Tereza, Tomas, Sabina and Franz navigate life and love in postwar Europe (and US, a bit) They experience Communism and soviet occupation, make life altering decisions and are plagued with existential questions, and meaning crises. Their entangled lives provide the meat for this novel-philosophical tale-romance-assay-psychoanalysis-satire. "Can proximity cause vertigo?It can. When the north pole comes … Continue reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being (TULOB), by Milan Kundera
"This is an enchanted place. Others don't see it but I do." It’s not easy to find the words to talk about this one. It’s a searing yet oddly gentle dive into a prison, focusing on its death row. It’s unlike anything I have read before. The hardest story, imparted with the most tender, lyrical … Continue reading The Enchanted, by Rene Denfeld
Oh this longing for the morrow,This queer sorrowThat only the future can alleviate!Onward,onward looking Like a mad mad spinning wheel.The gift of the present never enough,The cloud of the past ever too close.Thirsty for more and better,Can’t stay in placeNor look over my shoulder.Is it fleeing, this fluttering race,Tottering to the unknown?Is it escaping,this foolish dreaming And … Continue reading Longing
📲I wish I didn’t depend on the pingsTo feel seen.And didn’t feel a pangWhen my phoneRemains stubbornly mute. 🎵With no joyful thrill or dingTo ornateMy long days, to hush my cloyingUnease,To answer my chirps. 💅🏾I wish I could meet noticeAnd indifference With the same swagger and self-assurance.Always serene, confident. 💯That numbers would meanNothing.That my self-esteem Would remain Stoically incommensurable. … Continue reading (Un)Seen
A jar of wondersA cup of trinketsA dash of splendor,Shut in a casket... She was a collector.Day and night she graspedAt threads of colourShades of magic. Apt To see, prone to marvellingBut never letting go.A collector I said, and so,Drunk on having Possessing, amassing,Words and flowers. Flowers she sapped of fireWords she emptied of meaning She … Continue reading Chasing Wonders
It's nanowrimoBut I got no novel in me, no.Nothing new here you know,I am not versed in the long form, so... Mine are short piecesBolts of what I'd like to call brillianceIt's a jaunty decadence Of words and sounds It lacks discipline.Its cadence is jerky, uneven.How I wish I had lived and seenEnough to write, … Continue reading No novel in me
Mindless, throwing a thirsty hand forth, Hoping to snatch more. More more and new.
Happiness ... Is a book snuggled against your chest Under the warm blanket. It’s the light tapping of the rain Landing in jaunty rhythm on the roof. It’s his warm hand in yours Cramming a million sweet words In one gentle squeeze. It’s the smile of your sister The laughter of your mother. It’s the … Continue reading Happiness
What are those words, poet, Flying around your mind Like crows, peering over your thoughts? They seize your anguish And knead your sorrow. In their pointed beaks Your delights wriggle, out of breath. The raven exhales. Its sigh’s your essence Condensed in the rims Of its pitch black feathers. Its blood’s a bottle of ink … Continue reading Narrative
Many thanks to Elena over at Bloomsbury Publishing for sending an ARC of Joanne Ramos' debut novel my way! Jane is a young woman , immigrant, half-Filipina, half-American, and a single mother. She needs money. So when her old cousin Ate tells her about Golden Oaks Farm, she decides to seize the opportunity. At the … Continue reading The Farm, by Joanne Ramos
Kemy's bookshelf 