Tag: nostalgia

“Esteban” (A portrait from the past)

“Esteban” oil -WM

Esteban is a Spaniard of Catalan mother and Andalusian father. He grew up in a small Catalan city. He came from Barcelona to Paris with dreams of journalistic glory as an envoy of a literary magazine. He had the great sensitivity of a writer but for success he lacked two basic qualities: education and money. In Barcelona, the magazine published his rubric a la Dear Abby which he surely handled well because he knew how to dig into life situations and his religious morality concorded with that … Read More

“Janek” (A portrait from the past)

ink drawing of Janek
“Janek” – ink – WM

Unfortunately I can’t give his family name even if, as readers will find out, it has an important place in history. Janek was born either in Westphalia like his parents or in France. He had some German blood, I am not sure from which side. In Polish he spoke correctly; in French, like a Frenchman. During the war, when he was 8 or 9 years old, his father sent him to the Hitlerjugend. Janek told me how the whippersnappers of his age sliced each other … Read More

Down the Ladder (Humorous Survey)

I’ve written about this topic previously. Now it comes to mind with a little twist.

There is a list of things I like but which have disappeared. The list could be longer if I remembered everything.

One of my preferred spots was Normandy with its cider. There was so much and it was so varied that it seemed eternal. Cider of every colour, alcohol content, sparkly, flat, sweet and dry. It was a poem just looking at the countless barrels resting in cool, dark cellars. Returning once for a cider … Read More

In Memoriam

Two texts came to my memory, far distant from each other in time and demography, still united by their magical beauty. First I quote “Testament” by oustanding Polish poet Konstanty Idelfons Galczynski:

“When my little heart one day cracks
Remember me sometimes nicely
That there was such a guy from the Moon

My pen to the Vistula
My ashes to the four winds
My heart to the postal box” (for communication)

The second one is an inscription from a Viking’s gravestone in a style strangely “cool” and modern:

“He is … Read More