Paul Attinello

Author: paulattinello

  • Ideal

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    paulattinello
    in

    The truth is, for all my complaining, I have an ideal situation here. The big middle room, all the walls covered with useful and intelligent books (the ‘attractive nuisances’ are in the front room, with the television of course). Comfortable, warm; big chair, good lighting. It’s raining outside, which makes it all cozier – pleasant,…

  • Epifanie

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    paulattinello
    in

    The Feast of Epiphany, the last of the twelve days of Christmas. The day when it all ends. Today the tree came down… the small handmade ornaments (some by family, some from China and Germany when I was there, some discovered in various places) went into plastic bags, the whole holiday into a fairly small…

  • Soothe the savage

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    by

    paulattinello
    in

    Angry. Exasperated, stomping around. (And yes, I know, it’s ‘breast’ not ‘beast’ – although you can see why the mistake is always made, ‘savage beast’ is pretty good there.) Hard news, difficult news, and some distinctly bad news. Feeling as though the world is not friendly, not at all – several projects, so many of…

  • Morning; and teaching

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    by

    paulattinello
    in ,

    Bright, windy, very clear: beautiful. When I came here I was told that what I experienced (as this was the coldest place I’d ever lived – Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Adelaide – except perhaps Berlin of course, and this is probably even colder if less gray) as ‘cold’ was locally known as…

  • The Move

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    by

    paulattinello
    in

    This is actually my own favorite of all my poems, though it has not fared well in workshops. Perhaps I like it because the language and images are both exactly what I meant, and yet startling, even to me. And perhaps others dislike it because it is merely peculiar for them when I express an…

  • Fin

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    by

    paulattinello
    in

    End of a year. Another year, I suppose I should say – but the phrase "end of another year" has a tired, endless quality to it that I don’t like. Given as I am to worrying over the past and over what I haven’t done, or have lost, this of course would typically bring up…

  • Absent / present

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    paulattinello
    in

    Sleeping incredible hours: a week lost to dreams – maybe not lost, the dreams aren’t unpleasant, there is plenty of food, and the house is kept clean, as am I. But a week where my life is passing in a dream world… a week where I am basically absent…. There have been times when I…

  • Midwinter

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    paulattinello
    in

    The tree is a haze of small lights; I’ll keep it up until Epiphany, as usual. A cluster of candles, cinnamon and clove, melting to a puddle on a plate. The chicken casserole in the oven for such a long time – I added some chili peppers to the recipe, just enough to heat it…

  • Red Shoes

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    paulattinello
    in

    The Red Shoes is on television – a good way of recovering from an excellent but overwhelming long Christmas lunch. I know that there are many things in the film to focus on, but I’m always especially struck by the opening, where a bunch of frantically energetic, highly educated arts students (musicians and dancers) push…

  • Christmas Stories

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    paulattinello
    in

    There are some wonderful Christmas stories – they start with Dickens’ Christmas Carol, of course. It’s a shame that it seems so hard to make a successful film out of it, because it’s so overwhelmingly dramatic – but all the many, many versions and adaptations always seem stiff and clumsy when compared with reading the…