For the love of a poet…

John Lennon’s voice just started piping through my speaker, recounting how Mother Mary whispers “let it be” to the troubled soul… Curious. I have not heard the song in ages and it really never gets old. However — and there has to be an ‘however’ — I find myself wondering whether the sentiment in this song is optimistic, delusional or resigned…

I never stopped to consider the possibilities before — perhaps because I was so young when I first heard the song and so swept up in the simplicity of it all that it never occurred to me that the song may not simply be daisies and chocolate. So perhaps I’ll think about it now. But later.

I am actually here now to inaugurate the newly refurbished home of an old sandbox, SPQ&R, in which some friends and I used to fiddle about. Back then we were all in grad school, full of ideas full of expression, eager to tell and hear, respond and receive. We were also busy and overworked, harassed and exhausted…

The Sophistry, Philosophy, Query & Rhetoric sandbox was, and remains, “a forum for challenging our attitudes about truth, possibility and impossibility, and ultimately for generating new questions from old assumptions. We have a place to share our thoughts on art, music, mathematics, philosophy, food – you name it – in contexts broad and esoteric and to reflect on the experience of living in conversation with other curious folk. SPQ&R is our place to pose those infrequently asked questions that echo just out of earshot.”

Well, this new iteration of our sandbox is “proudly powered by WordPress” and feels much more grown up, less pressed – as it were. I do hope that friends will still come and play – write about the things they care about, the thoughts that wander through their minds in moments of distraction from ordinary things. There is no guarantee that anyone will read these pages, but I do hope we will write in them…

I intend to come by here occasionally to think out loud, tuck away some curious observation, some verse that catches my fancy. [Now Paul McCartney is singing about how he “believe[s] in yesterday…”]. For you see, Irina recently finished the dissertation and we are in that liminal space where we can look back on the experience with some measure of pleasure and satisfaction as she extracts articles, monographs and (hopefully) a book from the little tome.

Odd as it will sound to some, the dissertation writing experience was wonderful! In the process I discovered a poetic genius in Dante that I had never imagined possible and realized that his poem, the Commedia, was possibly the most beautiful work or art ever created by the hand of man. I may post something about the experience some time later. For today, suffice it to say that I’m clearing the weeds from our SPQ&R sandbox so that we might write about the wondrous world around us which I’m once again rediscovering now that Irina and I have emerged from the anchoretic bliss that was completing “The Order of All Things: Mimetic Craft in Dante’s Commedia.

Until next time…

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3 Responses to For the love of a poet…

  1. Irina says:

    Grazie, Curio, for clearing out the Sea of Drama sandbox! I’ll come by occasionally, probably with something from Dante. I’ll try to include translations. I hope you like.

  2. Irvin Prosch says:

    Hello! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Austin Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!

    • Curio Serand says:

      Hi Irvin,

      Thank you for stopping by and for leaving a note. It is always nice to hear from passersby. I hope you have enjoyed visiting. Please stop by any time.

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