The Picturesque Duchess

Strikingly beautiful,
with a smile that catches a full room
Dashingly, ravishing,
how this woman made every man reel

One by one,
they all fell, indeed I myself fell
Peacefully, gracefully,
a picture of infinite beauty

Passion exceeded,
thunder stroke vigorously down
Gambit of internal perish
left was only the stroke of my brush

(Written from Frà Pandolf's point of view.)

Hills like white Elephants : poetry

“And I know it’s perfectly simple.”

A hot day in beautiful nature

I can see the long white hills across the valley

I can see elephants, they are beautiful and white

I like elephants, they are calm and clever

They are majestic and unbelievably beautiful

And I know it´s perfectly simple!

I love him so much

I only want to make him happy

I know he loves me and I know he cares

He buys me drinks and beer and he carries the backs, what a gentleman

But all we do is look at things and try new drinks, I need more

We don´t really talk much anymore

He says it is my choice, it do not seem that way

He wants me to get it done

And I know it´s perfectly simple!

I wish we could be happy again

Just as happy as the elephants

They live in a herd, which makes them happy

I do not make sense that this will make us happy

A herd of two instead of three?

We could have everything, we could be free

And I know it´s perfectly simple!

STOP TALKING

It is too much!

I am happy

I am fine

We are happy let’s take the train away from this

It will follow us...

And I know it´s perfectly simple!

Abortion

Whenever I hear about the so-called ’pro-lifers’ in America I cringe in a certain place. I think that the idea of not being able to choose to have an abortion is ridiculous. The pro-lifers’ argument is that a foetus is an individual human being with all the rights which comes with this definition. This is a perfectly okay reason for why a specific person doesn’t want an abortion. The problem is when persons who share this view want to impose it unto all other women. A pregnancy is something very special and very unique. It can also be extremely hard, or simply unwanted, and therefore it is, of course, the individual pregnant woman who gets to have the final say in the matter. I think the question is about freedom over your own body. To me it seems obvious that all women should be able to choose what they want to do if they become pregnant. Freedom to choice whether they want to create life or not. 

Author function: modern author.

Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain 14th, august 1954

My journey led me to a province in Catalonia, Spain, called Tarragona.

I am sitting outside a little bar attached to a station in No-man's-land. Waiting for a train to take me to Barcelona. I followed the Ebro for a while now. Here, the hills across the valley of the Ebro are long and white. On this side there is no shade and no trees. The summer is at its climax. Even if I had the time it would be too hot to explore the countryside further. Therefor I have to rely on everything I see from this perspective. The hills are white in the sun, reminding me of white elephants. The country is brown and dry. A warm wind blows through the area. I saw fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro on the other side of the station. There are mountains beyond. I will come back and deepen my survey.

I have to catch my train. A young couple and several people from inside the bar follow me to the platform.

Genre: Journalism Text: Tom Wolfe – From The Right Stuff

October 14, 1947

The Impossible Flight

Up in the high terrain of the Mojave Desert in California, is where Muroc Field is located. The informed reader should not be worried that they have never heard the name of this Air Force base before, as it is a well-preserved secret. It has, however, become necessary to inform the public of this national secret, as it has been made known to this newspaper that an unrivalled feat was performed there on October 14, only a few days ago.

We have received information from an anonymous, but highly reliable source, through a personal meeting that the impossible flight of Mach 1 has been achieved. The team at Muroc Field has been working on this task for several years, and with the amazing flight skills of the pilot,

Chuck Yeager, the bullet-shaped X-1 plane broke the supersonic sound barrier high above the Mojave Desert. Yeager a young, but highly decorated American Air Force pilot from Hamlin, West Virginia have, thereby, set the record to be the first human being to fly faster than the speed of sound.

The team at Muroc Field can be rightly proud of the result of their hard work and America can the proud to be the first country to achieve such an accomplishment, indeed!

Genre: Prose – diary entry based on “Hills Like White Elephants”

July 15

He says that he only wants me to do it if I want it, too. I have told him plenty of times that I do indeed want it, but now I don’t really know. I think it’s my head talking rather than my heart, and shouldn’t one listen to one’s heart in these types of cases? I don’t know. It’s all so surreal, still. Even more so than the day where we found out.

Today, we’re headed out for the procedure as they call it. We’re late, though. I said I needed to clear my head and that’s what I’m doing now. This is the point of no return, wouldn’t you say? Once I stop moving the pen across these pages that is when I need to make a choice. I tell you again that my head has already made it for me. It is within my heart that the struggle continues on. I feel I should listen to my heart, but for some reason it is my head that appeals most to everyone else. I don’t assume you can give me an answer, but I will ask you nevertheless: do I stay loyal them or do I stay loyal to myself?

My Last Duchess-Rewritten

Ah, there he is again that slob. As always, complaining about me to yet another “friend” of his. How unfortunate I was to be married to him. I could never find it in me to love him, no matter how hard I tried. And admittedly I do wonder, how could anybody love him? The only times he was truly satisfied was when I stood still and held my tongue. Now it seems he got his wishes, because here I hang, still and quiet. A portrait of me that is no portrait of me. Well, now he`s rid of me, only the his remains in this portrait, though strictly speaking I was never his. The only thing I desire to know, is whether I shall ever be rid of him?

Poetic analysis of Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" (dare I call it a mixed genre :-) )

Over the hills and not so far away

Hack hack – cough cough

it’s all dust

Ah, well, apart from

drip drip – drop drop

the sweat and the beer

and I forgot

the swish and the swash

how the bamboo hush

the buzz buzz

of the flies that fuss

Only two ways to go

after many different roads

Ah, but I forgot,

there’s only one

that could lead them to the two

And though his bags are packed

ready to go

she’s not so sure

that’s all we know

Well apart from

he’s American

but what is she?

Just a girl or a mother to be

To be or not to be

That is the question

But not for… he

has made his mind up

clinically detached

a simple operation

nothing more than that

How he cuts their tie

the indifferent rat

leaves her absently riding

a white elephant’s back

In the distance

he sees

an obstacle

of

elephantine proportion

she

a possibility of purity

contrasting an abortion

(oh no, I said it out loud,

the unspeakable cloud,

I’m sorry Hemingway,

I gave it away!)

She:

“everything tastes the same!”

Hedonism takes the blame.

He

Crosses fingers

and damn…

says:

“it’s all in your hand.”

Allures to something like

“not commitment I lack”

still he grabs their rags

and chooses the track

while we still listen to

Hack hack – cough cough

it’s all dust

Ah, well, apart from

drip drip – drop drop

the sweat and the beer

and I forgot

the swish and the swash

how the bamboo hush

the buzz buzz

Of the flies that fuss

Unfinished, undecided

all left undone

apart from the empty smudged glasses

in the shadows of a burning sun.

200 words about abstract notion

Abstract Notion : Reality
Author Function: Depressed Dreamer

Why must reality always beat me down. Why can't I be friends with my reality? I wonder if reality as a whole is the same as my reality. Does it mean, I have my own reality? Wasn't there someone who said that reality is what you make of it? I think I remember hearing that somewhere. When I heard it, it actually made me believe it. When did I lose that feeling of believing? If I could define reality as I wanted...

New hope dawns in the horizon over the crystal clear blue sea. Reality exist solely beyond that horizon as I traverse the sea of dreams, captain of my own ship to reach a reality that is worth living in. But the waters shouldn't just be calm, there need to be adventure on the treacherous sea - sea monsters and maelstroms to navigate around, like the people telling me that I should adapt to the real world, to reality. But that is their reality and I will fight my way through them all until I reach the dawning hope and beyond that my own reality.
If only it was like that but sadly reality isn't what I make it, it is just something I cannot escape.

_________________________________________________________________

Any other author function I can think of would have been either more philosophical or more clinical in the description of 'reality'. At least more academic and less personal.

Wonder

I wonder about life sometimes. I wonder what it is supposed to be, what people expect of me. I wonder whether I should wonder at all, or just go along for the ride, and let someone else do all the thinking, worrying for once. When I'm wondering, time flies by, unintentionally. Unintentionally, you could miss out on something even greater, due to you wondering if there if something better – or worse. Maybe if I stopped wondering so much, life would seem less dull – it would be like in those amazingly, romanticised Hollywood movies. “Carpe Diem” – Maybe that should be my new life philosophy? To not think – only act! Or maybe that’s not at all quite me?

Anyway, who’s to say my life is not that way? Maybe there is an upcoming Cinderella Story hiding somewhere in my path? I wonder about life sometimes, and I wonder if wondering is such a bad thing. It makes my head spin in all kinds of directions, and usually when I stop wondering, I start all over again. So, if it was all bad to wonder, nothing is to be good – thus wondering must be both, since it brings me all aspects of life.

Hemingway in drinking joint shock

A young couple were seen in a local bar in Spain, waiting for an express train to take them to Madrid.  The Los Viajeros bar is a welcome refuge to railway passengers.  Sunday’s temperatures were in the 30's, and the bar was packed with locals and travellers alike, said the station manager.  A local man commented that the weather  was not unusual for the time of year. 

While awaiting the up-train from Barcelona, the couple were drinking beer and anise in the station bar.  The waitress said that the man, apparently an American, and his female companion seemed to be in dispute.  The man, who appeared to be the older of the two, seemed to be pressing the woman to take a particular action. Those present at the scene stated that the hat-wearing young woman was standing up for herself. Backpackers in the bar observed merely that anise is refreshing on a hot day.  Speculation on whether the young woman was pregnant cannot be confirmed.  The writer Ernest Hemingway, famous for his participation in and writings of of the Spanish Civil War is known to be touring Spain with a companion.  His agent was not available for comment. 

My Last Duchess - Girl

Is there anybody going to listen to my story

All about the girl I painted once

She was the kind men wanted so much it made them sorry

Her radiant smile was like the sun's

Ah girl

Girl

When I think of all the other ones that I have painted

Her smile was the muse that I had sought

And my masterpiece revealed at last

But as it turned out

After all this time it was for naught

Ah girl

Girl

She's the kind of girl that smiled at you no matter where

You felt it true

When you say she's looking good

Her husband gets a jealous mood

He's cruel, ooh, ooh, ooh

Ah girl

Girl

Was he told when he was young

That pain would lead to pleasure

Did he understand it when she said

That her smile was not meant to be only at his leisure

Will he understand it now she's dead?

Ah girl

Girl