Brian Michael Barbeito is a Canadian writer and photographer. Recent work appears at The Notre Dame Review.
Spirit of a Place, Spirit of a Thing (Artist Statement)
In an off handed remark during an interview, U.G. Krishnamurti, called by some an anti-guru, and by himself, ‘Something like a philosopher,’ said that he once thought he could sense the spirit of a place. But then he brushed it off through words and body language. It didn’t fit in with his philosophy and message. But I resonated with his statement anyhow, because I had always felt that I could feel the spirit of a place and also a thing. Old town, lake still and wide. City street, carnival game vendor and prizes. Bee. Spider. Flower. Vine. Ridge. Summit. Stone. Petal. Stream. Sun. Cloud. Bird and dusk, horizon and dawn. Lock, denoting love, affixed to lonesome bridge alone in the rain. Artifacts. Areas. Some saturnine and some sanguine. Hundreds of places and things, their spirit, against reason and logic, somehow speaking out, not with language of course, but calling out nevertheless. Semantics and nomenclature could argue what spirit means. Is it the atmosphere, the daemon, the angel, the area, the vibration, the feeling? Is it physical, metaphysical, true and there, or purely imaginary and projected? Difficult to know conclusively. But there is something I think in all that mise- en-scene, and so on the rural footpaths and metropolitan worlds also, I try and photograph it and also write about it, this spirit of a place and spirit of a thing.
Human Life
Human life is epic,
Every event that happens in life is a reservoir of poetry.
Life is like a single candle,
You never know when it will go out.
One day you have to leave like the selfish.
I have the body of a twenty year old – I keep it in the refrigerator for midnight snacks. I was worried when I was told that I was in room 205 at the hospital – When I checked in the room, I found out that it was someone else. I don’t want to die with my boots on – Because I don’t wear boots to bed. I check the obituaries before I get out of bed – If I am in them there is no reason to get out of bed. I heard someone about my size and age had died on a bicycle – I was worried until I remembered that I didn’t have a bike. I want to die in my sleep like Uncle Fred – Unlike the people in the house he burned down after blocking the doors. I don’t want to die in the saddle – So I avoid horses and tack shops.
Hospital
I volunteered at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center (or as I thought of it, the hospital with too many names) for eleven years. My job was wheelchair jockey, or as I called it, unpaid escort, pusher or roll model (nudge – nudge, wink-wink).
Usually the job was very easy, so when I was asked if I got a lot of exercise, I responded “Not since the wheel was invented. When I had to carry people on my back, that was exercise.” Sometimes I was challenged to roll the extremely obese uphill. I got to see a lot of overweight people because they are more likely to be hospitalized than others. My last partner was an eighty – something year old woman, so I tried to take the more difficult cases. It didn’t require much strength, but driving two wheelchairs at once, occupied or not, required a lot of coordination. It wasn’t necessary, but I liked to show off. Getting people with leg injuries into jacked up pickups was difficult. In one case, which no doubt broke the rules, I picked up a light person and put him in the seat. In return for my paltry labors, I got a free breakfast.
This was a cruel prank, but I enjoyed handing off a very heavy bag to an old, 100 pound woman and watching her almost hit the floor.
One good thing about the job was that one rarely saw the same person twice, so I could use my short list of jokes repeatedly. Best gag – pretending that the patient was deplaning. “Please extinguish all smoking material and return your seatback to a full upright position. Thank you for riding Legacy chairs.”
Some events were not humorous to those involved, but presented slapstick visuals. One fellow’s urine sac which was connected to his catheter fell of his leg while I was pushing him. I didn’t catch on until I heard him screaming. Another patient had his oxygen tube caught in the wheel of his chair. He was cool, but his daughter freaked. Last and least, was the projectile vomiting. It looked much like the gag vomiting in TV or movie comedies.
Of course there were heart-rending events as well, but they belong on the “Short Sadness Site.”
Hiking Etiquette, Glossary And Wisdom
Affirmation – Are we here yet? The answer is always yes. Are we there yet? – If said subject to capital punishment. Bad hike – One or more die. Bleeding – Probably not fatal unless in pints. Bonus – To leader for bringing back more hikers than taken out. Boots – Wear them. Brace Yourself – Admonition to put on knee protectors Cell phone – Don’t depend on. Useful in emergencies and to irritate other hikers. Cheryl Strayed / Wild Rules: Try out your boots for a few miles, before a thousand mile hike. Try out your pack for a few miles before a thousand mile hike. Cliffs – Where you find out if you have any serious enemies. Clothes – Take clothes for all possible weather. Layers good. In good weather, flaunt it if you’ve got it. Dehydration – Slayer of kidneys. See water. Deja hike – Hey, I’ve been on a hike with trees and views before. Emergency equipment – Find a list and follow it. Falls – Try to avoid, but you won’t. Feet – Something that hurts. Five Mile Hike – The new ten mile hike. Flower Identification – They are smaller than trees. Gaiters – Misspelling of gators. Gatorade – Bring for your gators. Good Hike – Nobody dies. GPS – If your group has one, you will know exactly where you are. If you have more than one, you will have no idea. High heeled sneakers – Good song, bad for hiking. Kneesy – Hike that is easy on the knees. Knife edge – terrain where I won’t be found. Leader talk: We are almost at lunch – Means we aren’t. It is just around the bend – And 20 others. There is no uphill after lunch – There is. The steam crossings were easy when I scouted – They aren’t now. It is a five mile level hike – It could be Lost hiker – Someone who is visiting from Wisconsin who starts hiking alone an hour before sunset with a dead cell phone, clothes too cold for the night, sandals, no water, who sometime after dark decides the best way to get back is to go off trail to a cliff that he can’t see. Mountain – Something that you can fall off screaming to your death. Nature – Our enemy. It blocks views, sends coyotes and raccoons into our backyards and slugs into our gardens. We must win the battle against nature at all cost. Pathological – The Decision to stay on the trail rather than bushwhacking. Poles or walking sticks – Equipment used to ensure that the face is broken rather than wrists when one falls or for stabbing the hiker behind. Rule of the trail – the hiker behind is at fault. Poison Oak – Leaves of three, let me be. Definitely, do not use as toilet paper. Potty Stop Men – Where men trade five years of life for speedier peeing (at least until the prostate acts up). Prowess is judged by a jury of their pee-ers. Potty Stop Women – It is a mystery. Rain – Get used to it. Road to Trail Ratio – A low ratio of time driving to time hiking is good. Rocky Road – An ice cream flavor, or a route that is hard on the feet. Saw, Rule Of: It is better to have a saw and not need it, than to need a saw and not have it. Applies to many things other than saws. Scrambles – Hands in use. Watch out for the hiker in front rolling down on top of you. Shrinkage – Happens to guys in cold streams. Hike leaders allowed to lose up to 10% of hikers before being penalized. Ticks – An excuse to get naked and have someone inspect you. You could get lucky in more ways than one. Toenails – Trim them to prevent downhill pain. To be safe, have them surgically removed. Trail – Note similarity in spelling to trial. Stay on it. Tree Identification – You guessed it. They are bigger than flowers. Vacuum – Synonym for sweep Vegetation blocking the trail – A weapon used to injure the hiker behind. Volcanic Eruption – Avoid. Walkie-Talkies – Great devices for communicating on group hikes, which perform perfectly until you need them in an emergency. Water – Bring lots. Drink same. Weather – Will not be what you expected. Wildlife – At our age after a ten mile hike?
Search and Rescue
If you would like to meet some of the fine people from Search and Rescue and listen to some of their amusing stories about the fools that they encounter in their line of work, here are some ways to help you do that. I’ve attempted to use English as well as American so this advice will work on both sides of the Atlantic. Start your hike close to dark. Make certain that you know nothing about the route that you take, except that the trail is narrow and that there are dangerous drop offs. Take a youth or dog that is likely to wander off. Bring a cell (mobile) phone but be sure that it either doesn’t get reception or that the battery is dead. Don’t take a flashlight (torch). It helps to wear a thin undershirt, sandals and shorts when the temperature is projected to be below freezing at night. Food or water? Of course not. Avoid maps and GPS. When it is dark and you are scared of being lost, immediately leave the trail. If you are lucky, you will fall down a bank and be disabled. You will probably make the news the next day with the Search and Rescue crew. Good idea – decide the day before whether you want to go for a scruffy and disheveled look or you want to be glamoro(u)s.
Personals
W4M – Boyfriend wanted Me – 300 pounds BBW. HSV positive. Fore kids with five differint fathers. U – 6’2” to 6’5” athletec, edjucated perfessional generous$ gentleman to take me shopping n diner, then well see how it goes. Gross picture deleted.
M4M – ISO Str8 married guy Kik me for a good time. M4W – Let me rock your world Look at this. obscene picture deleted.
M4W – Looking for a discrete affair Handsome professional man wanting to get a little on the side. Helps if you are married too. obscene picture deleted.
W4M – Want late night fun. I have low self esteem. Please demean me and my children. Call me a while __ on me. Must be respectful non-smoker and DDF.
MW4W – Unicorn wanted Successful, happy couple looking for a third to complete our marriage. Must be beautiful, 25-32, and willing to clean house. Fake picture deleted
W4MMMM – Hope to do this soon Open to anybody to do anything. Do not be concerned about my husband with the gun; it is only for my security. He’ll just be watching and filming. Fake picture deleted
M4W – ISO Cougar Buy me dinner and we’ll see how thing go.
W4M Ready to party go fast now Bring party favors. You’ll need to give me a credit card to be able to verify your identity.
MW4MW Full Swap Must be young, attractive & fit. Bring Tina and Air Blast for PnP. Non-smokers only.
W4M – Missed connection. I saw you at the checkout at Albertsons. You look like you are about 30 with long blond hair. You were dressed in black pants and white shirt. You were with a woman about your age and three children. You were buying food, tampons and panties. I was in the next lane over, the short, chubby woman in red, and didn’t get a chance to talk to you even though we exchanged glances. Are you single? If yes, I would like to bear your children. 10 year old picture of someone else deleted.
The Ten Commandments in the 21st Century
A team of defense lawyers has given a modern interpretation of the Ten Commandments.
1. I am the Lord Your God. / You shall have no other gods before me. Response – One of these is not even a commandment. Note that it says “before”, therefore having other gods equal is acceptable, so if you choose to have Morduk, Justin Bieber, money, a Corvette, Angelina Jolie, or the Portland Trailblazers as equal gods, you meet the letter of the law. 2.You shall not make yourself an idol. Response – We can’t imagine that applies to reality shows like “American Idol” or movie studios, the major producers of idols. 3.Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. Response – “In vain”, what does that even mean? Other parts of the book imply that we can’t speak or know his/her name, and that there are many names for god, so how can we possibly apply this commandment? We don’t think that “Gosh” or “Golly” are offenses. 4.Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Response – If some say it is Saturday and some say it is Sunday, it would be completely unfair to apply this to either day. Anyway, how do we keep it holy? Does watching football and drinking beer count if football is a co-equal god? 5.Honor your father and mother. Response – Visits on Christmas or Thanksgiving should be adequate. 6.You shall not kill/murder. Response – If you are commanded by secular authority, such as the military, this commandment is rendered void. Police are exempt. If somebody threatens you in any way, say looking at you in an intimidating way, lethal response is considered self-defense. 7.You shall not steal. Response – Office supplies should be considered de minimus. Borrowing and not returning does not constitute stealing. 8.You shall not commit adultery. Response – If you did not enjoy it or agree to counseling afterwards, it should not be held against you 9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Response – Your truth may not be his/her truth. 10.You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. / You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Response – The first half is unenforceable because it is not gender neutral. Defining the difference between “liking” and “coveting” is a slippery slope no one is qualified to define.
Thespian
My first acting role was as Santa Claus in a grade school production. Because we had no theatre department, I was chosen for the lead because I finished my homework quickly. The “plot” was a trip around the globe showing how different countries celebrated Christmas. My one mistake was going to the countries out of order, but recovered with aplomb by blaming the reindeer. Oddly, no talent scout offered me a big studio contract.
My second role came about by an odd sequence of events. I was giving my friend Gary a ride to his starring part in a Portland Parks production of “Little Abner”. The director spotted another friend, the handsome Kim, and I, and said “Scraggs” (relatives of the beauteous Daisy Mae). The comic strip / movie / Broadway Scraggs were known to be lazy and ugly, so in my case it was type casting. Our song was “If I Had My Druthers”, which was OK because it didn’t require the ability to sing, which neither of us had. I got some praise as one of the handsome, muscular topless Dogpatch boys after drinking Yokumberry Tonic. Remembering the good parts is a good thing. Afterwards, the show was televised on local TV, which confirmed my lack of singing ability (this partly inspired “Nose” which is in Short Humour and Literally Stories).
When we moved to Marin California after leaving a job that I hated, I became a decent docent at China Camp, which involved storytelling about a Chinese shrimping settlement. It is a fascinating story involving history, culture and business, but not too funny.
I became a programmer and seller of actuarial software, which was quite a leap in that I couldn’t program or sell, but at least it gave me something to do beyond being a house husband. For several years I worked on advertising and running booths at industry meetings for my software, and if that isn’t show biz, I don’t know what is.
When Windows replaced DOS, I was unwilling or unable to revise the programs, and thought that we had enough money to retire.
During one of the three productions of “Tony And Tina’s Wedding” that I saw Tina chose me from the audience to make Tony jealous. I wasn’t very good at looking happy to have the rather large Tina sit on my lap. Now I “act” indirectly (my lovely and talented editor thought that “at one remove” was too obscure). My alter ego, Duke Hanley gets to do the things that I’m too smart, too incompetent, or too fearful to do in many of the stories that I write.
North&Gales Creek Hike
Gales Creek is in the eastern foothills of the Coast Range in western Oregon USA. By mountain standards, the Coast Range is very modest and have never been known to brag like the Rockies have as in “Rocky Mountain High” as performed by the late John Denver aka Deutschendorf.
An aside – a lesson from John Denver – don’t sing a song about a woman you are going to divorce (Annie).
The hike was led by a man, but we usually have women leaders in which case we are Ms. Led or Miss Led, depending on which camp you are in.
As always, we got a hike description before the hike. It listed two creek crossings. We thought we’d have to cross them through the water, but each had a bridge. Cleary the description should have been abridged.
A woman asked about a tree that was broken off about five feet (1.5 meters) from its base. I said that I was stumped.
This was an easy hike for me because I am usually the designated whiner and complainer. For this hike I was usurped by a former lawyer. Maybe he was courting my approval.
The four of us in our car opted to skip the no-price extra three mile (five kilometers?) and several hundred feet (less than several hundred meters) add-on, so we didn’t get as high as they did.
Nobody died so it was a good hike.
What’s Wrong With The Left
Many parts of my body either hurt or don’t work, but the left is really bad.
My left shoulder has been diagnosed with five problems, which on a good day, I can remember: floating bodies (sounds like a mystery or war novel), calcification, bone spur, degenerative joint disease and arthritis. Granted, there may be some overlap here. There are times when it is quite painful. At least these are signs of a life poorly lived.
Left arm – practically useless. I can catch with it a little and sometimes hold things. It is weaker than the right. Attempts to write, throw or bat lefty are comical.
The orthopedic guys told me that one leg is shorter than the other, which is probably why I habitually walk in circles.
I shovel and kick right footed. Throwing or batting with either foot doesn’t work and I’ve had plenty of left foot and knee pain. An X-Ray showed severe to advanced arthritis and an old fracture to my kneecap. Knee pain has reduced me to using a walker on a few days.
My high blood pressure is related to the left-leaning heart.
My left eye is inferior to the right – both are abysmal. With powerful lenses my sight can be corrected to near blind.
According to a vast oversimplification of a Wikipedia article, the right side of the brain is more action/emotional oriented and the left side is more caution/analytic oriented. Hard to pick a winner or loser here, particularly since the left brain controls the right side of the body and vice versa.
Whichever part of the brain does what; neither side can help me remember all the leftist problems over the years.
The right isn’t that great either, but that is a story for another time. I’ve got plenty wrong with both sides.
All of these week attempts at humo(u)r have appeared in Short Humour.
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naked and smiling at me
back are the days
of sitting in waiting
rooms and dreaming
of the hot blonde
receptionist being
naked and smiling
at me
this is the normal
of a few years ago
hopefully, the poems
won't be far behind
--------------------------------------------------
old traditions should be let go
the fucking groundhog
said there would be
six more weeks of
winter
less than two weeks
later and it will be
seventy degrees
tomorrow
i think there always
comes a time when
old traditions should
be let go
i'd much rather lean
on science than shadows
and people dressed like
it is still the 1800's
---------------------------------------------------
fish tank
staring at a fish tank
in the waiting room
of a dentist office
it nearly takes up
the entire wall
i guess a portion of
what my mother will
be paying today will
go to food for the fish
or maybe one of those
plastic castles from
some pirate adventure
------------------------------------------------------
safe to assume
heard from
an old lover
last night
she responded
to a message
i sent her
a year ago
i guess it is
safe to assume
she isn't missing
me that much
at all
of course,
i responded
immediately
-----------------------------------------------------
new enemies
old friends often
becomes new enemies
in this crazy world
lack of communication
or greed or just good ole
time can do such things
i quit trying to hold on
years ago now
i never was any good at
making friends
and that certainly hasn't
got much better with age
so fuck it
live and let live
we all end up in
the same place
J.J. Campbell (1976 – ?) is old enough to know where all the bodies are buried. He’s been widely published over the years, most recently at Horror Sleaze Trash, The Beatnik Cowboy, The Rye Whiskey Review, Yellow Mama and Terror House Magazine. You can find him most days on his mildly entertaining blog, evil delights. (https://evildelights.blogspot.com)
Contribution of spiritual leaders to the development of India
Adherent to spiritualism and mysticism, Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel literature laureate of the Renaissance Bengal is famed to be enthroned as the Indian Shakespeare. Literary acclaim and widespread popularity of visionary Rabindranath Tagore’s incredible contribution as a mystic can be a wondrous marvel that strikes emotional socialists’, sensational spiritualistic, sentimental moralistic and humane philanthropists’ psyche from orientalism to transatlanticism. As luminary, Graham Greene, the twentieth century English writer and journalist, proclaims of Tagore’s majestic magnificence and glorious brilliance of the visionary eyesight symbolic to ‘Chesterton’s bright pebbly eyes’ ;so hithertofore therein is indeed indicative of the vindictive testament exclaimed by poetic lines of Even Anna Akhmatova. Even Anna Akhmatova’s admirable appeal for translation of Tagorean canon springs from exaltation of “that mighty flow of poetry which takes its strength from Hinduism as from the Ganges, and is called Rabindranath Tagore’’. Rabindranath Tagore’s mysticism and asceticism surmounts the Indian myths and legends, folklore and folktales, hymns and lyrics, vernaculars and dialectics, narratives and discourses to a greater extent ascension and publicity amidst William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound.
Rabindranath Tagore’s philosophical theology centers heralding non-sectarianism and communal harmony and humanistic peaceful dwelling influencing the different parts of the Indian cultural background. A sage-like visionary poet whose existential influence for a millennia amongst Europeans as Schopenhauer in the New Testament critically appreciates, “A Tagorean Christ transforming morals into asceticism, its pessimism and its avatar.”
The Sanyasi of high intellect, action and devotion ennobled Rabindranath Tagore to encourage inspirational reads which have nothing pessimistic but optimistic guidelines in harnessing knowledge of India: “divine unity of existence and unity in diversity”. Subhas Chandra Bose’s enthroned Vivekananda as the spiritual teacher and Mahatma Gandhi hailed enshrining Viekeanada works to be a treasure trove in reawakening feelings of patriotism, nationalism and world peace to a thousand fold. Spiritual resources of Vivekananda have uplifted motherland India and her fellow citizenry to be safeguarded in the brink of disillusionment :harbinger of challenges to circumstantial debacles hindering Hinduism and spirituality.
Motherland India is the destination of harbourage and anchorage to multifarious backgrounds of microcosmic racial ethnicities, diversified culturalism, egalitarian and platonism to Swami Vivekanada-the cyclonic monk of Hinduism. Vivekanda exults in commendation and applauds of varieties of socio cultural linguistic and diasporic communities of faith in prevalence of mutual tolerance, great heartedness, broad-mindedness, liberal understanding, acceptance of brethrenship and fraternity’s fellow-feelings. Destitution of privation and refugeeship of geopolitical crises arouses empathy and sympathy to this nobly humanistic personae and, therefore, he pledges destitute and refugees rehabilitation within the society: enlightening society enlarging provisions, hearths and altars to be bereft of exilement, banishment, alienation, solitary confinement or forlorning isolation. In this regard, communalism, superstition, fanaticism, fundamentalism and debacle of social evils should be promptly and vigilantly eradicated with valiant resoluteness and brave-heartedness. “God”, “Allah”, “Jehovah”, “soul”, “love” are integrated in unison by sermoniser Vivekanada’s preachings universalistic genesis of Hinduism integrated in unison by sermoniser Vivekanada’s preachings universalistic genesis of Hinduism. Referring a letter to the famine devastated Muslim aborigines Vivekanada imperatively advised Swami Akhandananda in vouchsafing and safeguarding the Muslim community of the Murshidabad orphanage against religious conversion.
Espousal of the cradle tales of Hinduism embedded in the civic and national lives the charismatic quintessence of being a Hindu refers to “A Hindu is a person who regards this Land of Bharatvarsha from the Indus to the Seas as his Fatherland as well his Holy Land and the land of his religion.” Awakener of the soul and the wayfarer of Northern India Swami Vivekanada is reportedly to have seen by Sister Nivedita in utmost reverence and solicitude of aboriginal nativity in ascension of foreign climes and environs. “…I had seen him in India, dressed in the two garments of simple folk, sitting on the floor and eating with his fingers, so, equally without doubt or shrinking, was his acceptance of the complexity of the means of living in America or France” In today’s era of digital and virtual live sessions yoga and meditation transmutate with variations in their clothing garbs of their closets and wardrobes. These boisterous folks have adopted their meaning of lifestyle concerned with forks and knives in the very transcendental English society and the westernized culture. To Vivekananda, the love of Hindutva is pristinely engrossing in embellishment of the Divine within the self in case of different socio-economic strata prevalent; ie aristocratic multimillionaire or imperialist and exploited or oppressed. Heralding humanity and harnessing humility Vivekanada disgraces and disdains apartheid of race culture and upholds the divination of spiritual beings as ancestry originating in the white-skinned Aryan, yellow-skinned Mongolian and black-skinned Negroid.
Viveknanda’s motherland India is the cavern wonderment of meditation and reflection which is nowhere else to be found. “Oh I know I have wandered over the whole earth…but in India I have looked for nothing save the cave in which to meditate!” “But the sannyasin no longer needs to worship, or to go on pilgrimage, or perform austerities. What then, is the motive of all this going from pilgrimage to pilgrimage, shrine to shrine and austerity to austerity?” Whs- can this heavenly idealogue be chanted in a dialogue amidst prophetic and visionary Rabindranath Tagore during the later stages of his life in Victoria Ocampo’s hearty hearth? Vivekananda’s Victoria Ocampo foils as orchestrated by the portrayal of a ‘Western Woman’[Sister Nivedita] in whom, charity’s endowments bestowal ensues with happenstances of observing ‘’…that quiet giving, always to the right person in the right way, at the right time, and never making a mistake…”
Starstruck, awestruck and wonderstruck Swami Vivekanada and Rabindranath Tagore voyagers of the distant starlit sea in pursuit of charismatic spiritualism’s quest. They have a glare of serendipity and sanguine to pour into the wounded bosoms the love of universal brotherhood, fraternity of siblinghood and unconditional camaraderie.
The High Priest of Internationalism and the One Man Ambassador of Culture, Tagore’s indianness is allusive to the ascetics with the abolition of disunity…and, therefore, from bridging to conquering the hearts of the people… between the East and the West, old and new, nationalism and internationalism, knowledge and power, art and literature “Honeyed the heavens,honeyed the dust of the earth, this is the great fulfilling chant of life, I have received and treasured in my heart.” Visiting the Buenos Aires isles and seashores, seafaring hospitality of Victoria Ocampo, the devoted admirer of the wayfarer traveller, Rabindranath Tagore’s Sadhana, proclaims, “Eyes see only dust and earth but feel with the heart, and know pure joy.” Heraldry of fortuitous bond evolved between the mindscapes of Asian and Latin American landscapes through prophetic sage or visionary ambassador or ascetic diviner Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and the ambrosia enchantress Argentina’s lady. And the end of the discussion of spiritual contribution in the development of India truly enchants, enlivens, enlightens, entices, engrosses the gentry bereft of bigotry and sectarianism in awed admiration of faith: Donning a prophet’s robe and preaching sermon from the pulpit Tagore’s advises “Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark.”
To the spirit of spiritual Indianness depicts the universal outlook of liberal mind and tolerance of dissent, of the unfamiliar and even of the wayward and sympathies transcending race, religion and nation. Penchant of loves leads to triumphanal Bhakti since Swami Vivekananda implies, “Books and learning, yoga and meditation and illumination- all are but dust compared with love.” Love withholds the vainglory and prompting austerities of ceremonials but love bestows relief and charity to feed the starving masses or famine afflicted downtrodden. In Vivekananda’s repertoire, spiritual enlightenment and dreamy mystic benevolence envisionings to the ascetic upliftment ablaze luminosity in these quotable dialectics, “I love the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden, I feel for them— the Lord knows how much… I do not care a fig for human approbation or criticism.” and this declarative further reechoes Vivekanada’s letter to the swami famine of Rajputana [“No god will come of sitting idle and having princely dishes and saying “Ramakrishna, O Lord!.. You must give your body, mind and speech to the “welfare of the world.” You have read—… . God, look upon your father as God”—-but I say—”the poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted let these be your God.” The wonderful saints or avatars encompassed Hindustan to alleviate the affliction and elevate the freedom strugglers “through the powers of insights into the human hearts and lifted it off”.
Further Reading and Bibliography
1. An Aspect of Tagore’s Criticism In The West: The Cloud of Mysticism, Asian Studies Center, Author: Nabaneeta Sen, Michigan State University Publishers, Source: Mahfil 1996, Volume. 3 No. 1, pages: 9-23
2. West Meets East: Tagore On The Banks of The River Plate, Author: Victoria Ocampo, Source: Indian Literature, April-September 1959, Volume 2, No. 2, pages: 13-22
3. Tagore: The Oriental and Modern, Author: Prabhakar Machwe, Source: Indian Literature, September-October 1976, Volume 19, No. 5, pages: 80-94
4. Guru To The World The Life and Legacy of Vivkenanada, Ruth Harris Winner of the Wolfson History Prize, Professor fo European History University of Oxford,
4. Rabindranath Tagore, Authors: Maria Renee Cura, Source: World Affairs, The Journal of International Issues, Volume 9, No. 2, Summer 2005, pages: 131-139, Kapur Surya Foundation Publishers
Genre: HIP-Hop Chorus I see life my own way Never disturbed by what happens But dictates what goes on around me Lalala (3CE)
Verse 1 Started out in consonance with the elements of the earth I’m at the summit, peeps! Punching hard in all-weather like the Mayweather The fire of my wordings so serious that my flows run faster than one seriously pressed from the inside. Dominating the world from the fourth dimension I’m bullet-proof from the deceptions of cynics Politically immune from all ulterior motives of the elite Economically free from pseudo statics and extrapolations Financially more hydro-plane than Wall Street Yeah, y’all can say what you like Afterall, you entitled to your views Check it; My words carry the waters of neutrality But highly inflammable when y’all come with the fires of opposition They carry the gas of subtle influence that the earth can only recognize them at the fifth dimension… Catch me if you can like the Ginger Red Man ‘Coz I’m super-human teleporting in all realms interchangeably like the speed of light, my words hit your sub-conscious magnet at a pace it can’t even imagine…
Chorus I see life my own way Never disturbed by what happens But dictates what goes on around me Lalala (3CE)
Verse 2 Deceptions try permeating my subconscious like a virus Ugly events want to make me dance circus I chose to see myself as the citrus Growing in the fields of Peace Never caught by the weeds of disease I’m hooked with my creativity through my ability To express my service to humanity I see life my own way Decided not to be in social disarray Because it doesn’t matter the name Whose distraction is giving him the fame For I know that’s his game
Chorus I see life my own way Never disturbed by what happens But dictates what goes on around me Lalala (3CE)
Verse 3 I’m all out for the money But not down with the honeys Because they are actually monkeys Pretending to be like honeys I’m ahead of my time like time That’s why you don’t see me all the time That’s the way I chose to see life My Own Way So see life in your own way!
Chorus I see life my own way Never disturbed by what happens But dictates what goes on around me Lalala (3CE)
Bare life
During the period of the spring German rains
My son and I are making a globe of cardboard boxes
Today we have made a big one
We wrapped it with collage paper
And placed it in the middle of the studio apartment where we have lived
Mum, where is Dad, he asked
Before I glued the last
Cut colours of the Balkan.
The vignette
Dismembered atoms of my good husband
Will never have a chance to be the perfect father.
Unlike me
And my atoms which even dismembered don't abandon this skin.
In our studio apartment there is no single picture of a prevoius life
We only found pictures of grey autumn mountains in this residence
My son and I are like the walking vignettes among them
That boy Alfonse, is playing Nintendo with his father
We can hear them talking loudly and laughing
But, we comprehend only that they are laughing
Mum, why are those people laughing so loudly?
They are out of silence.
What if we borrow them?
The white clouds
I wake up with the scent of the women
Who abandoned their homes
On the thresholds they left the traces of their blood
All clothes from their children, memories on their first cry
While the sounds of the Muslim's call to prayer and church bells echoed in the background
My body is filled with memories
While the children's heads are being lost in the high grass
Of the uncut graves
This is the place where my brother fell for the first time
This is the place where my father's soul moved to the better place
At one time this was her house, says my husband while staring
At the debris I am drawing on a sheet of paper in the refugee camp
Draw the white clouds where your memories live
Says the life teacher
Emina Đelilović-Kevrić (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) After studying the b/h/s (bosnian/croatian/serbian) language and literature at the Philoshopical Faculty in Zenica she got her master's degree on the subject „Memory construction in the South Slavic interlinear community: typical models of the war camp experience in literature“. She is the author of the poetry collection „ This time without history“ and the short stories collection „ Erased lives“. Her collection of poems „ My son and I“ is awarded by the Publishing Foundation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2021. In 2022 she won the second place in the international literature competition „ Isnam Taljić“. She is the winner of the second award for the best short story of the regional literature competition "Zija Dizdarević“ 2022, and she won the first place on international literature competition „Nastavi priču“. 2023. she won a third place on international poetry competition „Ossi di Seppia“ Italy.
