Seeing the world
We are taking different perspectives in your weekly dose of fresh poetry #136
The world seen
through my eyes is not the
same as the world as seen through your. Our
imagination fills
in the blanks.
Did you know that there is a painting of the Last Supper, in which Jesus and his apostles are enjoying a delicious serving of cuy? You can do that still, enjoy this Peruvian delicacy, not far from where you can view the painting in the Jesuit cathedral of Cusco, Peru. Now, if you, like me, grew up in a place outside of this Andean region, you may have not taken up the habit of eating guinea pig like the Peruvian’s did, and as far as I can tell, it is not a traditional Mediterranean dish either. This dish, in this setting, was, let’s say, poetic license by the painter. He created a piece of art that either his audience could relate to, or filled in the blanks (what dish would be fit for a leader like Jesus) with that what comes up in his imagination. I was reminded of this painting when we were visiting the Loire castles recently. In the beautiful castle of Chenonceau, I found the painting above. Flight from Egypt, the little information shield beside it reads. The landscape does not look Egyptian to me. That might be because when this painting was created, Egypt looked different than it does now, or because the artists had never been there and imagined the landscape. The point is, that we all have different perspectives, different histories, and different habits, and that informs the way we see the world. Art, and that includes poetry, helps to show you these different ways of seeing the world exist, and that it is okay.
So, what is your favourite dish fit for a leader?
PS: the last two weeks saw an enormous jump in the number of subscribers to this newsletter. Welcome to all readers of my inbox poetry magazine. Most poems I write are in the poetic form Tritriplicata, a form I created myself. If you want to learn more, I’ve written a sort of FAQ about it.
Three ways to support this Inbox Poetry Magazine:
Poetics in life
Do you know what to do when you encounter a mythical creature? There are many creatures captured in writing and other art throughout human history. Some dangerous, some not, and some only when you are hunting them. In this wonderful video, art historian Carel Huydecoper explains what to do when you encounter a Bonnacon.
Poetry elsewhere
Seeing the world, going places. It helps with something very important. If you see what The Other sees, it becomes much easier to appreciate that The Other sees things differently. It is key to growing empathy. On top of that, seeing what others see keeps the stars in your eyes. My poet friend Punit captured that brilliantly in this poem This New Guy [Again]:
We are constantly changing, growing, evolving. As a species, but certainly also as individuals pursuing our dreams. I find that feeling perfectly captured in this poem by Yuto’s Writing: Notes for too late. What do you think when you read it?
The greatest honour is when your work gets reinterpreted by great artists. And sometimes it is simply an ode and a labour of love. That is what Ashwini Dodani has created with this beautiful ode to Sylvia Plath. Please enjoy reading Plath In A Parallel Universe.
A meal fit for a leader would be a meal that satisfies the soul. There is one such food item that my mother makes - it's called "Galyi Rotli".
In my native language, "galyi" means sweet and "rotli" means bread. So it is essentially sweet bread.
It's made as follows - put lentils in water for a few hours. Then add sugar and boil them in a pressure cooker till the lentils go soft. This makes the lentils super delicious. Now set it to cool.
Then moving on to the bread - prepare a basic dough out of some wheat flour, and let it rest.
Once the lentils have cooled, create a doughball. Roll it out to make it a little flat. Then but a ball of the lentils in the middle of the dough. Stretch up the dough to cover the lentils and then roll out a flat bread from this lentil filled doughball. Cook it on a flat pan and once done, apply liberal amounts of clarified butter (ghee) to the cooked bread. Enjoy!
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Also, my sincere thanks for the feature. You are so gracious Arjan! 🤗
Always a pleasure reading your weekly dose of musings, poetry and thought good sir