Monthly Archives: June 2016

Nude on a blue cushion – 1917 Amedeo Modigliani     An unexamined life . It is all in the file: the size of the dust mote he disturbed when he saw her outside the window; why he once cried … Continue reading →

Photo: De Waal Venter Lit room . Light filled the living room; it moved around lazily, sniffing at objects. Light touched the glass bear, stroked its transparent features, enticed a smile from the stolid animal. It ran fingers over the … Continue reading →

  A letter sent . Paper receives ink; it lies there in curved lines, straight lines, dots. . Paper folds over itself, protects the code of its ink. . Paper unfolded by a woman’s fingers. Held in the light. The … Continue reading →

Pablo Neruda   Tus pies Pablo Neruda Jou voete Wanneer ek nie na jou gesig kan kyk nie kyk ek na jou voete. Jou voete met benige boë jou harde klein voete. Ek weet hulle dra jou, en dat jou … Continue reading →

Time, the long and short of it . Atoms unite in a tiny fraction of time, molecules reach out and roll around each other to form proteins in seconds. Proteins fold together in minutes to turn into genes. Genes spiral … Continue reading →

Photo: De Waal Venter Sizing up or down . Water rises in the trunk, not fast but steadily water rises. Steadily the earth rolls on its axis, on its orbit around the sun. My heart is beating, I can hear … Continue reading →

Fotografika: De Waal Venter   Raakpunte . Haar vingerpunte raak lig aan die maan, streel oor die lang walvisblou van die Atlantiese Oseaan, druk versigtig op klam lugmassas om die ewenaar, af ondertoe oor die Kalahari, wes oor dorpe en … Continue reading →

Making sense . Yanni was in a hurry this morning. As she plaited her hair she said, Take this down: . Leopards of yellow sand spotted with specks of clouded sun ran like oiled racehorses along the beach. . Gannets … Continue reading →

Photo: de Waal Venter Cloudwatcher . He worked as fast as he could to record the shape of the approaching cloud. His two cameras were taking a photo every half second to capture the continuous change in shape of the … Continue reading →

Pablo Neruda   Vuelve Otoño Pablo Neruda . “Autumn returning” is one of Pablo Neruda’s better-known poems. He describes the returning autumn in different ways in his characteristic style. Adjectives are associated with nouns in ways that often look bizarre … Continue reading →