Constellations of Desire forms the third part of Solitary Ethics, a sequence on ethical and moral considerations. The book is available here. Book One, Caravaggio’s Dagger, deals with right action in the context of the experience of the individual will; Book Two, Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, in the context of the absolute nature […]
Solitary Ethics
Caravaggio’s Dagger – A Pursuit of Right Action
Do we, then, find ourselves unable to know how to act ethically in our society — a society that glorifies money and global trade to make the rich richer, that deposits the poor at the outermost edges of community, that stands aside as our heritage disintegrates, that funds wars that dislocate peoples and destroy countries, that supports beliefs steeped […]
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden
The subject of Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, which is available here, is the contract life imposes on a human being as the fundamental condition of its existence. It is explored as the unstated, never negotiated covenant between existence and life; that is, the conditional situation that existence provides to those that live within it, and the […]
Caravaggio’s Dagger VI:VII:2
Cantata Text Booklet for the Holy Days 2 Hidden by Sight In paradise the late winter snows fallAs silences behind sacred chorales, theologyBreaking away, wanting self-containment,Wanting more than incomplete enclosure.It is the sound unheard that compels most constantly:Can be divined but not quite understood: can be sung but notQuite said. It dwells in the human […]
Caravaggio’s Dagger VI:VII:1
Cantata Text Booklet for the Holy Days 1 Parallel Chaconne sei jetzt doch, o Gott, mein Hort be now yet, O God, my sure retreat — Johann Rist, in J.S. Bach, Cantata 78 The hard bargain, its shrewd handshake In the marketplace; the passacaglia mysticism, Layers above and amongst: simultaneous Dichotomy and […]
Wanderings – Caravaggio’s Dagger IV:4
This poem, which deals with my parents’ emigration from the Netherlands and the benefits that has bestowed on me, is the fourth of the fourth Taxonomy, “The Waterways of Avalon,” of my book Caravaggio’s Dagger. The poem can be listened to here. It was written between 28 April 2004 and 16 November 2008 in Vancouver (British Columbia), St. Stephen (New […]
Coriolanus – Leader of the Enemies of the State, in Caravaggio’s Dagger
Coriolanus is the second to last of Shakespeare’s Roman plays, and dates from 1607-1609. The Roman general Coriolanus becomes leader of an army of his former enemies, and takes them to the gates of Rome to invade the city. In the final act is a stage direction “Holds her by the hand, silent,” exceedingly difficult to […]
The Ferryman's Obolus – Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden II:III
[First published two years ago, 14 April 2021.] “The Ferryman’s Obolus,” the third and concluding sequence of Part 2 of Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, “The Covenant of the Lost Arias.” The obolus, an ancient coin, in additional to everyday mercantile use (one obol purchased a bowl of a double magnum of wine, and three secured […]
Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden – Of the Pilgrimage of Life
The subject of Mahler and Freud Meet in Leiden, a book of poetry, is the contract life imposes on a human being as the fundamental condition of its existence. It is explored as the unstated, never negotiated covenant between existence and life; that is, the conditional situation that existence provides to those that live within it, and […]
Franz Liszt : Revolution and the Héroïde funèbre
The originating event of Liszt’s composition was the second French Revolution of 1830, which overthrew the Bourbon King Charles X and the gaining of the throne, as a constitutional monarch, by his cousin Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Related romantic revolutions and events occurred as well in Belgium, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Portugal, and Switzerland. The […]