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Shock and Awe
I mentioned in an earlier post that “shock and awe” seemed a good description of a numinous encounter, except that it had gained military connotations. Now “shock and awe” is meant to demoralise, to force surrender. But I want “shock and awe” to mean challenge, invitation, a kick from the place you were to the…
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Charity
Never noticed in the busy room,the cleaner gathers, mops, carts awaytorn and cut, discarded clothessome to police and someshe takes from the great waste binto wash, dry, ironand cut. Squares like leaves drowning her chair.The TV mumuring.Precise stitchesjoining square to square,making wholea pattern of loss. Prisoners sleep beneath donated quilts.
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Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star is a pilgrimmage of farewell. Paul Theroux is following himself thirty years ago. He calls himself a ghost, but his readers are even more ghostly, distanced by his distance. I like travel books which share the writer’s experience of people and places in a direct style. In Ghost Train…