Cloud Poetry

In 1115 Bernard became abbot of the new Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, a position he held until his death in 1153. Bernard had little time to tend his flock, though, since he soon became a religious superstar. Recognized as the foremost preacher of his day, he traveled widely, wrote prolifically, and was involved to the hilt in papal politics, opposition to heresy, and the planning of a crusad...

In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. AVE MARIA, gratia plena, Dominus tecum....

Segments from “Brunelleschi’s Dome” by Ross King about the conception and building of Firenze’s Duomo cupola.

Sign of the Cross In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen The Lord’s Prayer PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen. The...

Readings of poems by William Blake, Du Fu, Basho. 10 haiku in the wabi sabi style by Basho (1644). 4 short poems by William Blake (1789). Two poems by world-weary drunkard Du Fu (766)

An introduction to Diogenes the Cynic and William Blake’s “The Proverbs of Hell”

Dante, Alighieri: A Divina Comédia. Inferno. Canto I. Halfway through his life, the poet Dante finds himself wandering alone in a dark forest, having lost his way on the “true path” (I.10). He says that he does not remember how he lost his way, but he has wandered into a fearful place, a dark and tangled valley. Above, he sees a great hill that seems to offer protection from the shadowed glen. The...

Sacred poems and songs from G. Van der Leeuw’s “Religion in Essence and Manifestation”

Segments from G. Van der Leeuw’s “Religion in Essence and Manifestation”, 1938

Segments from Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving”

Segment from “The Melancholy of Race”, where the exoticized vs traditional beauty of Asian Americans is enacted in Hollywood’s only Asian musical, “Flower Drum Song”

Segment from “The Melancholy of Race” by Anne Anlin Cheng

Ovid’s description of bathing Goddesses

Segments from “Melancholy of Race” by Anne Anlin Cheng

Monkey

Segments from Erich Fromm’s “The Art of Loving”

Articles I find interesting

From the East Hampton Town website, an introduction to the town.

James Hillman goes back to classical theories in terms of the poetics of mythology. He relates our dreaming life to the myths of the Underworld - the dark side of the soul, its images and shadows - and to the gods and figures of death.

A brief history of Mankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Selection of news articles

An Anthology by Harold Bloom and Jesse Zuba

44 poems by Nuala Ní Dhomhnail.

Stuff

Tracing the history of sugar and beef production in global energy consumption.