A PLACE FOR SIDEWAYS TRAINS OF THOUGHT
After a moment, I heard Baron Pips laugh quietly and asked why. He said : " You sound just like Count Sternberg." He was ancient and rather simple-minded Austrian nobleman, he explained. When he was on his death-bed his confessor said the time had come to make a general confession. The Count, after racking his... Continue Reading →
And the long road ahead, I go to bed And the long road ahead, I go to bed Google Translate is amazing when it works. Unfortunately, it only works about half of the time. Even more unfortunately, unless you already know the languages you are trying to translate, there is no way of knowing... Continue Reading →
Whenever I open an anthology of English poetry this is always one of the first poems I turn to. I love its rhythms. I also think that, although we know nothing about Mistress Margaret Hussey, thousands of people down the centuries after having read this poem have thought they would have liked to meet her.... Continue Reading →
(Listen to the poem here) Après le repas à Oaxtepec le patron du restaurant nous dit d’un air de satisfaction agaçant que toute sa viande vient du Texas. Je trouve que ce n’est pas normal de manger tellement hormonal. Au Mexique on trouve partout des traces olmèques, toltèques, aztèques, mixtèques, mais qu’en est-il... Continue Reading →
Here’s a literal translation of a very short poem by Heinrich Heine followed by the German original. The first two verses are predictable enough but ... I don’t believe in Heaven, of which the little priest speaks; I only believe in your eyes, they are my heavenly light. I don’t believe in the Lord God,... Continue Reading →
Zen Buddhism has a number of koans, the most famous of which is “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” Reflect long enough upon riddles like these and you may reach enlightenment, it is suggested. I would think that the same effect could be attained by meditating on section 509 (a) of the US... Continue Reading →
(Listen to the poem here) The sticker on the window tells us YAUTEPEC although the rope-haired lad who is jutting from the bus’s door into the foaming crowd, much like a figurehead in stormy seas, is shouting, “Yaute, Yaute, Yaute, Yaute.” Perhaps it’s lexically Mexican to chop the end of place names when you’re touting... Continue Reading →
Forget your Emmies, your Tonies, your Grammies. Your Hammies, your Spammies, your Phishies, your Phonies - the best awards of all are the Ig Nobel Prizes! The Ig Nobel prizes started out as a way to make fun of useless scientific research (“which cannot, or should not be, reproduced”) but over time the organisers have... Continue Reading →
Like many people who love Mozart’s music I have often wondered what he would have given us if he had not died before he was 36. Even if he had lived just one more year, there is no telling what he might have produced, given that his last three symphonies - 39,40 and 41 -... Continue Reading →
