|
De Duitse schrijver, filmproducent en acteur Peter Berling werd geboren op 20 maart 1934 in Meseritz-Obrawalde. Zie ook alle tags voor Peter Berling op dit blog.
Uit: Ritter zum Heiligen Grab
»Gestattet mir eine letzte Kontrolle des Kontrahenten!«, sagte er zu Astair, er hatte den auffordernden Blick Yussufs aufgefangen, der seinem zierlichen Dolch galt. Die ziselierte Silberscheide ragte aus der Schärpe seines Hosenbundes. Wie um den rechten Sitz der Stricke noch einmal zu überprüfen, umrundete Bert el-Caz den Pfosten. Yussuf spürte deutlich, wie sich der Dolch zwischen seine Handgelenke schob, seine Finger konnten die Scheide ertasten. Der Schwarzbart schmunzelte zufrieden.
Astair gab das Zeichen zum Beginn des Wettstreits. Sofort begannen beide, die schmächtige Elgaine und der massige Ziride, an ihren Fesseln zu rucken. Die Menge begleitete ihre Anstrengungen mit anfeuernden Rufen, verfiel in rhythmisches Klatschen.
»Ich halt das nicht aus!«, stöhnte Astair.
»Dann wartet den Ausgang in der Taverne ab!« Der kleine Bert el-Caz lachte ihn aus. »Bei einem Schluck stärkenden Weines!« Er zerrte den Waffenmeister mit sich zum gegenüberliegenden ›Letzten Anker‹. Von dort aus, wo auch viele aus der Mannschaft des Ziriden völlig betrunken herumhingen, konnten sie den Schauplatz des Geschehens bestens einsehen. Yussuf rüttelte, bäumte sich auf wie ein tobender Stier, doch die Stricke gaben nicht nach, im Gegenteil, sie zogen sich immer fester zu.
Elgaine hingegen bewegte sich nur wenig, wie ein Grashalm im Winde. Sie lächelte still vor sich hin.
In der Taverne hatte Bert el-Caz noch nicht zum Becher gegriffen, als Astair ihn an seiner Hosenschärpe zu sich heranzog.
»Ich hab’s genau gesehen«, fauchte er den Kleinen zornig an, »wie Ihr den Dolch –«
Bert el-Caz grinste breit. »Scheide! Nur die Scheide!« Flink fasste er sich an seinen grünen Turban und zog die blanke Klinge wie eine Ziernadel aus dem Stoff. Sie tranken sich zu. »Hoffentlich habt Ihr die Prinzessin nicht zu fest –« Astair sah sich nicht gern düpiert, doch ein weiteres Mal musste er ein Feixen des Kleinen hinnehmen.“
Peter Berling (Meseritz-Obrawalde, 20 maart 1934)
De Australische schrijver David Malouf werd geboren op 20 maart 1934 in Brisbane. Zie alle tags voor David Malouf op dit blog.
Toccata II
A man sits pen in hand, paper
before him. What is on his mind
he will set down now, the word not to be spoken
lightly. As if of all
his words this was the one that touched the heart
of things and made touch
the last sense of all as it was the first, and the word
that speaks it loaded
with all that came strongest, a planet's-worth
of sunlight, cooling green, the close comfort
of kind. It is the world he must set down
now, also lightly, each thing
changed yet as it was: in so many fumblings traced back
to the print of his fingertips still warm upon it, the warmth
that came when he was touched.
The last, as he sets it down, no more than
a breath, though much
that is still to be grasped may turn upon it.
Shy Gifts
Shy gifts that come to us from a world that may not
even know we’re here. Windfalls, scantlings.
Breaking a bough like breathy flute-notes, a row
of puffed white almond-blossom, the word in hiding
among newsprint that has other news to tell.
In a packed aisle at the supermarket, I catch
the eye of a wordless one-year-old, whale-blue,
unblinking. It looks right through me, recognising
what? Wisely mistrustful but unwisely
impulsive as we are, we take these givings
as ours and meant for us — why else so leap
to receive them? — and go home lighter
of step to the table set, the bed turned down, the book
laid open under the desk-lamp, pages astream
with light like angels' wings, arched for take-off.
David Malouf (Brisbane, 20 maart 1934)
De Franse schrijver Benoît Duteurtre werd geboren op 20 maart 1960 in Saint-Adresse nabij le Havre. Zie alle tags voor Benoît Duteurtre op dit blog.
Uit: Just like in the movies (Drôle de temps, vertaald door Ophelia Fadullon Lizot en Luis Antonio Maneru)
“Lionel multiplied the real amount several times and announced the sum of eighty thousand francs. To confuse Fabrice, he embarked on a long account of the production's financial mechanisms, the advance payment schemes and the millions at stake on his next project. He added that he paid too much in taxes and perceived a feeling of solidarity in Fabrice's eyes. The negative impression evaporated. Fabrice believed in Lionel's tax burden; hence in his success.
In truth, Lionel earned his living respectably, thanks to his photography for public schools in Paris. Every year, in the preparatory and primary grades, he would take portraits of several thousand children but he hardly spoke about it and cultivated an image as a promising director.
Going deeper into the conversation, he addressed Fabrice's wife, already a mother of two who was interestod in the movies. Lionel felt she would soon invite him to dinner. The courses followed slowly one after another. Salmon. Beef with sauce. The marriageable lady to his left silently chowed her food with shy smiles. Facing him was the young priest who had officiated at the wedding. On the other side were a couple of young doctors. The newlyweds made a point of setting a table for 30-year-olds. However, Lionel found his age immaterial. As far from true youth as from the nobility of old age. They were just at the main course. Some guests were for Europe, while others were against. He tried to come up with original ideas that ended up as shallow as the opposing theories. The doctor belonged to the left; the others sympathized with the right. The topics included the recession, the crisis, unemployment, Chirac, Rocard, Jospin, Juppé . . .
Between the salad and the cheese, the young priest asked Lionel what he thougEt about the (Cannes festiva} and French films in general. Talking in an informed professional tone, the young director felt tired inside. He sudenly excused himself, stood up and left the dining room to walk outside. He needed to be alone, to do something meaningful: get some fresh air and light a cigarette.”
Benoît Duteurtre (Saint-Adresse, 20 maart 1960)
De Afrikaans-Amerikaanse schrijver, journalist en cultuurcriticus Touré werd geboren op 20 maart 1971 in Milton, Massachusetts. Zie alle tags voor Touré op dit blog.
Uit: The Portable Promised Land: Stories
“The streets were more crowded than normal because the Soul City Summertime Fair was on. There was free food, step shows, dominoes, spades, and a shit-talkin clown with a small pillow for a nose who walked up and dissed you, playfully but pointedly, persistently talking about your clothes, your ears, and your momma until you buried a stiff fist right in that big old honker. Then he laughed and thanked you and walked away. And then there were the contests everyone loved. The Neck- Rolling Contest in which contestants were judged on how fast they could whip their head around, how wide of a circle they could make, and how many consecutive 360s they could pull off. Contests for sexiest lip-licker, most ornate Jesus piece, best pimp stroll, who could keep a hat on their head while cocked at the sharpest angle, and everyone's favorite, the Nut-Grabbing Contest, a slow-motion Negrified marathon really, wherein contestants simply hold their nuts as long as possible. The city record holder, Emperor Jones, had stood there holding his nuts for six days, fourteen hours, and twenty-eight minutes straight. He slept standing up, his right hand securely gripping his nuts. Incredible. Sadly, this was the first year in many that there would be no CPT Contest because the Summertime Fair organizers had finally given in to reason: despite immense anticipation each year, the contest never ever really got off the ground because none of the contestants ever arrived before the contest was canceled.
Huggy Bear finally found his crew hanging out in front of Peppermint Frazier, the twenty-four-hour ice-cream and hotwing spot, talking to a few guys from an underground Tupac cult. Mojo, Boozoo, and Groovy Lou jumped in their rides, calibrated their stereos to today's sermon, Songs in the Key of Life, and set their cruise control to eighteen miles an hour. Then all four of them turtled down Freedom Ave parade style, a small cruising cumulus cloud of sound, boombapping the block with a quadruply quadraphonic Soul City Sunday afternoon blast of the master blaster.”
Touré (Milton, 20 maart 1971)
Cover
De Amerikaanse dichter en fotograaf Gerard Joseph Malanga werd geboren op 20 maart 1943 in New York.Zie alle tags voor Gerard Malanga op dit blog.
Human Sunlight: A Sonnet
For Daniel Pattie}: Cassidy, jr.
We are read to by someone
Beyond our sensation, reading
Something into the sensation we believe;
Receiving the flash
Light in the air
Shaft of those dreams
That cannot protect us.
We walk miles out
Side of the “exclusive" town
Ship, leading
Up through the snow
Bank to some thing
Hidden for what is ours,
Not turning to anything else.
Gerard Malanga (New York, 20 maart 1943)
De Frans-Libanese dichteres en schrijfster Andrée Chedid werd geboren op 20 maart 1920 in Caïro. Zie ook alle tags voor Andrée Chedid op dit blog.
L’Autre
« Je est un autre. » Arthur R.
À force de m’écrire
Je me découvre un peu
Je recherche l’Autre
J’aperçois au loin
La femme que j’ai été
Je discerne ses gestes
Je glisse sur ses défauts
Je pénètre à l’intérieur
D’une conscience évanouie
J’explore son regard
Comme ses nuits
Je dépiste et dénude un ciel
Sans réponse et sans voix
Je parcours d’autres domaines
J’invente mon langage
Et m’évade en Poésie
Retombée sur ma Terre
J’y répète à voix basse
Inventions et souvenirs
À force de m’écrire
Je me découvre un peu
Et je retrouve l’Autre.
Le Chant des ville
Je m’attache aux pulsations des villes
A leur existence mouvementée
Je respire dans leurs espaces verts
Je me glisse dans leurs ruelles
J’écoute leurs peuples de partout
J’ai aimé les cités Le Caire ou bien Paris
Elles retentissent dans mes veines
Me collent à la peau
Je ne pourrai me passer
D’être foncièrement :
Urbaine.
Andrée Chedid (20 maart 1920 – 6 februari 2011)
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 20e maart ook mijn vorige blog van vandaag.
|
