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May Day thoughts...


It's May Day.
I'm longing to be back in Peru.
It's worldwide Remembrance day of the Holocaust.
I feel sick and sad and stunned, and numbed.
So many lives lost.
My Jewish father ran away from Europe. He found himself in Dublin, changed his name, and died his hair blond. And before I was born , like a puff of smoke, he ceased to exist.

I have a Jewish retreat guest in my house for five days.
I've found help for the screenplay. His name is Charlie. He's Jewish.

So many swirling thoughts and strange feelings today, and then, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels. A book which uses language in a way that stretches the brain like a piece of elastic, enthralls the soul, and lances the heart.
'The most important book I have read for forty years,' comments John Berger, no less.
It's about the 'after effects', the after life of a young Jewish boy rescued from Poland by a scholarly and kind Greek bachelor archaeologist. They flee to Greece, then emigrate to Canada. The seven year old has witnessed the killing of his parents, and disappearance of his musical sister. The disappearance of his beloved sister haunts him. Sounds very grim but the story is exquisitely laced with extraordinary images, ideas, and wisdom. A friend lent me the book. I think you'll enjoy it she said. It was John Berger's endorsement that grabbed my attention.

Here area a few lines (from it) which glued themselves to my psyche:

'The best teacher lodges an intent not in the mind but in the heart.'
'...I tried to embroider darkness...'
'... write to save yourself and someday you'll write because you've been saved...'
'... our relation to the dead continues to change because we continue to love them...'
'... what a gift you had for making one feel clear-clean...'
'... when we say we are looking for a spiritual adviser- we're really looking for somebody to tell us what to do with our bodies...'
'... we forget to learn from pleasure as well as pain...'
'... is there a man who will slowly undress my spirit...'

Comments

  1. It's beautiful Meg - kind of what I needed today. Your sadness has such depth, which is what makes us more of who we are, don't you think?
    I hear your longing... it echoes a little of my own. I am sitting here bags packed wondering if I should get on the plane to Greece tomorrow or whether I answer a calling to a place yet unknown...we will see.

    Serendipity has added a new player for the next part of your screenplay - I am glad for you.

    From the hardship borne by our forefathers we are lucky enough to have the choices we have today - I am going to take a couple of minutes to give gratitude to my father and let some other stuff go. Thank you Meg for giving me a reflective few moments.

    BTW I thought of you yesterday and your screen play - I went to a sampling of new works in progress at an arts venue in Cambridge and to see my son but thought a sampling/reading might be good for feedback for your screenplay...or is that to scary at the moment:-) x D

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