Author: paulattinello
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Nights of power
The solstice is soon: Sunday, at a few minutes past noon this year. And Imbolc, Beltane, Samhain, and the rest… nights when the winter wind is sharp and powerful, or the spring starts to appear, or the supercharged midsummer night takes over – David kindly helped me to put up my small, but brightly lit,…
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Questionnaire
In trying to recover from the dismay and depression that resulted from yesterday's meeting; and the sense that my work is going to be taken even more out of my control; and that as a result I'll never, ever get out of here… perhaps it's worth copying in yet another writing exercise, this one from…
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The day after
On a sharply disappointing day, when some bitterly familiar bad things happened – yet again – and I left early, missing the department Christmas celebration – while at home, avoiding everything – the television has a rerun of a favorite musical/dramatic passage: the final episode of Sex and the City. There are three exceptional passages…
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Exercises
The Newcastle writers' group meets every other week or so; we try, during lunch time between teaching, meetings, and various demands, to just write for an hour, share it, and recover a little bit of ourselves. *** October 5, 2006 – write a poem. Postcard from Newcastle The blackened rusted red of these buildings, dark…
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ego
My birthday: the twenty-fourth time I've been twenty-nine. … yes, well, okay… I'm fifty two. Saturday's World AIDS Day speech went well. Many compliments, many eyes on me. Tonight's Kagel concert – well, we'll see, but – the rehearsal went well; and Agustín is asking for even more attitude, more theatrics, more… me. Of course…
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Heroes
[Speech for World AIDS Day March and Celebration, Newcastle. It was held on December 6, not December 1, this year.] Welcome to our second March and Celebration, and thank you for coming to the Sage Gateshead for World AIDS Day. I’d like to thank our local percussion groups for accompanying us through town and across…
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W.A.D.
Today is World AIDS Day, 2008. Our local march and event, at the grand local concert hall, the Sage Gateshead, won't however be until Saturday, December 6th. Therefore, even though I'm emcee again, I haven't written a speech yet… I looked at my last four years of speeches, though (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and thought:…
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Far away and horrible
My colleague and friend David flew yesterday to India on a three-week trip which includes an extensive stay in Mumbai – fortunate that he'll stop in Delhi on his way, before he goes near the chaos, the shooting, the bombs. I assume he will change his plans – or perhaps have them changed for him…
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bring back the seventies
The end of the second of three long days: long, at least, by my current standards – I have become, over the past very quiet year, rather unaccustomed to following other people's schedules, so three or four days of appointments, meetings, classes, seems like a great deal. Very tired, thus: fairly winded. Didn't have a…
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The Greek Poet
Now here is a fine webpage: http://www.cavafy.com/index.asp The Cavafy archive, with most of his work neatly and openly available… plus some obscure things that were generally unknown. That is how the web should work, I think. At least in regards to literature….
Paul Attinello 