My mysticism is not to try to know. It is to live and not think about it.
— Alberto Caeiro, (Fernando Pessoa), from The Keeper of Sheep, Selected Poems: Fernando Pessoa, trans. Jonathan Griffin (Penguin, 1982)
Fernando Pessoa — The Vale of Soul-Making
Keep Creating.
Keep creating.
There are no kingdoms to inherit.
No planet to be saved.
No prizes or trophies to be awarded.
Only the act of self-satisfaction.
Of self-application.
Knowing that you have done your best.
That at least you have tried, if sometimes in vain.
To do something.
Rather than nothing.
– Marcus D. Niski, as taken from my writer’s notebook, 4 May 2020, [MN]
On Genius
There is no genius as Corbusier implied. There is only steady, consistent, applied effort through diligence, insight, application and passion towards the expression of ideas in the most thoughtful and original attempt to capture them.
– Marcus D. Niski, as taken from my writer’s notebook, 4 May 2020, [MN]
Henri Michaux
… I am writing to you from the city of time interrupted. The slow catastrophe does not end…
– Henri Michaux, (1899-1984) in Trials, Exorcisms (Gallimard, 1946) [As taken from my writer’s notebook, May 2020 [MN]]
An Ideal Dystopia — cakeordeathsite
These days what’s the most we can realistically hope for but some form of ideal dystopia. Perhaps an isolated bunker in a distant land deep beneath the surface fitted with all the conveniences that seem so essential, naturally. We could sleep safe and soundly there and dream plastic dreams of our synthetic future as we […]
An Ideal Dystopia — cakeordeathsite
Michel Foucault — microprose
Photo by Martine Franck/Magnum Photos ‘Our society is one not of spectacle, but of surveillance; under the surface of images, one invests bodies in depth; behind the great abstraction of exchange, there continues the meticulous, concrete training of useful forces; the circuits of communication are the supports of an accumulation and a centralization of knowledge; […]
Michel Foucault — microprose
Six notebooks that guarantee you will get some writing done today, probably — B.W. McDermott
As writers, we often find ourselves collecting notebooks in an attempt to fill them. Just as often, the ratio of empty notebooks to full starts to lean heavy on the “empty” side, but our compulsion to surround ourselves with empty pages is real. Curious that, for many of us, the empty page is a source […]
Six notebooks that guarantee you will get some writing done today, probably — B.W. McDermott
Poetry (a text of Paul Valéry translated by Vadim Bystritski) — Before and After Francis Ponge
The idea most of us have about poetry is so hazy that we take this impression of haziness for our definition of poetry. La plupart des hommes ont de la poésie une idée si vague que ce vague même de leur idée est pour eux la définition de la poésie.
Poetry (a text of Paul Valéry translated by Vadim Bystritski) — Before and After Francis Ponge
I Remember by Georges Perec — Winstonsdad’s Blog
I Remember by Georges Perec French Memoir Original title – Je Me souviens Translator – Philip Terry (with notes and Intro by David Bellos) Source – personal copy When I saw Gallic was bringing this out on the newish imprint Gallic Editions which has classic french lit. I decide I try this and have the […]
Edmond Jabès — The Vale of Soul-Making
It is very hard to live with silence. The real silence is death and this is terrible. To approach this silence, it is necessary to journey to the desert. You do not go to the desert to find identity, but to lose it, to lose your personality, to be anonymous. You make yourself void. You […]
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