She never forgets: the humble swamps of the beginnings, the far away sounds of war, the medieval cruelties, the triumphs, the parades, the Enemy at the gates... Then there was the long war - thirty years of destruction, rape, pestilence and ruins. Out of this came a stronger state, and she was the capital. … Continue reading The City knows #WritersWednesday
World Wars
Low Light #HolocaustMemorialDay
The Atlantic rain hammers the windows, in the grey skies the birds are still, hesitant. Is it the impossible memory, the fear to forget, to ignore, someday to face the nightmare, in our lives? Those who deny, wrote Primo Levy, are ready to start again. Is it possible? But then we know, in our … Continue reading Low Light #HolocaustMemorialDay
Pale criminals, a reading of Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr
Bernhardt Günther is a tough guy, a survivor of the trenches of the Great War, a cop, a man who loves women, and his city, Faust's metropolis, Berlin in the 30s. In March Violets - evoking the cynical opportunists who join the Nazi party late, and buy their way to a low number party card … Continue reading Pale criminals, a reading of Berlin Noir by Philip Kerr
#VisDare 105: Pause
City lights... I looked around, taking in the anonymous passersby, the broken asphalt, the absurd glitter of a dying world. The line was dead, already: you had gone, far, further than where I could ever reach you. There would be no return, you had chosen the path, away, from me, from "us". Us was no longer, … Continue reading #VisDare 105: Pause
#DailyPrompt: Embrace the Ick #Auschwitz70 #Evil
In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "Embrace the Ick." "You know who I mean, those desk generals, those corrupt politicians, those oligarchs and their media lackeys - they who don't hesitate to send young people to the grinder, to lie, to hire thugs to do their dirty work..." "So, why do you think they have their … Continue reading #DailyPrompt: Embrace the Ick #Auschwitz70 #Evil
#DailyPrompt: UnsungHeroes
In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "Unsung Heroes." Your face haunts my sleepless nights, so far away and yet so familiar, I see the immense plain, covered with snow, and the litter of war, to the horizon. Victory was then still deep in your future, but I know now that you saw the wings, … Continue reading #DailyPrompt: UnsungHeroes
#DailyPrompt: Twenty-Five Seven
The rain has not stopped, and as you walk through the room, your long hair falling on those beloved shoulders, I think of the day you came back. That day, as today, the reflection of the grey clouds, the low sunlight, played on your face: the face of a long lost lover, who came back, on … Continue reading #DailyPrompt: Twenty-Five Seven
In a deep well, reflections on reading Haruki Murakami’s Wind-up Bird Chronicle
It is a rare writer who can combine the spectra of recent history in its full horror, the dreams of love, and the mysteries of the soul. So is Monsieur Murakami. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle was published in Japan in 1995, and once again, I regretted my inability to read the novel in the writer's language. … Continue reading In a deep well, reflections on reading Haruki Murakami’s Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Dawn
The small bird was close to our window: her voice rose high and clear in the light mist shrouding the garden. She was celebrating life and the dawn of a new day, she was saying hope is alive, and look at me: I am small, but I am here, for God is great and I … Continue reading Dawn
#FiveSentenceFiction: Conflict
We know how it all starts: lies, distrust, fear... We also know how it finishes, the ruins, the lost lives, the seeds of more to come: 1871, 1918, 1945, and the tall stories the alleged victors tell. What we don't know is how to stop the lies, the stupidity, the fear: for those are the … Continue reading #FiveSentenceFiction: Conflict
Of Glass & Paper 