Category Archives: Poiesis

Chile: “no hay revolución sin canciones”

As a person, I pay for what I say. … Refusal has always been a very important act carried out by saints and hermits but also by intellectuals. The very few people who made history are those who said no, … Continue reading

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For Mário Cesariny

… true democracy will only be possible when all men are poets. But this … [is] … not democracy – but ANARCHY! António Maria Lisboa, “Uma carta de António Maria Lisboa”, in Mário Cesariny, A Intervenção Surrealista I believe in … Continue reading

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Henri Cartier-Bresson: A way of seeing, a way of living

Poetry is the essence of everything, and it’s through deep contact with reality and living fully that you reach poetry. Very often I see photographers cultivating the strangeness or awkwardness of a scene, thinking it is poetry. No. Poetry is … Continue reading

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Gary Snyder and Wild Anarchism

For Gary Snyder To be truly free one must take on the basic conditions as they are—painful, impermanent, open, imperfect—and then be grateful for impermanence and the freedom it grants us. Gary Snyder, The Etiquette of Freedom There is an … Continue reading

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For Jean-Louis Trintignant (1930-2022)

It is rare that we would celebrate the work of a film actor, not however because we disparage their art, but for the intimacy between the cinematographic art and entertainment which renders this artist’s art suspect. This is perhaps unfair. … Continue reading

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For Paula Rego (1935-2022)

It seems to me that what you are often drawn to are the half-hidden stories – the stories that we can, as we look at your work, continue to unriddle in our heads. Is it possible to paint a secret? … Continue reading

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René Char: Poetry in/as resistance

… si nul n’est bon volontairement, nul n’est esclave du Bien. Emmanuel Levinas, Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence In old days men were absorbed in wars, filling all their existence with marches, raids, victories, but now all that is … Continue reading

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Penny Rimbaud: The howl of life

Freedom is not an abstract noun to be tossed about in the semantic trash can by dusty academics looking for an intellectual fix. It is a birth; a verb. Like the air we breathe, freedom is free to us all, … Continue reading

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Wilfred Owen: The pity of war

The son of Saturn saw them and took pity upon their sorrow. He wagged his head, and muttered to himself, saying, “Poor things, why did we give you to King Peleus who is a mortal, while you are yourselves ageless and immortal? Was … Continue reading

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For Elza Soares (1930-2022)

Não tenho medo de nada. Temos que ensinar o medo a ter medo de nós./I am not afraid of anything. We have to teach fear to be afraid of us. Elza Soares For her courage and resistance, for her rebellious … Continue reading

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