DAILY PHOTO: Jeti-Ögüz Pine Grove
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Author Archives: B Gourley
BOOK REVIEW: Angels: A Very Short Introduction by David Albert Jones
Angels: A Very Short Introduction by David Albert JonesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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This book offers an overview of angels in the Abrahamic religious traditions (i.e. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.) [It does take a quick dip into angel-like beings from other religious traditions – e.g. Hindu and Parsi – but generally comes down on the side of it doing a disservice to everybody to equate such beings across mythological traditions – with the possible exception of the New Age angel which is predominantly an offshoot from Abrahamic mythology.] The book considers the evolution of theological thinking on angels: how they’ve been portrayed in art; what they are [made of;] what their purposes are (i.e. messengers, healers, guardians, warriors, etc.;) and, occasionally, how they play into popular culture.
I took away a great deal from this book. For example, I learned about the differences between the djinn of Islam mythology and demons of Judeo-Christian mythology, and the theological underpinnings of this difference (i.e. Muslims do not believe angels have free will, and thus angels can’t be fallen, and so the djinn are a separate entity altogether [rather than being fallen angels.]) I found the book to be readable, interesting, and balanced in its approach to the topic. If you’re looking to learn more about how angels (and related beings, e.g. fallen angels / demons) have been treated by thinkers of various ages, without getting deep into the minutiae, this is a fine book to consider.
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Jacob’s Ladder [Free Verse]
I'm dripping into midnight -- my world has disappeared. My eyes crack to light and life, but I forgot to hear -- remembering, the silence is broken & I hear a rhythmic clack. But I can't help but wonder, where it is that I'm at? I'm at the bottom of a wooden staircase, too steep to be sound, looking up until perspective makes the case vanishingly thin. Should I climb the staircase? What else can I do? Will I wake half way up, and find myself in the blue? The laws of dreams force my hand, I can't stand paralyzed, and I'm halfway to infinity by means that I know not. And I'm thinking of the line from that children's prayer: "If I should die before I 'wake," and I think: "What the hell is wrong with parents?" that's the thought upon which you're going to leave with your child to "go to sleep?" And you're wondering why the kid is up all night? Because dying in one's sleep doesn't start to seem like a fine prospect until one is an octogenarian. And so I sleep...
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DAILY PHOTO: Seated Section of the Buddha Park
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Quick to Dead [Couplets]
I gasp in my last minute living loud, I'd dreamt of being carried on a cloud. But, My body 's too heavy, my mind too light, and nothing remains once I'm failed by sight. Just a pile of death stacked before the door, as carrion feeders squawk out for more. In eternal darkness, that endless void, I was once created, & now once destroyed.
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BOOK REVIEW: Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke [Trans. Vita & Edward Sackville-West]
Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria RilkeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Out: February 22, 2022 [In some markets it may be out already.]
This is a reissue of the original English translation of Rilke’s elegies composed on the karst cliffs of northeast Italy in the early 1920’s. The book consists of ten medium-length, angel-laden elegiac poems. [Yes, dude was just that into angels.] The translator’s notes are posted as an epilogue and the volume has a new preface. It should be noted that the translators suggest one think of it as one long elegy in ten parts.
I’m far from qualified to comment on the skill of translation from the perspective of how well it catches the meaning and nuance of the original poems. However, the Sackville-Wests’ words are evocative and impactful in their own right, and I enjoyed and was moved by this collection of poems. [In their notes, the translators say they decided it was most productive to try to artfully paraphrase rather than getting too caught up in strict literal translation.] I’d highly recommend this book for poetry readers.
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Gothic Imagination [Free Verse]
I first saw the stone beast by the light of a bright day -- frozen, still & placid My second sighting was on a rainy night, a steady, careless rain, the kind of rain that seems to have declared itself the new default mode. I saw it in the space of lightning flash -- the silhouetted gargoyle. It lacked the fine detail of its sculptor's effort. It lacked the clean edges and ornamental effects. Imagination filled in the lost detail with scales rippling under muscular flesh. And while the lightning felt prolonged, it was still just a flash -- leaving me to wonder whether I'd really seen it rear back, preparing to lunge off the wall? And then I saw the world through its eyes and all was better... and then all was worse.
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DAILY PHOTO: Inside Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki
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BOOK REVIEW: Dark Tourist by Hasanthika Sirisena
Dark Tourist: Essays by Hasanthika SirisenaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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This collection of, mostly autobiographical, essays rambles over a territory that includes: grief, the immigrant experience, sexuality, art and catharsis, and the profound impact of self-perception on one’s experience of life. The title most directly links to one of the more evocative essays, “Confessions of a Dark Tourist,” which is about the author’s travels back to her native country, Sri Lanka, to visit the northern region where a vicious civil war played out most intensely. [For those unfamiliar with the term, “dark tourism” is travel to areas that have recently experienced upheaval due to war, economic collapse, intranational conflict, or large-scale accidents and disasters.]
I used the term “rambles” in my opening sentence, and these essays (even within essays) can take the reader places a lawyer would object to on the grounds of relevance. That said, it’s a far better thing to be rambling and interesting than tidy and dull, and this book does a good job of keeping it interesting, using stories that are (I presume) meant to symbolically link to a point at hand. Sometimes, that symbolism hits, and sometimes it might not, but it does make for a compelling read. The author is valiantly candid about her personal struggles, particularly as they pertain to issues of self-perception owing to a lazy eye and her [bi-] sexuality.
If you’re a reader of essays and creative nonfiction, I’d recommend you give this book a look.
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Contemplative Gorilla [Tanka]
the gorilla looks deep in contemplation; children are bored, but I can't help but wonder what it is he's plotting?
