And it’s a wrap

Full moon, trees, red and yellow lights

Full moon over nondescript building

Second-hand books introduced me to Stoppard’s work. There’re still plays I’ve never seen on stage. Ticked The Invention of Love off last year. Was literally looking for Arcadia tickets, thinking at least he’s still with us, when I heard the news. Sad day.

Same 😌

Calling it Reverse Perec Season. A flood of people with random Es in their names, a chyron bringing me hip hope.

Awful things unfolding in Rio, over 60 dead, lots of favelados friends either unable to go home or trapped in their homes. Evil cops, evil state governor.

Caught by a line tossed by Henri-Edmond Cross: a spiral that begins with a tiny red flag and is successively extended by light on sand, improbably-sized toreros, bull, and audience’s heads, of which mine is the third one, just above the giant purple hat 1/2

Five minutes of an autumnal walk 1/2

October light

Heating on (Do Ho Suh)

The first time I saw a box of Altoids was in a poem. The second time was last week, on a table at a Frieze stand. I could be wrong, but I’ll assume it contained mints this time. Years ago a diminutive St Michael was inside it, hanging demons with velvet thread, 1/6

And I saw the Madonna in the Triceratops’s eyes (mystical/surreal experiences at Frieze Masters, ongoing series)

Still haunted by the UK première of Kareem Roustom’s piece for the children of Gaza, commissioned by Michael Barenboim. Talking about the source of musical inspiration for this work, @disgwylfa.bsky.social says that ‘thinking … of laments, Roustom came to Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte 1/3

Video shows Palestinian children jumping with joy as a parent chants “Hudna! Hudna! Hudna!” — an Arabic word meaning a long-term truce or ceasefire.

Tintarella di luna

moonlight

Five swans

International Translation Day. St Jerome is tired and being told to reconsider his career choices.

fox, turning away

This made me v v happy (plus opening hours that work for me)

In her new book on internet culture, @badaude.bsky.social discusses the use of photography as facial recognition technology during the Paris Commune. It reminded me of Schäublin’s exceptional film Unrest, following Kropotkin’s 1877 visit to a Swiss village transformed by capitalism and anarchy 1/3

“Huge crowds packed the squares and beaches of some of Brazil’s biggest cities to voice their opposition to rightwing endeavors to help Bolsonaro escape jail for his failed power grab”

Those five syllables, per-di-da-men-te, their final ‘e’ merging seamlessly with the initial ‘e’ of e-na-mo-ra-do, walking you through meaning and experience… Perfect words.

Never mind the ruby-necklace-gifting ritual — Patricia Lockwood sang, beautifully and unprompted (reasons to attend book launches, occasional series) @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk

The Fall of Civilisation

Guilty

At 2pm (GMT -3) Justice Cármen Lúcia will begin her vote in the trial of the coup plotters. If she votes in favor of conviction, the Supreme Federal Court will form a MAJORITY to convict Bolsonaro and his allies

First catch your cloud and carefully place it on top of your chosen artwork 1/2

"This truly is unprecedented and historic ... Our democracy is going through an acid test and it’s possible it will come out of this strengthened" www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

There are two kinds of people: those who despise whoever spots a typo, and those who reward your unbidden proofreading skills with a print or two 😊 @bluewarrren.bsky.social

St George and his emotional support pigeon

Anne Carson’s Missing Sheep. Starts with someone looking mythological and, sure enough, a revival of Sophocles’ Elektra pops up towards the end. Parties & music, poems & mood & plays, swimming & sleep — relationships really. ‘And there is a tick of woe and a tock of woe, and so we go, and so we did’

"It is a famine we could have prevented.. food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel. It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food.. a preventable famine sustained by complicity" Tom Fletcher from the UN on famine being declared in Gaza City

Unexpected film find: Shine Your Eyes. A search for a brother who immigrated from Nigeria to São Paulo opens up surprising layers and narratives. You sense all the care that went into making it.

Great article in this short 🧵: ‘compared with pre-pandemic times, people are living with more inflammation and immune disruption now, whether they have long COVID or not. Months later, Akiko Iwasaki's final line still echoes in my head: “the entire world is pretty much the convalescent control.”’

Calm and danger and apprehensions that are as painfully relevant now as in the 80s and 90s. Been thinking non-stop about Hammad Butt’s work. Here’s Cradle, poisonous chlorine suspended inside transparent glass. Found his later drawings mesmerising.

🍬

hot

Missing Helen and want to give this a boost. It’s so close to the goal. Let’s get it the rest of the way: www.gofundme.com/f/support-he...

Sarah Hall’s talks are particularly generative — intuition and analysis are a powerful combo, a wonderful way to look at writing. Yesterday I kept thinking of Anne Carson while Hall discussed Helm, her book about the Cumbrian wind. Wind & sky & instances of nature narrating itself & much much more

There are different ways to control internet speech as highlighted by this 20-year old comic.

Open letter for members of the UK academic community (academics and other university staff) to sign, to press the UK Home Office to facilitate safe passage out of Gaza for 40+ students with offers for UK universities 👇 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

fractals fractals fractals

We live in an uncertain world

fractal appreciation society

“My body is breaking down. My mother is collapsing from exhaustion. My cousin cheats death every day for a morsel of aid. Gaza's children are dying in front of our eyes, and we are powerless to help them.” www.972mag.com/hunger-gaza-...

Includes joyous dancing scenes