An Italian poem of World War I – “Last Rite”, Clemente Rebora
The current TLS has a piece by NS Thompson on Italian poets of the First World War, along with translations by Thompson of some of their works. Futurism, which glorified…
For Armistice Day: Franz Marc RIP
It is of course one hundred years exactly since the end of World War I – the “War To End All Wars”, which turned out to be false advertising. A…
Desfinado – Stringspace
If you liked Blossom Dearie singing “Somebody New”, you will love this:
Some stained glass from Notre-Dame-De-La-Tronchaye, Rochefort-en-Terre, Morbihan, France
This fine church is located in what was apparently deemed in 2016 the favourite village of the French. It is a rather charming (and quite busy) place. Tradition has it…
Ritchie’s Milky Mints van
Made in Inchicore, Ritchie’s Milky Mints (and their other products) have a cheeringly straightforward design aesthetic which is blissfully immune, it seems, to rebranding. I was glad to recently see a van in…
Fighting Talk
The power drips from the open wounds. The big guns lie silent, resting for the next time. The phantom stalks the air, peering Into the muzzles, bathing in their Dominion,…
Meet the dung cannon, the cabbage parachute, the crystal brain , the mousepee pinkgill, the midnight disco, and the scurfy twiglet
All the above are fungi, as I have discovered from reading John Wright’s “The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names” When I was a medical student I did…
Shrewstruck
From “The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names” by John Wright It may sound extraordinary, but until recently the shrew had a most fearsome reputation.…
Séamus Sweeney 