A story I read in a Facebook post: At 40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched for the doll unsuccessfully. Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her. The next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a letter “written” by the doll saying “please don’t cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures.” Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka’s life. During their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable. Finally, Kafka brought back the… Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Love
Four Offerings at the Moment of Transition
Every person that I’ve met in this moment of transition [death] wanted to make four offerings. — Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oncologist, speaking at the University of Pennsylvania commencement. The four are: I want to tell you that I love you. I want to tell you that I forgive you. Would you tell me that you love me? Would you give me your forgiveness? Read more →
Why Popular Music is Rubbish
Almost all the female singers have the same voice, like a half-mumbling toddler. The male singers have a broader range but not a lot broader: the screamer, the effeminate and the high school dropout. But the main problem is that whoever is writing the songs, it is just not their destiny to be songwriters. There’s a complete lack of imagination, resulting in only a few themes, endlessly recycled: I love you I love you and you love me I love you and you don’t love me I love you but you left Let’s fuck Read more →
Does Money Buy Happiness?
Does money buy happiness? I’ve never seen any evidence of this but the girl cutting my hair today said it does. “It allows my husband and I to have a house so it gives us freedom.” I should have delved into this a little bit more for a couple of reasons. When I’ve owned a house, I’ve found that it gave me less freedom. If I’m renting a place, even a house, and I decide that I don’t want to be there anymore, I can just leave, which I can’t do if I own a house. Of course, there would still be the issue of moving all of my possessions. Owning things is problematic. Do I own my stuff or does my stuff own me? I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t really want to own anything: houses, cars, furniture. That would be real freedom. That still leaves the… Read more →
Love Songs in Age
She kept her songs, they kept so little space, The covers pleased her: One bleached from lying in a sunny place, One marked in circles by a vase of water, One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, And coloured, by her daughter – So they had waited, till, in widowhood She found them, looking for something else, and stood Relearning how each frank submissive chord Had ushered in Word after sprawling hyphenated word, And the unfailing sense of being young Spread out like a spring-woken tree, wherein That hidden freshness sung, That certainty of time laid up in store As when she played them first. But, even more, The glare of that much-mentioned brilliance, love, Broke out, to show Its bright incipience sailing above, Still promising to solve, and satisfy, And set unchangeably in order. So To pile them back, to cry, Was hard, without lamely admitting how… Read more →
All You Need is Love?
We saw The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. It was a fun show. My only quibble is that there’s about the right amount of buffoonery for, say, a Marx Brothers tribute, but a little too much for a Beatles show. A friend tells me his favorite Beatle is John, followed by George, which I’d say are not bad choices. I’ve always thought George was underrated as a singer-songwriter compared to Paul. One thing that always bothered me about John is that he was telling people that all they need is love, while he himself had a fondness for fashion, drove a Rolls Royce and lived in the most expensive building in New York. I’m not aware that anyone ever asked him about the apparent contradiction but it would have been a good question: “You’re telling people who may be living on the street or can’t afford… Read more →
Places, Loved Ones
No, I have never found The place where I could say This is my proper ground, Here I shall stay; Nor met that special one Who has an instant claim On everything I own Down to my name; To find such seems to prove You want no choice in where To build, or whom to love; You ask them to bear You off irrevocably, So that it’s not your fault Should the town turn dreary, The girl a dolt. Yet, having missed them, you’re Bound, none the less, to act As if what you settled for Mashed you, in fact; And wiser to keep away From thinking you still might trace Uncalled-for to this day Your person, your place. — Philip Larkin, “Places, Loved Ones” Read more →
Molly Brodak
View this post on Instagram A post shared by @poetryisnotaluxury Read more →
Billy Eichner Laments
Billy Eichner Laments Box Office Flop of His LGBTQ Rom-Com — mediaite.com “Laments.” It’s lamentable that no one paid to see his gay rom-com. But really, who did anyone think was going to see it? Billy Eichner fans? Maybe I’m not up to speed on popular culture but I’ve never heard of Billy Eichner. Rom-com fans? I hate rom-coms, as does every adult male that I know. I don’t like movies about love. Why do people cry over love stories with a happy ending? Are they crying tears of joy? No . . . I think they’re crying because we’ve all lived long enough to know that there probably is no such thing as true love and if there is, we’re all going to get old and die without finding it. Still, women love rom-coms — why else would Sandra Bullock be famous? — and sometimes they can get a… Read more →
A Moment of Love
Everything was worn out about people: they complained about debts; they were involved in gossip; they had five-storied houses built; they traded in large objects; they bought ships, mines, vineyards; at bridge parties they lamented worriedly and falsely about being too busy; everybody talked about his work, whereas, in fact, nobody did anything; people played bridge and for whole nights groaned for a moment of love. — Miroslav Krleža, On the Edge of Reason Read more →
Electric Car Maker to Vote Republican?
I have to agree with the characterization . . . there are a lot of Democrats who’d rather see you dead if you’re not as loving as they are. In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold … ? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022 Read more →
I Wish You Peace
I wish you peace when times are hard A light to guide you through the dark And when storms are high and your, your dreams are low I wish you the strength to let love grow on, I wish you the strength to let love flow on, I wish you the strength to let love glow on I wish you the strength to let love go. — Bernie Leadon & Patti Davis, “I Wish You Peace” Read more →
Love One Another Or Die
We must love one another or die. — W.H. Auden Since we have to die anyway, shouldn’t the quote be “We must love one another and die” or “We must love one another then die”? It reminds me of another famous quote: “Go big or go home.” But again, I have to go home eventually so . . . well, you get the picture . . . Read more →
EppsNet at the Movies: Night in Paradise
I found this film first-rate in every respect except . . . SPOILER ALERT! . . . the way the death of the hero was handled. Didn’t like that at all. That being said, I hope if something similarly bad happens to me that my girlfriend will also pack a gym bag with guns and ammo and massacre an entire restaurant full of the people responsible. That’s a great scene. She comes in, locks the front door, a creepy gangster type comes over and says with a sleazy grin, “No more seats. Come sit with us. We’re nice.” “I didn’t come to eat,” she replies, cocking a gun under his chin. “And get your hands off me.” So he’s the first guy to end up with his brains on the ceiling but not the last! Rating: Director: Cast: IMDb rating: ( votes) Read more →
Would There Be No One to Remember
Did you suffer at the end Would there be no one to remember Did you banish all the old ghosts With the terms of surrender And could you hear me calling out your name Well I guess that I will never know Michelangelo Last night I dreamed about you I dreamed that you were weeping And your tears poured down like diamonds For a love beyond all keeping And you caught them one by one In a million silk bandannas that I gave you long ago Michelangelo — Emmylou Harris, “Michelangelo” Read more →
When I Write the Book
And when I write the book about my love It will be about a man who’s torn in half About his hopes and ambitions wasted through the years The pain will be written on every page in tears When I write the book about my love — Nick Lowe, “When I Write the Book” Read more →
“For Estefani, Third Grade, Who Made Me A Card” by Aracelis Girmay
Epitaph
He loved, was not loved, and his life ended in disaster. Let’s leave it at that. Read more →
One
Life is Beautiful, Living is Pain
Hopes rise and dreams flicker and die. Love plans for tomorrow and loneliness thinks of yesterday. Life is beautiful and living is pain. The sound of music floats down a dark street. Hunter S. Thompson Read more →