Untold Things

Hello, World!

In a wide-ranging interview with Jeff Slate of The Wall Street Journal, Bob Dylan said that “Technology is like: sorcery. It’s a magic show, conjures up spirits, it is an extension of our body, like the wheel is an extension of our foot. But it might be the final nail driven into the coffin of civilization; we just don’t know. Nikola Tesla, the great inventor, said that he could take down the Brooklyn Bridge with a small vibrator. Today, we can probably do the same thing with a pocket computer. Log in, log out, load and download; we’re all wired up”.

Eternal Bloom

Letizia and Viola received as a gift the Spring in the Glass by Mado Flynn (glass bowl decorated with real flowers embedded in epoxy resin).

Sliding Doors

A school of dance and a yoga studio are almost the same, but not exactly the same, as the latter will ask you to leave your ego at the door... with your shoes.

Blue Moon

Newton’s Apple

27 October 1945 We are one half of an apple,                                    the other half is the big world. We are one half of an apple,                                    the other half is our people. You are one half of an apple,                                    the other half is me,                                                              us two... Nâzım Hikmet English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Hikmet with his fourth and last wife, Vera Vladimirovna Tulyakova.

☯

The Strangest Creature on Earth You’re like a scorpion, my brother, you live in cowardly darkness                                  like a scorpion. You’re like a sparrow, my brother, always in a sparrow’s flutter. You’re like a clam, my brother, closed like a clam, content, And you’re frightening, my brother,                                  like the mouth of an extinct volcano. Not one,          not five — unfortunately, you number millions. You’re like a sheep, my brother:                                  when the cloaked drover raises his stick,                                                   you quickly join the flock and run, almost proudly, to the slaughterhouse. I mean you’re strangest creature on earth — even stranger than the fish                        that couldn’t see the ocean for the water. And the oppression in this world                                                  is thanks to you. And if we’re hungry, tired, covered with blood, and still being crushed like grapes for our wine,                                                              the fault is yours — I can hardly bring myself to say it, but most of the fault, my dear brother, is yours. Nâzım Hikmet, 1947 English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Hikmet thoughtfully sitting in between the prison bars. Courtesy of Samet Baysal.

Human Power

There is no shame in dreading death Or thoughts of dying. The strangest of our powers Is the courage to live Knowing that we will die, Knowing nothing more true. Nâzım Hikmet, In the Snowy Night Woods, 1956 English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

A young Hikmet behind the bars of a Turkish prison. He is the one with the mustache. Courtesy of Cumhuriyet.

The Physics of Immortality

24 September 1945 The most beautiful sea                            hasn’t been crossed yet. The most beautiful child                            hasn’t grown up yet. Our most beautiful days                            we haven’t seen yet. And the most beautiful words I wanted to tell you                            I haven’t said yet... Nâzım Hikmet English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Containing Multitudes

You You are my enslavement and my freedom You are my flesh burning like a raw summer night You are my country You are the green silks in hazel eyes You are big, beautiful and triumphant And you are my sorrow that isn’t felt the more I feel it. Nâzım Hikmet English translation by Larry Clark

Kara de Dios, Halfling, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

Did Ivan Ivanovich Exist?

A solemn commemoration of the legendary Turkish poet Nâzım Hikmet on the 120th year anniverary of his birth was held on Tuesday, January 25, 2022 in the elegant halls of the Russian Writers and Publishers Union (ASPI) at Moscow, Russia, jointly organised by the Yunus Emre Institute, the Nâzım Hikmet Culture and Arts Foundation and the Nâzım Hikmet Library. Photos: Yunus Emre Institute.

Evidence of Love

To Vera Please come, she said, And stay, she said, And smile, she said, And die, she said. I came, I stayed, I smiled, I died. Nâzım Hikmet, 1963 English translation by Alex Miller

Kara de Dios, Dead Sea, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.

The Count of Monte Cristo

Some Advice to Those Who Will Serve Time in Prison If instead of being hanged by the neck          you’re thrown inside          for not giving up hope in the world, your country, your people,          if you do ten or fifteen years          apart from the time you have left, you won’t say,              “Better I had swung from the end of a rope                                              like a flag” — You’ll put your foot down and live. It may not be a pleasure exactly, but it’s your solemn duty           to live one more day                         to spite the enemy. Part of you may live alone inside,             like a tone at the bottom of a well. But the other part          must be so caught up          in the flurry of the world          that you shiver there inside      when outside, at forty days’ distance, a leaf moves. To wait for letters inside, to sing sad songs, or to lie awake all night staring at the ceiling                   is sweet but dangerous. Look at your face from shave to shave, forget your age, watch out for lice              and for spring nights,     and always remember        to eat every last piece of bread — also, don’t forget to laugh heartily. And who knows, the woman you love may stop loving you. Don’t say it’s no big thing: it’s like the snapping of a green branch                              to the man inside. To think of roses and gardens inside is bad, to think of seas and mountains is good. Read and write without rest, and I also advise weaving and making mirrors.    I mean, it’s not that you can’t pass ten or fifteen years inside                        and more —        you can,        as long as the jewel        on the left side of your chest doesn’t lose its luster! Nâzım Hikmet, May 1949 English translation by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk

Cornia River mouth, Quagliodromo Beach, Piombino, Italy. Photo: Stefano Marmino.

Conspiracy theory

Blowin’ in the Wind Bob Dylan How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they’re forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist Before it is washed to the sea? And how many years can some people exist Before they’re allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn’t see? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? And how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind

The Crescent Moon

The Moon and Jiva brought light and relief for a diaspora of ballerinas who refused the imposition of a narrow-minded “New Normal” and were instead aimed at defending their roots and their future.

Street art

Three étoiles of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” receive as a gift the first scintillating prototypes of the new jewellery collection by Mado Flynn. Photos courtesy of Viola Rocchini.

Arcana Cœlestia

Two étoiles of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” hide their teeth of happiness behind the mask as they wait for new (and old) dancer friends to come in at their class.

Before Completion

There’s a verse of a Dylan’s song that comes to mind when one must pack one’s dance bag: “They say everything can be replaced, yet every distance is not near” — so here Viola is today taking her first step to cross the Great Water.

Suddenly Last Summer

Today, for the first time since last autumn, I took the chance to enjoy a leisure visit to the People’s House in Grassina and its surroundings.

Diet for Dancers

And finally, when asked if they wanted a snack, all dancers unanimously choose frozen yogurt instead of ice cream.