POETS UNITED - JUSTICE

“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke

Justice is meant to be blind and we are familiar with the image of Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice holding the balance of judgement while blindfolded. When one thinks of a court of law, one thinks of justice. Judges are meant to serve justice and be impartial, disinterested, unbiased and unprejudiced when considering a case before them.

We now see corruption in the judiciary becoming increasingly common and judges are exposed to be willfully violating their oath of office. Justice is not being served in an astonishing number of cases, with verdicts leaving the public perplexed, and the innocent becoming victims of a corrupt legal system. Read more about this topic here.

Poets United today has as its theme “Justice” and invites participants to: “Create a poem centering on Justice or Poetic Justice”. Here is my offering:

The Fillips of Hope

Sacrificing all to dark gods –

Who ever more bloodthirstily demand –

You lose your dignity.

Killing all traces of humanity

While burying deeply all regrets,

You lose your probity.

A faceless ghost of who you were

A vampire feeding on the blood of justice

Your silence makes the evil stronger.

The bloodless lips won’t speak out

The wide-open eyes refuse to see,

Your ears hear, but won’t listen.

Is every cell of yours malignant now?

Has heart become so petrified,

Has soul escaped you so completely?

Is cruel body just an empty shell,

Are tendons tightly drawn so taut

In attitudes of ever-attacking fury?

Your brazen corpse, so empty

Should let the hardened shell at least to crack,

Admit the light, truth, justice, love…

And then your every cell would resonate

As the sounds of hope enter it and act as fillips,

To effect your metamorphosis,

From noisome grub to brilliant butterfly.

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE 2015

“There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart.” - Daisaku Ikeda

The news from Nepal is getting worse and worse after last Saturday’s massive quake. The 2015 Nepal earthquake (also referred to as the Himalayan earthquake) occurred at 11:56 NST on 25 April with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.8 or 8.1Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of IX (Violent). Its epicenter was approximately 34 km east-southeast of Lamjung, Nepal, and its hypocenter was at a depth of approximately 15 km.

It was the most powerful disaster to strike Nepal since the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. As of 28 April 2015, more than 5,000 people were believed to have died as a result, with casualties reported in Nepal and adjoining areas of India, China, and Bangladesh. Within minutes of the earthquake, the Government of India, via the Indian Armed Forces, initiated Operation Maitri (English: Operation Amity), a massive humanitarian mission with the primary objective of conducting relief and rescue operations in Nepal. The Indian government also evacuated Indian and foreign citizens from Nepal.

The earthquake triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest, killing at least 18 people. The death toll surpassed that of the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche, making it the most lethal day on the mountain. It triggered another huge avalanche in Langtang valley where 250 are missing. The quake and avalanches have changed the geography of the region and it is believed that Mt Everest may be a metre higher after the disaster.

Centuries-old buildings were destroyed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley, including some at the Kathmandu Durbar Square. Nepal’s government has declared three days of mourning after the quake. Continued aftershocks occurred throughout Nepal, with one shock reaching a magnitude of 6.7 on 26 April at 12:54:08 NST.

Prime Minister Sushil Koirala has announced that the death toll in Nepal’s earthquake could reach 10,000. Survivors’ despair is turning to anger at the government’s slow response to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country, with food, water and other essentials in desperately short supply. At the moment, more than 10,000 people have been injured, however, there are warnings the full extent of the tragedy will not be known until rescue teams have reached “flattened” villages in remote regions.

You can help by visiting these websites where donations are accepted:

UNRefugees

AmeriCares

World Vision 

MOVIE MONDAY - TAKE 10

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” - OrsonWelles

For Movie Monday, here are ten films I’ve watched all beginning with the letter “A”. They are all notable in some way and some of them are extremely enjoyable. See what you think of my list, and if you like, construct a similar list of titles of films you’ve seen and liked beginning with the letter of your choice!

Allegro non Troppo (1976; Italy) – An enthusiastic filmmaker thinks he’s come up with a totally original idea: Animation set to classical music! When he is informed that some American named “Prisney” (or something) has already done it, he decides to do his own version, using an orchestra comprised mostly of old ladies and an animator he’s kept locked in a dungeon. Several different classical pieces are animated, while the animator plots his escape. A humorous and rather whacky take on Disney’s “Fantasia” by Bruno Bozzetto.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074121/)

America, America (1963; USA) – It is somewhere around 1900. We watch a young Greek who lives a miserable life in Turkey, selling ice in the town market. Although the Greeks are oppressed by the Turks, they refuse to leave the land of their ancestors. But, our hero has a different opinion: Sick of being humiliated in a daily basis, he decides to gather some money, and travel to Constantinoupolis. From there he will be able to fulfil his dream of “escaping” to America... A classic film by Elia Kazan.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056825/)

Angels and Demons (2009; USA) – Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meagre time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth. Ron Howard’s thriller, riding on the wake of “The Da Vinci Code”.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808151/)

Anna Karenina (1935; USA) – Clarence Brown’s version of the Tolstoy classic. This version of the novel lingers longer in Moscow during the weeks that follow the initial meeting of the starstruck lovers-to-be Vronsky and Anna Karenina. The story as it unfolds, also focuses on Kitty, a young woman who is related to Anna’s sister-in-law whose marital rift has brought Anna to Moscow. Until Anna shows up, Kitty had hopes of getting Vronsky, who is single and well connected, to propose to her. Ignored by Vronsky, Kitty turns her attention to another suitor, a man who seems to have a lot in common with Tolstoy.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026071/)

Après Vous (2003; France) – Antoine is a maitre d’ in a Paris brasserie, ‘Chez Jean’, and is so very conscientious and so loves being of service to others that he can’t say ‘no’. Late for dinner with his girlfriend, Christine, he takes a shortcut home through the park but finds a stranger, Louis, in the act of committing suicide by hanging. Louis is distraught by the loss of his girlfriend, Blanche, and is so grateful that he attaches himself to Antoine. Antoine arranges a job for Louis - as a sommelier at ‘Chez Jean’ and sets about trying to repair Louis’ life... Light French comedy by Pierre Salvadori.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344604/)

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944; USA) – Mortimer Bruster is a newspaperman and author, known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him getting married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is left to do is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer’s two maiden aunts the good news about the nuptials. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts’ hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse for poor Mortimer… A classic, riotous farce from Frank Capra.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036613/)

As it is in Heaven (2004; Sweden/Denmark) – A successful international conductor suddenly interrupts his career and returns alone to his childhood village in Norrland, in the far north of Sweden. It doesn’t take long before he is asked to come and listen to the fragment of a church choir, which practises every Thursday in the parish hall. “Just come along and give a little bit of good advice”, he is asked… He can’t say no, and from that moment, nothing in the village is the same again. The choir develops and grows. He makes both friends and enemies. And he finds love. A delightful romantic comedy from Kay Pollak.
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0382330/)

Atonement (2007; UK/France/USA) – Joe Wright’s dark tale of false accusations and childish piques that change the courses of several lives. When Briony Tallis, 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia and Robbie Turner at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed…
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/)

Autumn in New York (2000; USA) – A May-December romance. He’s 48, on the cover of New York magazine, an upscale restauranteur, and a womaniser who rejects ideas of love. She’s 22, living with her grandmother, artistic, facing a tumour that’s life-threatening, which she tells him about the morning after their first night, when he tells her not to expect permanence from him. Will finds Charlotte unprecedented and unpredictable, and experiences feelings of love, but she packs him off when he’s casually unfaithful. He’s stung, and he’s also flummoxed by the appearance of a young woman from his past. Can he convince Charlotte to take him back, and can he help her through her illness and change his irresponsible ways? A dark chick flick from Joan Chen
(www.imdb.com/title/tt0174480/)

Avanti! (1972; USA) - Wendell (Jack Lemmon) goes to Italy to pick up his father’s body after an automobile accident. He soon finds that his self-righteous elderly father had been having an affair with Pamela’s (Juliet Mills) mother for the past 10 years. The two parents were known as the model romantic couple at the hotel contrary to the image that the two offspring had of them. Wendell and Pamela embark on a journey where they discover who their parents were, but also learn much about themselves… Billy Wilder’s fond adieu to the 1960s romantic comedy genre.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068240/)

ART SUNDAY - VIGÉE-LE BRUN

“I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” - B. R. Ambedkar

Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (April 16, 1755 - March 30, 1842) was a French painter, and is recognised as the most famous female painter of the eighteenth century. Her style is neoclassical in that it exhibits ideals of simplicity and purity. Her work can also be considered Rococo in its grace, delicacy, and naturalism.

She was born in Paris, Marie Élisabeth-Louise Vigée, the daughter of a portraitist and fan painter, Louis Vigée, from whom she received her first lessons. She also benefited by the advice of Gabriel François Doyen, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Joseph Vernet, and other masters of the period. By the time she was in her early teens, she was painting portraits professionally. After her studio was seized, for practicing without a license, she applied to the Académie de Saint Luc, which willingly exhibited her works in their Salon. On 25 October 1774, she was made a member of the Académie.

In 1776, she married Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun, a painter and art dealer. She painted portraits of many of the nobility of the day and as her career blossomed, she was invited to the Palace of Versailles to paint Marie Antoinette, the French Queen consort. So pleased was the queen that over the next several years, Vigée-Le Brun was commissioned to do numerous portraits of the queen, her children, and other members of the royal family and household.

In 1781 she and her husband toured Flanders and the Netherlands where seeing the works of the Flemish masters inspired her to try new techniques. There, she painted portraits of some of the nobility, including the Prince of Nassau. On May 31, 1783, Vigée Le Brun was accepted as a member of France’s Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture as a painter of historical allegory. Adélaïde Labille-Guiard also was admitted on the same day. The admission of Vigée-Le Brun was opposed on the grounds that her husband was an art dealer, but eventually objections were overruled by an order from Louis XVI because Marie-Antoinette put considerable pressure on her husband on behalf of her painter.

The admission of more than one woman on the same day to the Académie encouraged comparisons among the works of the women instead of one woman contrasted with the existing members, who were men. In 1789, she was succeeded as court painter to Marie Antoinette by Alexander Kucharsky.

After the arrest of the royal family during the French Revolution Vigée-Le Brun fled France. She lived and worked for some years in Italy, Austria, and Russia, where her experience in dealing with an aristocratic clientèle was still useful. In Rome, her paintings met with great critical acclaim and she was elected to the Roman Accademia di San Luca. In Russia, she was received by the nobility and painted numerous members of the family of Catherine the Great. While there, Vigée-Le Brun was made a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of Saint Petersburg.

She was welcomed back to France during the reign of Emperor Napoleon I. Much in demand by the élite of Europe, she visited England at the beginning of the nineteenth century and painted the portrait of several British notables including Lord Byron. In 1807 she traveled to Switzerland and was made an honorary member of the Société pour l’ Avancement des Beaux-Arts of Geneva.

She published her memoirs in 1835 and 1837, which provide an interesting view of the training of artists at the end of the period dominated by royal academies. Her portrait of fellow neoclassical painter, Hubert Robert, is in Paris at Musee National du Louvre. Still very active with her painting in her fifties, she purchased a house in Louveciennes, Île-de-France, and lived there until the house was seized by the Prussian Army during the war in 1814. She stayed in Paris until her death on March 30, 1842 when her body was taken back to Louveciennes and buried in the cemetery near her old home. Her tombstone epitaph states “Ici, enfin, je repose…” (Here, at last, I rest…).

Vigée-Le Brun left a legacy of 660 portraits and 200 landscapes. In addition to private collections, her works may be found at major museums, such as Hermitage Museum, London’s National Gallery, in Europe and the United States. The painting above, “The Marquise de Pezay and the Marquise de Rougé with Her Sons Alexis and Adrien”, painted in 1787 is exhibited at the National Gallery of Art and exemplifies well her refined and highly accomplished style. Intimate portraits of women and children were Vigée-Le Brun’s specialty and were highly popular with her aristocratic sitters.

MUSIC SATURDAY - ANZAC DAY REQUIEM

“Dulce et decorum est
 pro patria mori.” - Horace

April 25th is Anzac Day, the anniversary of the first major military campaign fought by Australian and New Zealand forces in WWI. ANZAC is an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and the soldiers in these corps became known as Anzacs. In 1914, at the outbreak of WWI, Australia had been a federal commonwealth for only thirteen years, and the new federal government was eager to establish Australia as a sovereign nation amongst the others in the world. In 1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the Allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula to open the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navies, in order to capture Istanbul. They landed at Gallipoli on 25th of April, meeting fierce resistance from the Turkish defenders of the site.

What was supposed to be a masterstroke to eliminate Turkey from the war became a stalemate, and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915 the allied forces were evacuated after both sides had suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian and 2,700 New Zealand soldiers were killed. News of the landing at Gallipoli made a profound impact on Australians at home and 25th of April quickly became the day on which Australians remembered the sacrifice of those who had died in war. An excellent film to see, highlighting the Gallipoli campaign from the Australian perspective is Peter Weir’s “Gallipoli” (1981).

Today in Australia we marked this solemn day with dawn services, commemorative parades, talks and special exhibitions. Anzac Day is a national public holiday and is one of the most spiritual and solemn days of the year for all Australians. This year the commemorative events are particularly widespread and important as we mark the centennial of the landing of the Anzacs in Gallipoli in 1915.

Anzac Day is a solemn day to mark our war losses, but more importantly it is a day to contemplate upon the futility of war and to actively promote peace. I am mindful that a lot of my readers may have children, partners, friends fighting in wars at this time and my heart goes out to you in empathy.

For Music Saturday, a Requiem Mass by André Campra (baptised 4 December 1660 in Aix-en-Provence – 29 June 1744 in Versailles). Campra was a French composer and conductor. Who was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several “tragédies en musique”, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, “opéra-ballet”. He also wrote three books of cantatas as well as religious music, including the Requiem below.

Campra was the son of Jean-François Campra, a surgeon and violinist from Graglia, in Italy, and of Louise Fabry, from Aix-en-Provence. His father was his first music teacher. On December 3, 1660, he was baptised in the Église de la Madeleine in Aix. He became a choirboy in the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur in Aix in 1674, and commenced ecclesiastical studies four years later.

He was reprimanded by his superiors in 1681 for having taken part in theatrical performances without permission, but was nevertheless made a chaplain on 27 May of that year.From 1694 to 1700, he was maître de musique (music director) at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, after having served in a similar capacity in Arles and Toulouse. Campra controversially brought violins into the making of sacred music at Notre-Dame de Paris, which at the time was seen as very avant-garde due to their reputation as ‘street instruments’.

He began to turn toward the theatre in 1697 and published some theatrical compositions under his brother’s name to protect his reputation within the church. In 1700 he gave up his post at Notre-Dame and concentrated on his theatrical music to critical success. By 1705 he was a musical celebrity but this resulted in him becoming a target for negative articles in the press. From 1720 onwards, he returned to the composition of sacred music.

Although Campra had obtained critical success he did not have financial security and hence in 1722 he was engaged by the Prince of Conti as maître de musique although this appointment was short lived. After the death of the regent, Campra became sous-maître at the Royal Chapel in Versailles in 1723. In 1730 he became the Inspecteur Général at the Opéra (Royal Academy of Music).He died at the age of 83.With his composition of L'Europe galante he was the true genius of the opéra-ballet, a musical genre originated by Pascal Colasse (in his Ballet des saisons).

Messe Des Morts (Requiem) – Composed after 1723

1. Introit

2. Kyrie (7:51)

3. Graduel (14:08)

4. Offertoire (20:59) Offertoire (Suite) (26:29)

5. Sanctus (32:14)

6. Agnus Dei (36:13)

7. Post Communion (43:07)

With Judith Nelson, Soprano; Dinah Harris, Soprano; Jean-Claude Orliac, Tenor; Wynford Evans, Tenor; Stephen Roberts, Bass; Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (1979).

FOOD FRIDAY - ANZAC BISCUITS

“If I have got to be a soldier, I must be a good one, anything else is unthinkable.” - Wilfred Owen

As Anzac Day is tomorrow, Food Friday today offers you the recipe for Anzac Biscuits. These are sweet biscuits, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, desiccated coconut, sugar, butter, golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water.

Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) established in World War I. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives and mothers to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. Today, Anzac biscuits are manufactured commercially for retail sale. Biscuits issued to soldiers by the Army, referred to as “Anzac tiles” or “Anzac wafers”, differ from the popular Anzac biscuit. Anzac tiles and wafers were hard tack, a bread substitute, which had a long shelf life and was very hard.

The term “Anzac” is protected under Australian law and cannot be used in Australia without permission from the Minister for Veterans' Affairs; misuse can be legally enforced particularly for commercial purposes. Likewise similar restrictions on naming are enshrined in New Zealand law where the Governor General can elect to enforce naming legislation. There is a general exemption granted for Anzac biscuits, as long as these biscuits remain basically true to the original recipe and are both referred to and sold as Anzac biscuits and never as cookies!

ANZAC BISCUITS

Ingredients

150g (1 cup) plain flour

90g (1 cup) rolled oats

85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut

100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar

125g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Combine flour, oats, coconut and combined sugar in a large bowl.

Stir the butter, golden syrup and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. Add to the oat mixture and stir until well combined.

Roll level tablespoonfuls of the oat mixture into balls and place, about 5cm apart, on the prepared trays. Flatten until about 1cm thick. Bake, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 15 minutes or until light golden.

Set aside for 10 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

ORGANIC FOOD

“What is necessary to keep providing good care to nature has completely fallen into ignorance during the materialism era.” - Rudolf Steiner

Organic food is a growing concern around the world and in many of the Western industrialised nations, it is also big business, as more and more people are consuming it. Organic farmers and food producers grow and produce food without using synthetic chemicals (such as pesticides or artificial fertilisers). They do not use genetically modified (GM) components, or expose food to irradiation for any reason. 

Generally, organic food production also takes into account animal welfare and environmental sustainability. The term organic can also cover animal produce, such as eggs, which are free-range (and not from caged – i.e. battery) hens.

Most people living in Australia, the USA, Western Europe can walk into a supermarket or specialist store and buy organic fruit and vegetables, dried legumes, grains, meat and meat products, dairy foods, eggs, honey and some processed foods. In order for a product to be deemed “organic” it has to come from a certified organic food producer. Organic farms are thus designated only after they have been operating according to organic principles for three years. However, one must use caution because in many countries the use of the word “organic” is not regulated, and theoretically, anything which is not organic can be marketed thus.

Animals raised according to certified organic principles are treated humanely. Chickens are free-range and not kept in battery cages, cows are not kept in confined feed lots. Animals are not fed any growth-regulating drugs, steroids, hormones or antibiotics. However, animals may be treated with vaccines to prevent disease. Protecting the environment and working in harmony with existing ecosystems is a prime feature of these food production facilities. Conserving water, soil and energy, and using renewable resources and natural farming cycles is a standard modus operandi. Traditional farming methods are often used, such as rotating crops to prevent depleting the soil of nutrients and allowing land to become fallow or sown for a season with soil-enriching plants such as clover.

It is often not realised, that organic foods are not necessarily completely chemical free, but the pesticide residues are considerably lower than those found in foods produced with synthetic chemicals. Certain naturally occurring pesticides, including pyrethrins, light oils, copper and sulphur, together with biological pesticides such as the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis are permitted in organic farms. Some people buy organic produce because they are concerned about pesticides, antibiotics or other chemical residues in conventionally-produced food. Although pesticide residues in fruit and vegetables are monitored in Australia, organic food consumers believe organic food is healthier. 

Others, appreciate that organic foods promote a healthier and more sustainable use of the environment, and more humane treatment of animals. Also, some people worry about the possible long-term health, economic and environmental consequences of GM foods and prefer to support an industry that doesn’t use GM techniques.

The Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner pioneered biodynamic farming, which places strong emphasis on ecological harmony and environmental sustainability. Biodynamic food is grown with particular composts, growth-promoting practices and natural activating substances. Excessive use of chemicals and modern farming methods have led to a decline in soil fertility and an increase in salinity and blue-green algae in waterways over many years. Organic farmers try to minimise damage to the environment by using physical weed control and animal and green manure. Quite a lot of Steiner’s ideas and methods are used in organic farming.

Many studies have been published that compare the nutritional content of organic and conventionally grown plants, and most have shown no significant differences in nutritional content. However, some researchers maintain that although the differences are small, some organic food has lower nitrate levels, higher vitamin C levels and higher levels of selenium. Having read many published literature on the subject, I would not use the argument of “higher nutritional content” in promoting organic food.

Organic food is considerably more expensive because production is more labour-intensive and without herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals, the yield is generally smaller. However, many organic food outlets can take the consumer on a price hike that is quite unacceptable. To take an apt example (this being citrus season) my local supermarket had conventionally-produced oranges for sale at $1.10 per kg. Next door, a health food shop was selling organic oranges at $7.50 per kg. A greengrocer down the street was selling organic oranges at $4.90 per kg. Many people buy organic produce over the internet (for example, here is a site in Brisbane: http://www.organicfoods.com.au/).

The Australian organic food industry is currently worth around $200–$250 million per year domestically and a further $50–$80 million per year in exports with an expected annual growth of up to 60 per cent. Consumer demand is growing at a rate of 20–30% per year, with retail sales increasing 670% between 1990 and 2002. I do not go out of my way to buy organic food, but if it is available and reasonably priced, I prefer it over conventionally-produced food. The fruit and vegetables that we grow in our garden are grown organically and I must say that nothing that we buy in shops tastes quite like the home-grown stuff!

POETS UNITED - EARTH DAY

“We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all.” - Wangari Maathai

This is the first time I am joining Poets United upon Mary’s invitation (thank you, Mary!). The theme this Wednesday is very aptly, Earth Day, which we have just marked off our calendar on April 22.

The destruction of the environment, increasing pollution, nuclear leaks, fallout, mutants and destruction of our planet are all issues that are now commonplace. This poem echoes what is illustrated: A nightmare where in the grey-blue skies and sea hang over the smoking cooling towers of the nuclear power plant and the metal derricks of rampant technological progress. The low-hanging deleterious smog makes of the winged elephant an evil portent of what is to come unless we change…

When Elephants will Fly

My genome hurts,

The water burns,

And air corrodes my tissues.

My body shrieks,

Each cell distraught,

As sea turns to acid, biting into bony beach.

My flesh creeps,

And cancers rage,

The wars within diminishing me.

My eyes extinguished,

My touch long-lost,

With oily residue polluting my pores.

Plutonium coats the sand, and cobalt paints the sky;

Iodine seas scintillate and thorium pebbles glow.

Each rasping breath begins a murderous clone of cells within me,

Rampant mutations that make me a freak in a sideshow.

My back sprouts wings,

My bones dissolve,

And thick skin turns to mush.

My life shortens,

My brain is porous

As radioactivity punctures me.

My world is ending,

My dreams defiled

The downfall of my species imminent.

My tribe extinct,

My peers unrecognisable

In monstrous transformations.

Uranium stars and curium moon that poisonously glow,

A rapidly burning palladium sun that turns all to ash.

Each step a torture, each touch an agony,

Liberation only in death, when elephants will fly.

EARTH DAY 2015

“The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.” - Havelock Ellis

I met an alien today, who had just clambered out of his spaceship in a forest where I was walking. He approached me and we looked at each other in wonderment. He spread his hands out in a greeting, and bewitched he looked at the beautiful green trees, the flowing stream, the butterflies flitting about, the birds singing and the clear blue sky above. He gently touched a flower and his words formed in my mind:

“You live on a beautiful planet, I don’t think I’ve seen one more beautiful in all of my travels across the universe.”

“I know,” I replied, “but many of my fellow humans often forget it…”

“It is as fragile as it is beautiful, like a soap bubble or a clear crystal.” He continued.

“Beautiful things are easily spoilt.” I mused. “And we earthlings are not as wise as this planet deserves. We have evolved, it is true, but we have lost our sensitivity and we have become unbalanced.”

He looked at me sadly and he sat down on the grass, tenderly. He breathed in deeply and his thoughts merged with mine again:

“Your air is still fragrant and fresh here. I come from an elderly planet that my ancestors poisoned and which is now dying. We were forced to abandon it, searching for a new habitable world. A pity that such a beautiful planet as yours is inhabited. I would have liked to live here. Is there another one like it nearby?”

“No,” I replied, “this is a rare and enchanting planet, and you will have to search long and hard to find another like it. Alas, my fellows do not appreciate it as they should.”

“Why do you say that? I see a green forest, a clear stream, birds, animals, butterflies, you!” He said.

“This is one of the last few vestiges of wilderness. In South America the rainforest is being burnt. In Asia the trees are being cut down for timber. We waste our precious resources, we fail to renew and we do not think of the future. We are poisoning our oceans and polluting our air. We are driving our animals to extinction and the sun once our friend is now burning us. Our glaciers are melting and our seas are rising. Earthquakes are happening all the more frequently and tidal waves are drowning our islands. The climate is disrupted and we are hurtling towards destruction. We are blind and do not see the precipice which yawns open in front of us…”

He looked at me tears welled in his eyes.

“Then, you too are destined to become interstellar refugees like us…”

I nodded and gestured around me at the precious reserve where I worked.

“Stay a while, be my guest, I befriend whoever appreciates what we are losing.”

“No, I must away! My people are depending on me. But please, may take a few seeds with me? A flower or two and a green branch? The mothership is in orbit high above and they will rejoice in what I shall take back with me, if you give it me.”

I gave him what he wanted and more. He who has lost something precious deserves at least a memory of what he squandered.

Happy Earth Day, April 22, 2015

Please, let us not lose the irreplaceable…

MOVIE MONDAY - THE PARADISE

“You walk into a retail store, whatever it is, and if there’s a sense of entertainment and excitement and electricity, you wanna be there.” - Howard Schultz

We are watching a rather interesting BBC TV series at the moment, Bill Gallagher’s 2012 “The Paradise” starring Joanna Vanderham, Emun Elliott, Stephen Wight, Sonya Cassidy, Elaine Cassidy, Sarah Lancashire, and Matthew McNulty. This is a series based on Émile Zola’s (1840–1902) novel “Au Bonheur des Dames” (= The Ladies’ Paradise). The novel is set in the world of the department store, an innovative development in mid-nineteenth century retail sales. Zola modelled his store after ‘Le Bon Marché’, which consolidated under one roof many of the goods hitherto sold in separate shops. The narrative details many of Le Bon Marché’s innovations, including its mail-order business, its system of commissions, its in-house staff commissary, and its methods of receiving and retailing goods.

The series has been adapted from the book by its creators to be quite English, the department store in question being renamed “The Paradise”, which is situated in England, with all characters British. If you are familiar with the novel, Monsieur Octave Mouret becomes Mr John Moray, Denise Baudu becomes Denise Lovett, and so on. The BBC used the novel as the basis for an eight-part television series making up the first season, and as this was successful, a second series was launched in October 2013. We are nearly through the first season and we have enjoyed this quite a lot.

As is the case with most BBC period dramas, the settings, costumes, acting and direction are impeccable and one gets a very clear impression of another time, becoming immersed in 19th century manners and mores. Emun Elliot as the charismatic retail magnate Moray, and Joanna Vanderham as the initially demure but fast developing shop-girl-on-the-way-up Denise, while the rest of cast support well, some in a studiously understated manner, others with more exuberance.

While watching this I was reminded of the highly successful British comedy series, the 1972-1985 “Are you Being Served?”, also set in a department store, but of course contemporary in setting and farcical in intent. Nevertheless, one could perhaps see a few touches here and there that were similar to ‘The Paradise’. I should also mention of course, that “Downton Abbey” is another TV series that I was reminded of, although there was hardly anything similar between the two shows. I think that if you enjoyed “Downton Abbey”, you are most likely to enjoy “the Paradise” as well.

Those who have read Zola’s novel may be a little disappointed as the series was “inspired” by it and what you see on TV is not a faithful rendition of Zola’s work, as say serialised Jane Austen novels are. However, the main ideas of Zola’s novel are there: Progress will not be halted, whether for the better or for the worse, and big business will relentlessly and irreversibly destroy small business…

I am now curious to see what will occur in the second season, as apparently this has fewer references to Zola’s novel, but according to the viewing statistics it still remained highly popular amongst viewers. We shall see what we shall see…

ART SUNDAY - CEZANNE & STILL LIFE

“With an apple I will astonish Paris.” - Paul Cézanne

Contemplating a painting can be a form of meditation. I often like to concentrate on a single painting, look at it, revel in its colour and composition, analyse its lines and delve into the artist’s process of creation. Often there is no better painting to do it with than an abstract one, or perhaps a still life. Once I have dissected the painting in my mind, once I have examined all its details, dipped into its colours and lines, I may go on and sketch some detail of it, draw out the lines of its compositional framework, or even copy it wholesale.

There is no better exercise for the budding painter than to copy works of the masters. Copy them, adapt them, be inspired from them, create new works of arts from them. How many of the great masters of the past have done the same! And in the process, some of them have created great works, sometimes surpassing that which inspired them. One can see the original painting and the new work of art and acknowledge both as unique and different pieces.

A single painting for this Art Sunday, Paul Cézanne’s “Still Life”, painted sometime between 1890-94. A work in oils on canvas, now in a private collection (imagine that hanging on your wall!).

Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) was a French painter who is often called the father of modern art. He strove to develop an ideal synthesis of naturalistic representation, personal expression, and abstract pictorial order.  He was the son of a wealthy banker and his boyhood companion was Émile Zola, who later gained fame as a novelist and man of letters. In 1862, after a number of bitter family disputes, the aspiring artist was given a small allowance and sent to study art in Paris, where Zola had already gone. From the start he was drawn to the more radical elements of the Parisian art world. He especially admired the romantic painter Eugène Delacroix and, among the younger masters, Gustave Courbet and the notorious Edouard Manet, who exhibited realist paintings that were shocking in both style and subject matter to most of their contemporaries.

Though Cézanne considered the study of nature essential to painting, he nevertheless opposed many aspects of the Impressionistic ideals. He declared: ‘I wanted to make of Impressionism something solid and enduring, like the art in museums.’ Believing colour and form to be inseparable, he tried to emphasise structure and solidity in his work, features he thought neglected by Impressionism. For this reason he was a central figure in Post-Impressionism. He rarely dated his works (and often did not sign them either), which makes it hard to ascertain the chronology of his works. Until the end of his life he received little public success and was repeatedly rejected by the Paris Salon. In his last years his work began to influence many younger artists, including both the Fauves and the Cubists, and he is therefore often seen as a precursor of 20th-century art.

Here is some music from Cézanne’s time: Claude Debussy’s “La Plus que Lente” performed by Daniel Berman, at Flushing Town Hall.

As far as M. Émile Zola is concerned, would you like to read something of his oeuvre? How about “L’ Oeuvre” (1886). Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood and in youth, they broke in later life over Zola’s fictionalised depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in this novel! Otherwise, you may like to read his more lurid “Nana” (1880), or the revolutionary “Germinal” (1885) or at least his fiery letter “J’ Accuse” (1898), published to condemn government corruption and prejudice over the Dreyfuss Affair.