tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post4954692890342995953..comments2023-05-21T13:48:40.461+02:00Comments on The Alchemist's Pillow: Plea for MercyLorenzo — Alchemist's Pillowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07522265816460154722noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-27095186742006127692012-02-17T19:13:06.472+01:002012-02-17T19:13:06.472+01:00you offer a magnificant post/ I share much of
yr P...you offer a magnificant post/ I share much of<br />yr POV/ I'm quite pleased to have found you today/<br />look forward to looking in for <br />quality time reading/ thanxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-15302676703762410852011-11-15T02:07:57.857+01:002011-11-15T02:07:57.857+01:00what is so wonderful to me is the timelessness of ...what is so wonderful to me is the timelessness of this piece. and yet the timelessness almost saddens me - that we must plea for mercy endlessly, for our faults and our sure failings. will we never learn?<br /><br />in spite of loving your poem:<br /><br /><i>The thrilled eye that dips the paintbrush<br />into the throbbing crucible before the canvas,<br />aching to capture the poplars panticulating<br />in the dusk purred breeze,<br />is pleading for mercy.</i><br /><br />are you kidding me? the language thrills me!<br /><br />but yes, in spite of loving it, i wonder if all art is a plea for mercy. some art is difficult and ugly. is this too a plea for mercy? or is all art the precipitation of all opposites existing in the world, is all art the muscles born around this, our trying to reckon with this predicament of lack of unity? i wonder.<br /><br />xo<br />erinerinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16636371927224076866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-12578651959760945862011-11-10T18:34:00.563+01:002011-11-10T18:34:00.563+01:00So glad that you are back, Lorenzo, & with suc...So glad that you are back, Lorenzo, & with such a powerful & moving post!Sally Tharpe Rowleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17782027642498401036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-70517733749824085082011-11-09T11:30:34.427+01:002011-11-09T11:30:34.427+01:00blessings!!
xoxoblessings!!<br />xoxoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-91988018857873867332011-11-05T22:44:49.298+01:002011-11-05T22:44:49.298+01:00Fabulous-- out of the shadows, into the light wher...Fabulous-- out of the shadows, into the light where we can encounter you again. xxxxjJenne' R. Andrews https://www.blogger.com/profile/15744946229300234443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-26096836674827618072011-11-05T15:43:28.262+01:002011-11-05T15:43:28.262+01:00Powerful, Lorenzo!Powerful, Lorenzo!A Brush with Colorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07638723986208929476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-71377873543549598602011-11-04T15:13:23.144+01:002011-11-04T15:13:23.144+01:00I completely agree with you, Baino, on how soberin...I completely agree with you, <b>Baino</b>, on how sobering and searing such visits can be. I fully expected and was afraid that it would be a wrenching, practically unbearable experience. Yet, it was more numbing than anything else. I felt like a bit of a zombie walking through the death camp. It was only later that I started to unpack and uncoil the experience. I am still working on it …<br /><br />It’s a thrill to see you here, <b>Kathryn</b>, the author of one of the best poetry blogs out there. I feel very much the same way as you about the engaged and moved reader becoming a co-creator of the poem, and much the same could probably be said about other works of art as well. Your Muertos poem was well timed and deeply felt.<br /><br /><br />Hi, <b>Marc</b>, and welcome to the alchemist’s pillow. I know and appreciate the effort it takes to read and, especially, write in a language other than our mother tongue, so I am grateful to you for reading and commenting here. The credit for the A Year With Rilke blog should mainly go, in all justice, to the two poet/writers who have translated it, Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, who are richly deserving of all the accolades for the fine work they have done. At that blog you can see a link for more info on them and the publisher. Nice to meet you.<br /><br />Hola, <b>Robert</b> of Solitary Walker. Thanks for your kind comment, it’s nice to be back. And please don’t apologize for being late to me of all persons, the prince procrastinator!Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07522265816460154722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-9199408649565296442011-11-04T14:32:47.195+01:002011-11-04T14:32:47.195+01:00A bit late catching up on this... but now I have, ...A bit late catching up on this... but now I have, oh, how wonderful, Lorenzo! Absolutely thrilling. So nice to see you back.The Solitary Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11284354541952038339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-75944054407835351402011-11-04T11:03:08.856+01:002011-11-04T11:03:08.856+01:00Hi, Ellen! Nice to see you being so glibly affirma...Hi, <b>Ellen</b>! Nice to see you being so glibly affirmative here ;)<br /><br />Hello, <b>ksam</b>. I hadn’t seen the news about the Rabbi’s meeting in Poland. I’ll check it out. Thanks.<br /><br />Good morning, <b>Kerry</b>. Sometimes, shivering is the only thing that can keep us warm and help restore any semblance of calm.<br /><br />Thank you so much, <b>Maureen</b>. Yes, this meditation is born from and ends in a deep silence of many kinds, so hearing you say it instills silence is gratifying. You always quarry many riches from the silence. And thanks for the tweet about this post on twitter!<br /><br />Hello, <b>Amanda</b>. I love the way you, whose blog travels in the company of Persephone, the daughter of the harvest goddess, always connect what you write and read with the ancients, while keeping a close eye on our own soil. Like you, I am convinced that the gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines of yesteryear are more actively present in our lives than we are fully aware of. <br /><br />Thanks, <b>Claudia</b>, for the visit and kind words. I was just recently back in your neck of the woods to see my family. Hope you are well.<br /><br />A gift, dear <b>George</b>, is to always know that I have the enthused attention and warm company of blog friends like you. One of the many things that you and I and other blog friends share, I believe, is the conviction that the pilgrimage is all about the trail, not about the final stopping point. Many rich trails to you!Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07522265816460154722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-44350507994187974282011-11-03T15:23:00.650+01:002011-11-03T15:23:00.650+01:00I am translating this as I write. My « mother-tong...I am translating this as I write. My « mother-tongue » being French. I want to say thank you. For this blog and for « A year with Rilke ». Rilke's poetry, I have been reading it for years, acquires a new and formidable dimension through your postings and translations. Great, great work of love and insight.Marchttp://epistolaire.hautetfort.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-39985067228121561392011-11-02T20:19:18.108+01:002011-11-02T20:19:18.108+01:00Lorenzo, gracias for coming to visit me on El Dia ...Lorenzo, gracias for coming to visit me on El Dia de los Muertos! And for this profound meditation, which to me goes straight to the heart of why we create art, for we are co-creators with every work of art that moves us. We become it, as T.S. Eliot says we are to do with a poem. That becoming is mercy personified, given voice and breath.<br /> One of my favorite poems--is it On Childhood?--concludes "Whither, whither?" I had that in mind as I came to the last line of my Muertos poem. KathrynKathryn Stripling Byerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17867152753841610044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-37269800247875830142011-11-02T09:16:40.206+01:002011-11-02T09:16:40.206+01:00There's little, in fact nothing more sobering ...There's little, in fact nothing more sobering than visiting a concentration camp. I think it's one of the most emotional experiences of my life but I'm glad I paid my respects. It's important never to forget. Good to see you posting again.Bainohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14156193098088048637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-50818153018361024752011-11-02T09:08:56.439+01:002011-11-02T09:08:56.439+01:00It’s so nice to see my blog friends here again aft...It’s so nice to see my <b>blog friends</b> here again after my rather long silence of the last few months; for various reasons I have temporarily misplaced my blog persona and voice and been all too silent here and in your comment boxes (although I am still reading all of your regularly). I promise to do better …<br /><br />I apologize for not translating the final three words of the post “Work Will Make You Free” and making clear that this expression, no matter how true it may be, has been made sinisterly famous because it was put up at the entrance of some of the Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz, in what may well qualify as the vilest sarcasm of all time.<br /><br />Hello, <b>Brian</b>, I think nobody could ever be a more diligent or faster commenter than you. As always, I appreciate your warm words and friendship.<br /><br /><br />Hi, <b>Ruth</b>. Good question — is it me or my shadow, or is there a difference? Perhaps only nighttime can offer a reply and let us know what is real and what is shadow; and nighttime, indeed, seems like the source of the other question you pose: <i>Will there be someone to answer our plea, our message in a bottle, even to rescue us? Or will there only be another lonely traveler, another stranded vagabond, even maybe another imprisoned soul, for whom a sliver of light may simply open and grow new life in them, or in us.</i> I have to think that, yes, there are people to answer our plea. Strangely as it seemed at first, blogging provides as a forum and chamber for such meetings.<br /><br />I really appreciate your image of the foul-breathed whisper being a skin-tearing seed (goes so well with the barbwire photo). You close with yet another deep and important query as to what might blossom from that wound. This post is in large part an attempt to explore that question and I am touched and grateful that it has moved you.<br /><br />Hola, <b>Yolanda</b>. You, too, ask an important question: how could I bear to visit Auschwitz? I ask myself that often and wonder what it is that makes me or anyone feel the need to go and take my daughters there? I am still addressing it internally and hope to write a bit more on that soon.<br /><br />Dearest <b>Tess</b>, thank you. It’s beautiful to meet up with you here today. It’s been too long.<br /><br />Hello, <b>ds</b>. I like the simple imperative you extract from all this: pay attention. Yes, that is the key, isn’t it, to any possibility of quarrying meaning from our passage through this world. That’s a great expression the “coccyx of Hell itself”.<br /><br />Thank you, <b>Linnea (Art)</b>, for the visit and comment. Did you know that your blog, Art Ravels, was the very first one I began to follow when I first started blogging? So knowing you appreciate my personal take on the why and what of art is gratifying.Lorenzo — Alchemist's Pillowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07522265816460154722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-39024442429539884292011-11-02T02:47:56.076+01:002011-11-02T02:47:56.076+01:00........but i have to add: not in the way it was m...........but i have to add: not in the way it was meant under that metal arc. <br /><br />goddess forbidAmanda Summerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00942636545948440422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-91897857386759080192011-11-02T01:58:10.314+01:002011-11-02T01:58:10.314+01:00Lorenzo, I could offer a thousand sincere words te...Lorenzo, I could offer a thousand sincere words telling you of the beauty I find in this magnificent poetic meditation. Only one word, however, captures what I feel most about this piece: TRUTH! Every creative act is, at some level, a plea for mercy, a quiet prayer that our lives will somehow have meaning and, ulitmately, be justified. We are all pilgrims, and as you acknowledge so beautifully, every step we take is "a prayer, at the bottom of the heart's well," and "each gulped silence a plea for mercy."<br /><br />Thank you so much for this gift!Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03959953035812596907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-21271663794480825162011-11-02T00:42:12.043+01:002011-11-02T00:42:12.043+01:00A beautiful new posting, Lorenzo. Thank you. Clau...A beautiful new posting, Lorenzo. Thank you. ClaudiaMyLeftBreasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13200824296840553476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-62322475570240920622011-11-01T19:30:37.312+01:002011-11-01T19:30:37.312+01:00a fistful of seed hurled at the eternal soil - oh ...a fistful of seed hurled at the eternal soil - oh my goddess, lorenzo, this sent chills up my spine. such powerful and timely words - our plea for mercy. the ancients knew this well, and particularly at this time of year - as demeter pleaded for the return of her daughter, people of the earth pleaded with the gods to make things grow again. the idea of that seed, suspended under the earth, just waiting.... and we await along with it, holding our collective breath.<br /><br />i believe that to be true, that work makes us free. how lovely to see you back.Amanda Summerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00942636545948440422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-1683992475409784942011-11-01T18:29:11.437+01:002011-11-01T18:29:11.437+01:00A delight to see this new post, Lorenzo.
Your wo...A delight to see this new post, Lorenzo. <br /><br />Your words instill silence.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13290283101378474845noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-80828591517559072822011-11-01T17:25:31.248+01:002011-11-01T17:25:31.248+01:00This gives me shivers, deep down.This gives me shivers, deep down.Kerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15281288495129054688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-6761743107290348492011-11-01T17:14:27.944+01:002011-11-01T17:14:27.944+01:00Beautiful. And yet, inspite of...they endured and...Beautiful. And yet, inspite of...they endured and survived...and have been fruitful...a sweeter more beautiful answer couldn't be found anywhere. Just reading the news today, about the Rabbi's meeting in Poland just now..what could be lovlier? Who was it that really turned to salt and ash there?ksamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01998231466478015431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-83414533291821173792011-11-01T17:14:06.659+01:002011-11-01T17:14:06.659+01:00Oh, yes and yes.Oh, yes and yes.ellen abbotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00535475792150335186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-17717054491954849332011-11-01T15:27:58.806+01:002011-11-01T15:27:58.806+01:00Beautiful.
Thank you.Beautiful.<br /><br />Thank you.Arthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07615345242334094697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-51777077362802334882011-11-01T15:27:24.297+01:002011-11-01T15:27:24.297+01:00A plea for mercy, yes, and a desperate cry to &quo...A plea for mercy, yes, and a desperate cry to "Pay Attention!!" That final whisper a chill blast from the coccyx of Hell itself (and then I remember an article I read last year in which a survivor was quoted as saying "even the trees were green at Auschwitz." Is that a seed, or some terrible crack in the lens?)<br />Thank you for these thoughts, and for the beautiful way you express them. It is good, good to have you back.dshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07616750784052488695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-31627744730333208562011-11-01T14:27:35.438+01:002011-11-01T14:27:35.438+01:00A plea for mercy...a fistful of seed...
Thrilli...A plea for mercy...a fistful of seed... <br /><br />Thrilling to see a new post from you, dear friend.Tess Kincaidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04889725786678984293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6308428467776400130.post-76060678410801988632011-11-01T13:52:24.001+01:002011-11-01T13:52:24.001+01:00auschwitz! cómo lo has aguantado??? yo no podría v...auschwitz! cómo lo has aguantado??? yo no podría verlo!!!<br />love your plea!<br />xoxo<br /><br />(albeit/arbeit... god, i am crazy!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com