martes, 28 de julio de 2015

Tales of love and darkness by Amos Oz II

In his autobiography Amos Oz tells the story of every one of his relatives and immediate and not so immediate ancestors. The physical description of the characters, their next of kin, their origins, upbringing, development and demise may at times be too long for the reader who is interested in his writing, but not in the ultimate details of his genealogy.  I imagine these are not the readers he is writing for, he is writing for himself, so as not to forget where he comes from, and for his next of kin still around, who have suffered during the II W W the loss of those elders who would have told them the stories he is telling them now.  I believe he wants to make sure that whatever experience, histories, beliefs those late relatives held, is passed on to their descendants. 



viernes, 24 de julio de 2015

A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

Product Image

It is a rich account of the author’s family as they lived in Middle and Eastern Europe, their vast cultural background, their emigration to Israel, their beginnings in the Levant, and his own quiet and multilayered upbringing It is exquisitely written in a language deeply rooted in the many cultures he grew up in and inherited. Caring and honest, profound and discerning, it is gloriously entertaining, a novel beyond the scope of most novels in the depth the author achieves.

sábado, 11 de julio de 2015

Yesterday in the terrace

Yesterday my friends
and I
sat around the table
talking laughing
drinking discussing

Chavy taking pictures
of us around the table
Marjan explaining
the many years
we have known each other

we all agreed on the view
from the terrace
and on the terrace itself
welcoming in Summer
an ideal get together place

Godeke and Schelto
left early as announced
they had tickets
for the opera
at the Concertgebouw

Yvonne was quiet
during our discussion
of political affairs
in Argentina

she would have
rather discussed
European affairs
the why and because
of Greece’s misadventures

Chavy and I traced
what we understood
to be
the origin of political
mismanagement in Argentina

the silence today
echoes yesterday’s voices
the laughter
the well being

and our missing
Monique and Lucas
who were not present

but were with us
all the same.

miércoles, 8 de julio de 2015

Llueve en Amsterdam

las gotas de agua
golpean las ventanas

el viento sacude
las plantas en la terraza

se cuela aire frío
por la ventana abierta
del dormitorio

se cuela por las rendijas
de las ventanas cerradas

la lluvia diluye el calor
de los últimos días

habrá que ponerse impermeable
para recorrer la ciudad

quizá el Rijks Museum hoy
el Rembrandt tardío

ayer fueron el FOAM
fotos de los 1960

y fotos de Caio Resiewitz
florestas favelas y falcatruas
en Huis Marseille

caminata al Spui
Athenaeum Boekhandl
leer títulos de libros
hojearlos

y volver a casa
a tiempo para tomar
una copa de Merlot

leer correos y whataqsapp
las noticias políticas
de ultramar

y escribir algo.