A Portrait of My Jerusalem
February 4, 2019
“And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it…” Luke 19:41 … More A Portrait of My Jerusalem
C’est la vie Paris and be drunk!
January 15, 2019
Intoxication reeks of combustible ethanol on a head-ached opaque late morning. Even with all the force and platitudes dispensed from a historical milieu about the folly of drinking, the eminence of c’est la vie prevails. Even with how much you want to dash out the spoiled offspring of fermentation with obsequious courtesy, the bastard called … More C’est la vie Paris and be drunk!
Cat’s Eyes of Istanbul
November 20, 2018
Gli opened my eyes to the city that straddles between the past and present struggle of two continents. … More Cat’s Eyes of Istanbul
Woman with a Heart so White in Barcelona
September 30, 2018
Sagrada Familia’s taciturn shadow casts a long and languid image of a black hair of a woman too nonchalant about the day. It collects within itself Gaudi’s genius and lunacy of a vertical homage to God whose spires are too magnificent and bewildering to our distinctive thirst of artistic expression. Inventive and striking beyond our … More Woman with a Heart so White in Barcelona
Jordan’s Mt. Nebo and our Moseses
September 15, 2018
Mountains have their essence, their own distinct character and conscience. They also serve as a geological totem on the history of myth-making and socio-cultural definition on the convergence of people. In my imagination they most often loom oppressively large, majestic and breathtaking. This is congruent to my limited experience of climbing local mountains and the … More Jordan’s Mt. Nebo and our Moseses
Taj Mahal in the Sadness of the Emperor of Time
August 25, 2018
I looked at it from a distance with eyes of quiet wonder and amazement. From the comforting shadows in one of the areas near the gate where there were not many tourists, I stared and contemplated like a young child who had been shown ice the first time, as how Garcia-Marquez described and opened up … More Taj Mahal in the Sadness of the Emperor of Time
Auschwitz Poems and the Act of Remembering
August 11, 2018
“Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep. I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow, I am the sun on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain.” – Mary Elizabeth Frye That was the day I saw and experienced … More Auschwitz Poems and the Act of Remembering
The Red Sorghum of Nanjing
August 3, 2018
At the end of it, Nanjing disarmed us in an unconsolable way. We may have never discovered its musicality and the greatness of life’s poetry if we stuck to its interpretation of a future-looking Chinese megalopolis that straddles the Yangtze River delta. I might have completely missed a lyrical description and imminent approximation of art … More The Red Sorghum of Nanjing
An Azeri in Zurich: A Conversation on Exile
July 29, 2018
Yusuf stood tall at 5’11 when he helped us carry our luggage into his car after we had checked-out from a Swiss hotel with free Turkish coffee near Zurich HB main train station. The two Spanish receptionists from the Basque region were the ones who discouraged us in taking the train to the airport. They … More An Azeri in Zurich: A Conversation on Exile
Running in Prague with Kafka in My Mind
July 20, 2018
There are two ways of discovering the soul of a city. The first option is to marvel its emblematic nocturnal lights and sound which also means tracing the illuminations and patterns of the skyline. In here, the ubiquitous neon signs of commercialism and fetishism of the slim and languid bodies of the young are laid bare. To rise-up early is the second option. It entails wearing a … More Running in Prague with Kafka in My Mind
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