Salut/Rencontres

“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” – Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths you Can’t Avoid

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”  – Oscar Wilde

“We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what the are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves.

– John Locke

“Language forces us to perceive the world as man presents it to us.”

– Julia Penelope

 

 

Salut/Rencontres

Antoine comes to the café

Each morning

A magazine in hand

Periodicals about small boats

Or great ships

The sea courses

Through his veins

Antoine skims le journal (newspaper)

Drinks his café

Diving deeper into

His nautical world

Pausing to acknowledge

Friends

Today he shows me

A new book “Milk Cows”

U boats of WWII – hardback

En anglais

In turn, I produce my

Latest paperback of French poems

On parting we raise les livres

And laugh

Bisous,

Léa

Quotations By Isaac Asimov

Most timely, Charles. We all need to read and heed these quotes. The budget needs to put Education as a top priority. Alas, under the current regime, that won’t happen. One’s head must be buried deeply in the sand to not see the price the nation is paying for ignorance. Thank you for shining some light out into the darkness.

charles french words reading and writing

(https://en.wikipedia.org)

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

“The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.”

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I can’t breathe – T.B.P.I.K.

I find it both criminal and heartbreaking that over five years have gone by since I first shared this post and that things have exploded into the current state of affairs. My son is relieved that I’m so far away as he knows I would be on the frontlines with the protesters. We are long past due for the pendulum to swing and this time to go in the direction that is needed. Let it swing for love, understanding and compassion. 

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other ‘isms’ grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class, or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.”     – Roger Ebert

“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”  –  Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird (Character – Scout)

 

“The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction.” – Tim Holden

                                                                                *

 

                                                                           T.B.P.I.K.

 

Yes, that is how

They do it

All of them

The black people I know

They put on their pants

First one leg and then

The other

They hold down jobs – frequently

More than one – to survive

Blacks often are paid less

They eat, sleep, and shop

Cooking meals for family

Inviting friends in

Taking a hot dish

To someone whose been ill

They work in hospitals, search and

Rescue, give to charity,

Donate blood – you may have

It in you now

In a crisis – do you refuse?

They are expected to remain calm

As one more is profiled

Gunned down, targeted

Until the scapegoat paradigm

Chooses to target someone else

Momentarily

They read books, write poems

Dream dreams, large and small

They reach out their hands

In pain and in friendship

THE BLACK PEOPLE I KNOW

 

 

Bisous et solidarité,

Léa

Red’s own story

“And whenever I’m in a situation where I’m wearing the same as 600 other people and doing the same thing as 600 other people, looking back, I always found ways to make myself different, whether it be having a red lining inside of my jacket, having red shoes, it hasn’t changed.”
– Jeremy Irons

“When in doubt wear RED.”
– Bill Blass

 

Red’s Own Story

 

She is the thick

Slick enamel

That covers my nails

A pointer when tracing

Concentric circles

On bare flesh

She is the sports car

Darting along the highway

Hugging the curves

Turning an eye

She is the ripe

Succulent strawberry

Her flesh firm

Yet yielding

Tantalizing dipped in dark chocolate

Suits her best

She is the

American beauty

Long stemmed, heady fragrance

Her tight buds unfurl

Exposing her inner delicacy

We forget the thorns

She is the creamy dark war paint

On my lips

A signature

When and where

I choose to leave my mark

She is fire

On the move

Churning inside

Rising up

Beckoning me on

She is

Passion

 

Bisous,

Léa

Anton Chekhov on the 8 Qualities of Cultured People

Fear is not an option

Originally posted on 20 November 2015 in response to the Paris attacks and in light of the recent verbal assault of Donald Trump in a Country where more than 300,000 die in gun related deaths each year I have chosen to reblog this post. France is proud to be a safe country where the purchasing and owning of guns is strictly controlled. We are also proud that our children can go to school without the fear of dying.

“When adults tell me, ‘I have the right to own a gun,’ all I can hear is, ‘My right to own a gun outweighs your student’s right to live.’ All I hear is mine, mine mine, mine.”  – Emma Gonzales Survivor Parkland Shooting 

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will and always so when it violates the rights of individuals.”                                                                                                  – Thomas Jefferson

“Virtue has a veil, vice a mask.” – Victor Hugo

“I say I am stronger than fear.” – Malala Yousafzai

–

fear is not an option

le journal

the internet

telematin

France 24

the word floods

all forms of media

as the body count

rises in Paris

islamic states of hate

(i refuse to capitalize hatred)

declared war on France

–

i set down the paper

address my laptop

john lennon’s haunting strains

filling my head

nous ne nous rendrons pas

our media is not stuck in

shock and awe mode

nous sommes unis

on with life

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

–

unlike terrorist

skulking about the city

hiding behind masks,

headcoverings, disguises

nous ne nous cachons pas

we take to the streets

le café

le theatré

all life is calling

VIVA LA PARIS

et

VIVA LA FRANCE

bisous,

léa

mirror mirror

If you are ever short of inspiration, I recommend a visit to Creative Bursts for a Writing challenge: One morning, your mirror starts talking to you. Write about this.       – Sandy Ackers at CREATIVE BURSTS: sandy@sandyackers.com

*

“It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see.” -Henry David Thoreau

–

MIRROR MIRROR

*

like the acidic womb

you were delivered from

i’ve reiterated all your flaws

humiliation feeding your soul

fuelling your tears

shattering your heart

*

no conscience bothered me

so use to reflecting the environment

deceptively, i reflect light

while in truth, shallow, cold, judgemental

shaming that tiny red face

quivering chin

eyes twin faucets of tears

no beauty, no value here

*

believing my lies

you sank deeper, inward

hanging your head

turning from my glare, unaware

lies, judgement come from ignorance

my own blindness unquestioned

you looked for others in pain

focusing on their wounds

helping them heal

*

you have learned

to look deeper

reading eyes and hearts

of others

as i could never do

finding beauty that escapes me

learning to see it in yourself

confident a mirror cannot be

believed on face value

*

bisous,

léa

TBR: A poem of book titles waiting to be read

“A home without books is a body without a soul.”  –   Marcus Tullius Cicero

” If you can only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”        –  Haruki Murakami

“Books are the plane, the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”                                   –   Anna Quindlen

 

Over the years of blogging, I have seen a few poems built from book titles. Perhaps it is time to try one of my own. To be honest, these represent a tiny tip off the old iceberg and are one of several much larger TBR piles. Please understand, these are only emergency piles that have places of honour about the house and have nothing to do with my library… but one should always have something to read nearby!

 

TBR

TBR

–

THE ESSENTIAL KAFKA

A trial by fire leads us to

RUMINATIONS

ON CATS

LE PETIT NICOLAS écrit

LETTRES DE MON MOULIN

ANGELA’S ASHES lie

UNDER MY SKIN

CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM EATER

 A prelude to THE DARWIN AWARDS

SAILING ALONE AROUND THE ROOM

Before READING IN THE DARK

THE PARASITES, I won’t mention names

But SOMEBODY LIKE YOU

*

Bisous,

Léa

Paix et d’espoir (Of peace and hope)

“Today we’re dumping 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the environment, and tomorrow we will dump more, and there is no effective worldwide response. Until we start sharply reducing global-warming pollution, I feel that I have failed.” – Al Gore

“We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment.” – Margaret Mead

–

Paix et d’espoir (Of peace and hope)

weapons of cowardice

rang out 13 November, 2015

ricocheting across Paris

echoing over France

heard across the world

lives lost – lives forever changed

in each small French village.

city and town

les enfants on planté

un olivier – de pais et d’espoir

we do not forget

symbols of hope – olives

of peace – its branch

l’arbre – biodiversité

un abre pour le climat

children across France armed,

resolute with shovels, spades,

trees, soil, hope and smudged faces

in Paris gathering commences

COP21 (Conférence sur le climat à Paris)

if only they would listen –

hear the children who plant trees,

run in the leaves, delight in the

harvest – the animals that enrich our lives

insects , plants, biologic diversity

the living tissue of this planet

fragile under human assault

– what will you do?

what will you say to the children?

–

bisous,

léa

decay

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficent means for going backwards.” – Aldous Huxley

“Technology… is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.” – Carrie Snow

decay

as a gift

my sons sent me

an apple

it isn’t juicy,

flavourful,

or nutritious

what it is

highly stressful

as with each upgrade

this apple

deteriorates

support services

non existent

unless your are

prepared to pay

what a way to

boost sales

there is more

than one worm

in the orchard

while I implode

at the foot of

el capitan

–

bisous,

lea