segunda-feira, 10 de maio de 2010

Alice in the Wonderland


Yesterday I went to the cinema and watched Alice. It was Mother's Day afternoon and I decided to stroll from my "home" to the movie theater. A 3-4km walk in one of the main avenues of this area in Sao Paulo. On my way I passed by a bunch of flowers stall where lots of people and cars gathered in search for the perfect red rose or bouquet for the mothers. On the street a crazy traffic jam of cars, some with one person, some with the whole family, some with youngsters, some with elders. All going to their Mother's Day Lunch...

I was walking on the sideways against the flow, seeing them passing by frenetic, tense, laughing, celebrating, worried... Walking... singing out loud some of the shuffled music of my Ipod...

The movie starts, only 5 people in the room. Alice is being taken to her engagement party (which she is not aware of until she gets there). Her mom is looking at her and saying how she should be wearing a corsage and socks under her dress. Alice says how she hates them. Her mom insists on how this is what is pretty. Alice replies, "Who gets to say what is pretty and right? What if wearing a cod fish on our heads was considered pretty?" 

She is asked in marriage, in front of all the English society, by this man she does not comply with. She trembles...The signs and memories are there for her: the white rabbit, the blue catterpillar... She is scared... "I need some time". And far down the whole she falls...

In Wonderland she stretches up and down, too big, too small. She is doubted to be her. Says the wise catterpillar "You are not hardly Alice". There she is told she has a duty and a path to follow towards the White Castle. She deviates from the path, with her heart and passion, as she goes into the Red Castle. She is courageous and compassionate. The sword is back to where it belongs. Nobody else can slate the dragon. She cries. The catterpillar, as he transcends, say to here  "Your tears will do nothing for you"

And champion she goes, backed up with all the white army and her friends to the chess board to fight the dragon. It is no easy, but she's not alone and war is set as the two enemies start - the dragon and the sword. She is just a channel. They battle hard. Until with one slate the dragon's head rolls down, step by step to the ground. This is it. All put down their guns. The guilty ones are punished. She is given the potion to go back up the whole.

Up from the whole she says "no" for what is supposed to be right and go... to the other side of the world, where no trade has ever been done before. Hairs flying free with the wind blowing and a blue butterfly on her shoulder.

And we, are we playing Alice in our lives? Is the clock ticking for time?

Valentine




quarta-feira, 5 de maio de 2010

The Land of Nod (Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 - 1894)

From breakfast on all through the day
At home among my friends I stay;
But every night I go abroad
Afar into the land of Nod

All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do -
All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain - sides of dreams.

The strangest things are there form me,
Things to eat and things to see,
And many frightning sights abroad
Till morning in the land of Nod.

Try as I like to find a way,
I never can get back by day,
Nor can remember plain and clear
The curious music that I hear.

---------

Dreamy Louis,

As he knows, maybe

Since Dreamy Louis

Mysteriously describes me!

Maarten

Vrij

Vrij waarvan...
Gemakzucht

Vrij waartoe!

Daar begint het eeuwig zoeken



Maarten
(Naar Also Sprach Zarathustra - Nietzsche)

Van een afstand

Van een afstand kijk ik mijzelf aan

Een vriend loopt langs en zegt:

‘Kijk hem stralen, die man daar’

Ik knik instemmend en glimlach

‘Ik leer hem steeds beter kennen

En ooit zullen we samen zijn’

Onkruid wil tarwe heten

Zijn ogen dwalen af. Wel tien keer per minuut. Vol verlangen, vol verwachting. Vol hunkering naar iets onzekers. We hebben een gesprek, maar wordt er oprecht geluisterd? Het is liefde. Liefde die nooit overgaat. Liefde voor jezelf, geuit door aandacht. Onbestemde en bestemde aan-dacht.
Zijn ogen dwalen af; zijn aandacht verslapt. Hij is verliefd. Een braam met een rood pulserend puntje. Het puntje reikt tot diep in het hart, tot diep in de ziel. Iedere puls kleurt het lichaam roder. Rood; de kleur van hartstocht, erotiek en vreugde. Maar tevens de kleur van oorlog, bloed en vuur.
Zijn ogen dwalen af. ‘Deze moet ik even hebben.’ Ons gesprek slaat dood; alsof het nooit bestaan heeft. Alsof het van geen waarde was. Ik blijf nog even luisteren. Wordt er iets gezegd? Vluchtig afstemmen en later bevestigen. Even lachen; hoe onoprecht. ‘Waar waren we gebleven.’ Maar ik, ik ben al weg.
Zijn ogen dwalen af. Een braam met duizend borsten. En een pulserend puntje. Verliefdheid is een neurose; een die eeuwig duurt. Hij is verliefd; op iedereen behalve mij. Ik denk dat ik ga bellen. Moet nog even wat vertellen.
Zijn ogen dwalen af. Er licht iets op en maakt geluid. Mooi hoe binnen en buiten samen smelten. Ik ben het en begin mijn verhaal. We hebben een gesprek, daar blijft het bij. Hij is verliefd, nu ook op mij.

sexta-feira, 23 de abril de 2010

Home

What is “home”? Is it place? Is it a space? Is it a state of being? Is it the ability to be home anywhere?

For me,

Home is to laugh spontaneously
Home is to hang my photos and posters
Home is to cook my food
Home is to invite friends to come visit
Home is to walk around wearing only my underwear
Home is to feel sad and cry
Home is to love and sing out loud with all the air in my lungs
Home is to fart with no embarrassment
Home is to laugh until my stomach hurts
Home is to dance crazy at any music
Home is rest when I am tired
Home is to fall asleep on the sofa at anytime in the day
Home is to leave the dishes unwashed for as long as I feel like washing them
Home is to shout when I am angry, even if there is apparently no reasonable reason
Home is to walk bare feet all day long
Home is to listen to the same song on and on and on
Home is to smell that smell and remember home
Home is to say I need a hug
Home is to be in lovely arms
Home is to leave home and know it is always there
Home is to shelter myself when I am feeling fragile
Home is to I set down my “Guia de Oxala”
Home is to have fresh flowers in the rooms
Home is to get back late in the night and eat sitting on the kitchen floor
Home is to make any reason a good reason to organize a party
Home is to move all the furniture when I feel like it
Home is to get lifts with strangers
Home is to improvise music
Home is to wear accordingly to how I am feeling
Home is to meet people on the street and invite them in

Home is Me
Home is You

Home is to Be… in a place, in a state of mind, in a room, in a country, in a bad mood, in a party, in a car, in Love…

Home is to Be in the world and the world to be in me

Valentine