis Nefroulis’ a tale by Elena Magiati-Karabi and Pantelis Hatzis tells the story of “Roulis Nefroulis”, which is available for free distribution to children undergoing treatment in nephrology units in the country. The national launching of the book published by Writers International Edition was held on June 4 in Naoussa, Greece.

The international launching event will be coordinated by Saia Tsaousidou, International President of the Association of European Journalists AEJ. The former Minister of Insurance and Labor Dimitris Stratoulis, Dr. Theodoros Hiras, Nephrologist at Sismanogleio General Hospital of Attica, and Theofanis Apostolou, former President & current Scientific Associate of the Hellenic Nephrological Society, will talk about the book. Eleni Barbalia, a graduate of the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory, will recite dramatized excerpts from the book. Authors Elena Magiati-Karabi and Pantelis Hatzis will talk about their book, which touched the delicate strings of young and old, as well as the major issue of organ donation.

“Reading books and engaging children in similar activities is extremely necessary when you are trying to bring them back to a healthy life”, advocate the authors Elena Magiati-Karabi and Pantelis Hatzis. “As children are the future of a country, we believe that this book will benefit many children in Greece to keep hope intact and continue to fight”, they added. The authors are currently working on their next books, with the aim of giving courage and hope to children suffering from other diseases.

The Award Ceremony of the Panorama International Literature Festival International conducted by Writers Capital International Foundation will also be held along with the book launch. The world record-winning programme was held from 1-31 January this year gathering writers from 65 countries and 6 continents. Secretary-General of Writers Capital International Foundation Irene Doura-Kavadia will present the awards to the awardees. Along with the Panorama awards, the Golden Book Awards 2022, as well as the Inspirational Women’s Awards 2021-22 will also be presented to esteemed Greek authors and Ladies who excelled in their field and placed themselves in the service of humanity.

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GUNS IN GARDENS: Poem by Laksmisree Banerjee

2 Comments / Poetry /

Ah, can you not hear the hoarse cries of the approaching torpedo?
The suppressed grunting of the angry thunder?
The incinerating rage of the lightning in the blossoming gardens?
Can you not see the outstretched arms of wailing green branches
Reaching out to the school- bagged, uniformed children
Walking side by side for their morning prayers in classrooms?
Those that you push into battle gear with hazardous guns
Those that wallow in fury of uncontrolled angst
You convert schools into warzones splattered with soft cherry blood
Lobbies steeped in crime and greed
For arming children with guns of death
Rather than books of life?
O you creed of super-powerdom
May you become one of peace and love
To sustain the whiteness of your doves—–
Inhuman hate-clad hubris in loose strings
Spectral terror of the darkest purple clouds
Floating above in aimless dislocation
Rudderless unreigned juvenile wrath
In the clutches of gun-totting monstrosity
In zones of misplaced machoism
From Texas to California
From Florida to New York
Usurped by unloved reckless anger
As forests and multihued rainbows weep
shedding blood and tears
In a land of unabated guns of annihilation
Shattering ceaselessly tender leaves of blooming buds in disarray
Nettled in thorny fogs of unwashed innocence
Prodded in disenchantment to kill and shatter
Beauty of tumescent new lives…….
Ah the dissolved souls and fainted cries
The muted reverberations die across the ocean
As life becomes a toy of unbridled cruelty
Smothered forever in silence
In the precincts of innocence—–

Poem by
Laksmisree Banerjee
©Laksmisree Banerjee 2022

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THE CUP OF TIME: Poem by Amar Pratap Singh

1 Comment / Poetry /

1

I am bored of living
Drinking a cup of time
Looking at the path of the path
While waiting here.
I don’t know where I am
From here to there to where
Been busy finding meaning
Drowning while growing.
Life is a distraction perhaps
Wandering around
City city and village village
Mountains, mountains, roads.
Got the meaning, felt useless
What has passed seems like a dream
The conflict of meaning disaster is meaningless
Life really seemed to be a dream ..
Sleeping tired so much me
While testing without any reason.
I’m bored waking up sleep
While saying and listening.

2

The cup of time is many
Sweet bitter sour sour
Somewhere the salt of tears somewhere
Filled with dessert of happiness
Never anger hate hate hate
So selfishness got drunk somewhere
You get your own people to say
Got a spicy lick of relationships
All the juice mixed in this cup
Love is not found on love.

Poem by
Amar Pratap Singh
Ⓒ Amar Pratap Singh 2022

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A Review of ‘An Encounter with Death’ by Bhawani Shankar Nial

Leave a Comment / Reviews /

Death, like Eros, is one of the themes privileged by literature, which describes it, places it in a complex system, invests it with ethical and symbolic values. In contemporary poetry, it often happens to cross the vision of man as a being in transience, as a being in provisionality, for whom existence is not obvious. In the West, facing the theme of death is still taboo, because it is constantly removed. Of all the types of fear, the most subtle and stubborn is that of death. Overcoming it means freeing oneself from all the others. We are made of matter, we have a body, but it is only a tool, a means of expression, it is not our “I”. When we will realize that we are a spirit that guides the mind, uses the body and lives regardless of it, death will no longer be a cause of great fear. In the origin of Christianity, the rebirth of the soul was an important part and represented an essential piece of the Christian faith, but later the Fathers of the Church, in the Synod of 543, decreed that all those who spoke of the transmigration of souls from one body to another would be excommunicated. If there is a direction that contemporary poetry should take, it is undoubtedly that of a reconstruction of a lost humanism, in order to help man to ask himself questions, redesign himself, self-transcend, seek a “beyond” and to re-comprehend the relationship between life and death. In the anthology An Encounter with Death edited by Bhawani Shankar Nial, the poem speaks of death not as a theme, but with the awareness that man is a being for death and therefore cannot undress this possibility, indeed this is the truly human possibility because man can or cannot make use of the other possibilities, but death is support to him and therefore it is a possibility that man cannot shake off. And therefore, thinking about death does not trivialize life. Because when you trivialize death, you trivialize life. And death can be trivialized when it is seen as a random event (one dies by chance); when it is seen as a public event (everyone dies); or when it becomes a biological process (cells no longer reproduce, therefore one dies). The sacred text of the Bardo Thodol known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, invites us to reflect on the value of death which is not the end of life but only a crossing into another dimension where nothing ends but everything continues, is transformed and reborn. The word Bardo takes on the meaning of passage, transition, we could define it as a door of passage. In this Tibet, together with ancient Egypt with the Book of the Dead, is the only country in the world to have dedicated itself to interior exploration, to the search for that treasure chest that is hidden in the human being. St. Augustine in his 4th century letter 263 to Sapida will say:

Death is nothing. I have only passed
on the other side: it is as if I were hidden in the
next room.
I am always me and you are always you. What we
we were before for each other we still are.
Call me by the name you have always given me,
that is familiar to you; talk to me in the same
Affectionate as you have always used.

Thinking about death opens man to the most authentic human life, as it takes him away from despair and brings him back to unity; the man who at every moment knows that he may fail does not disengage, but tries to live an authentic life, instead of despairing, of letting himself be absorbed by things, by the facts that happen, he tries instead to dominate them. The poet who digs with the word, will sense that the thought of death opens man to the most concrete life, taking him away from the immediate and inauthentic possibilities, such as following what he likes, the childish teasing of many, living lightly. I believe that this is the ultimate goal of the anthology and that the poet is a voice along with others who fights for the things he believes in without trivializing life whenever he lives anonymously and politically.

Anita Piscazzi
Paris, France

Anita Piscazzi, poeta, pianista e ricercatrice. Si occupa di studi etnomusicologici e didattico-musicali, in questo settore ha pubblicato due monografie e numerosi saggi su riviste scientifiche italiane ed estere. Sue sono le raccolte poetiche: Amal (Palomar,2007), Maremàje (Campanotto,2012), Alba che non so (CartaCanta,2018) eFerma l’Ali, cd poetico-musicale (desuonatori, 2020). È in “Ossigeno Nascente” (Atlante dei poeti contemporanei italiani a cura del Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna), in Almanacco dei poeti e della poesia contemporanea (Raffaelli,2018), in diverse antologie tra cui Umana, troppo umana (Aragno, 2016),in blog letterari e sulle piattaforme di registrazioni fonetiche dei poeti contemporanei nel mondo, come “PoetrySoundLibrary” di Londra e “Voices of Italian Poets” dell’Università di Torino. Tradotta in varie lingue e in spagnolo da Emilio Coco in Poesìa de ida y vuelta/Poesie di andata e ritorno, (Prosa Amerian Editores, Argentina 2013). In georgiano da Nunu Geladze in Quando i paesi dormono, (La vita felice,2019). Impegnata in festival letterari, poetico musicali sia in Italia che all’estero, è stata ospite al Tblisi International Festival of Literature 2019 in Georgia. È premio Isabella Morra 2017 e premio InediTO 2017. Sue poesie sono state interpretate da Lella Costa al Salone del libro di Torino nel 2017, su SanMarinoRTV e su RaiRadio3. Ha collaborato ai progetti poetico-musicali : “Alda e il soldato rock” con Eugenio Finardi e Cosimo Damiano Damato, “Ferma l’Ali” con Michel Godard e al progetto teatrale: “Miss Kilimangiaro” in Kenya per “Avis for Children” con Lidia Pentassuglia.Collabora per diverse riviste poetico-letterarie e cura la rubrica di musica e dipoesia del “SimposioItaliano”, revue culturelle française bilingue.

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A brief look at a famous phrase ‘Every man ends up killing what he loves’

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The phrase was used by Oscar Wilde in his poem “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” and is an allusion to Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”, in a paraphrase in Wilde’s typical and ironic way. In this work, Bassiano asks “Do all men kill what they love?” and Oscar Wilde made it his most famous and contradictory verse.
 
If we want to analyze this phrase, we must read the rest of the poem or at least the central stanza:
“… However, each man kills what he loves […].
Some do it with a sour look
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss;
The brave man with a sword…. ”
It is obvious that the poet wants to link love – in its most extreme meaning, painful and perhaps desperate and forbidden – with a dangerous potential that can drive a man to madness, or worse, to death. And be it himself or the person he loves. The reference to Othello perhaps who killed his adored wife, or to the cowardice of Judas who denounced Jesus with that kiss of the most notorious betrayal, which without equal has righteously been considered as the most horrendous betrayal of all history; Romeo’s bitter gaze at his lover and at the whole world when he saw the dead body Juliet right before he drank the poison to be together with her, and the same kind of antemortem gaze of hers that saw nothing alive around her after her precious Romeo had died, ending up killing herself with his own dagger to follow him into eternity.
 
Of course, there are cases in which someone begins by expressing his love, towards his adoration, and ends up destroying the thing, the person or the adored idea. Nietzsche, for example, the German philosopher, wanted to elaborate on the phenomenon of Jesus, his miracles, his love for all humanity and ended after so much analysis by declaring that God does not exist or is dead, surprising negatively in addition to his religious and conservative family, the entire society of his time, the church, and the world of literature and philosophy. And he keeps doing it!
 
When it comes to love within a couple, everything can start as an omen for a miraculous, unconditional and eternal love, but over time it can turn into a nightmare due to selfishness, lack of communication and respect, simply because of daily problems or routine. That means the end of love, i.e. its death, at the hands of the lovers or at least by one of the two. Because pride, arrogance and arrogance lead to alienation and ultimate breakup.
 
Finally, there is the path that leads to the end, and that is the death of oneself, that is by means of suicide. It is the way to end the greatest gift that God or the universe has given to man, that is, one’s own life. It may be that one does it out of disappointment, out of despair, or to free oneself from a tormenting situation; out of the desire to escape from a tragic and unbearable life equaling to bodily torture. Regardless of the objective or the cause, the person who points the weapon, the sword or the dagger against oneself, ends up killing what he probably loves the most – or in the end hates the most – that is, one’s own life. Because according to the same famous and popular poet, Oscar Wilde, only great loves are of short duration, killed at last for their fullness; while superficial loves, like superficial sorrows too, are of long duration.
The man had killed the thing he loved
  And so he had to die.
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
  By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
  Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
  The brave man with a sword!
Some kill their love when they are young,
  And some when they are old;
Some strangle with the hands of Lust,
  Some with the hands of Gold:
The kindest use a knife, because
  The dead so soon grow cold.
Some love too little, some too long,
  Some sell, and others buy;
Some do the deed with many tears,
  And some without a sigh:
For each man kills the thing he loves;
Yet each man does not die.

The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Oscar Wilde – 1854-1900

Short Biography

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, on October 16, 1854. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, from 1871 to 1874 and Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1874 to 1878. At Oxford, he received the Newdigate Prize for his long poem Ravenna (T. Shrimpton and Son, 1878). He also became involved in the aesthetic movement, advocating for the value of beauty in art.
 
Article by Irene Doura-Kavadia
© Irene Doura-Kavadia
Linguist-Author-Educationist
Editor-in-Chief, Writers Edition

 

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