November | 2018 | mebtravelling

A rainy Athens Saturday, but not just any rainy Saturday: it’s the 17th of November,

the date commemorating the Athens Polytechnic student uprising of 1973. A few days earlier – 14 November – a tank had been sent crashing through the iron gate of the Polytechnic just down the street here from my neighborhood, Exarchia – Though full disclosure: while still edgy, especially after dark, that piece was written a few years ago; people now speak of Exarchia as “high-rent” and “chic”.

Anyhow, Greeks, at least young ones, seem anxious to use this day for demonstrations in parts of the city, especially after sundown.

Actually, nearly everything I know about tonight is word-of-mouth. Busloads of police have arrived in the neighborhood, but a search of the English-language papers here suggests that the biggest fight this week is still the current Church-State Disagreement.

As for me, I believe I have some reading to catch up on, and some post-market cooking to do, after sundown.

In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about Control: First the photos, then the poem!

Coffee

Happy Place Read more…

Revelation Triolet

Now, you know the illusion of control,

Like the toddler scrambling from his Melissa* mother.

You’ve been clear about your goal,

Now, you know the illusion of control.

How was it that you forgot the toll?

You’d been warned, but didn’t bother.

Now, you know the illusion of control,

Like the toddler scrambling from his Melissa mother.

*A few days a week, I have the great pleasure of spending time with the women, many of them mothers, of Melissa Network .

Where St Dominic Stayed in Rome —

Near to every Dominican’s heart, especially every SAN RAFAEL Dominican’s heart:

The 5thc. Basilica on the Aventine Hill gives its name to the street: Dominicans have been here for awhile, its ancient, medieval, and later parts commingling (here,in a great, silly look: an ancient bath and a later – 15thc? – fountain)

Inside, I sat for awhile in the well-worn choir stalls, thinking of The Great Ones, Dominicans here and other places I’ve known.

Outside, I found again the great cypress door which contains, among its panels, what is thought to be the earliest-ever depiction of the crucified Christ (somewhere there on the bottom…)