(Anthony Quinn as Zorba in the 1964 film Zorba The Greek)
For a long time now, I have been pondering about making a site of my own where I can share my writings (and artworks and photographs) of the things I deeply care about; my preoccupations, my sympathies and antipathies; everything that concerns art, literature, music, culture, and politics, while keeping at the center of my writer’s awareness the unforgivable destruction we are committing against the natural world. With this awareness it behooves anyone who writes to reconsider the things he/she is writing about with passionate concentration and deeper reflection by taking responsibility for words so as to, by a kind of miracle, receive a kind of lucidity to understand the troubled times we are living in that will allow the writer to proceed not as a liability, a contributor to the on-going destruction; nor as a sort of hero or a savior that will redeem mankind from its self-inflicted collapse. No. But to proceed as a human being with humility, and with one’s modest and stubborn means of resistance to participate in changing the course of things, the course of the world’s ending, for the better.
Here you will find some of my writings which have been published in journals and small magazines in the Philippines, Italy, U.S. and England; and some newer stuff which I hope to keep in a constant, creative flow: one writing a week, or probably two.
As to the writing I set no one absolute form. The form will be decided by the kind of expression the subject demands. It could be an essay, a journalistic piece, a polemic, a poem, a book or a film review, an art criticism, a short story, or an excerpt from a novel I’m currently writing, or whatever category there is. I put no bounds. Each piece will be a chronicle of our time: not as a mere historical account, but, more, as an existential narrative which strives to touch and be touched.
To the reader: I am infinitely grateful for your patience, time, and communion.
May we start the year with intense love, attention, joy, and passion just like Anthony Quinn in the photograph.
-- Carlo