Welcome to this week’s 5BF: a gripping horror fiction,
Kierkegaard and his relevance today, importance of breakdown, and more…
1: What I Read
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley – this was my first time
reading horror fiction, and I loved it. Although by horror we quickly conclude,
and should too, that it’ll be scary, but this book was more a thriller and a
really enjoyable book to read than to be scared of. As I said in my review: ‘it
is reading at its simplest and purest form’.
2: This Week’s Article
I still love Kierkegaard @aeon – I recently read a
biographical book about Kierkegaard, an unsung 17th century Danish
philosopher, by Clare Carlisle called ‘Philosopher of the Heart’. This article
pretty much sums up that book in a very precise and important way, and manages
to create the appeal to read Kierkegaard in today’s era by beautifully
summarizing his philosophy on faith and existentialism.
3: Importance of a Breakdown
It can take a lot of fighting alone and despairing in
solitude before one reaches the point of explosion, and then suddenly, one does
actually explode. That’s a breakdown. And this year alone, I’ve been through
many minor and some major ones over a sticking yet intoxication relationship or
breaking away from it. And one of the major ones happened this past week.
Without the space or vocabulary for showing one’s weakness and asking for help,
it’s difficult to come out in a peaceful and unalarming way, at least for me
and where I live, and so a breakdown is inevitable. However, one shouldn’t feel
broken or in pieces afterwards, even if it seems so, and should embrace with
courage the help that follows a breakdown and steer all the attention one gets for
good use. Breakdown is an explosive, wholesome, and sometimes important way to
break away from the terrible things, and thereafter, taking the first step
towards something better. Hang in there (myself).
4: A Poem: ‘A blessing’ by James Wright
“Just off the highway to
Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.”
Listen to this beautiful poem, recited and explained, here
on Poetry Unbound podcast. It’s about nature, and loneliness, and winning love…
something to shine a light on our worn out souls.
5: This Week’s Quote:
‘When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago’. – Friedrich Nietzsche