Almost Composed

A strange fork in the road

July 7, 2014

A certain ghost walk guide here in Cornwall finishes his tours with an enigmatic proverb: A person often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. This is the opening line in Jean de la Fontaine’s fable, The Horoscope. On the one hand it seems paradoxical to say that by departing from your destiny […]

St. Augustine on the poetry game

June 14, 2014

This is possibly one of the least profound purposes for quoting from Confessions of a Sinner but, nevertheless, it’s a reminder about what matters in the art: “In public we were cocksure, in private superstitious, and everywhere void and empty. On the one hand we would hunt for worthless popular distinctions, the applause of an audience, prizes for […]