John Ciardi: "Philosophical Poem" The disease of civilization is not tools, citizen. Ignorance might be closer to it. Politics closer. But only Money Will hit the brass tacks everyone wants to get down to Squarely on the head. Above all, I have no case against human nature. Whatever that is, I like it. I like … Continue reading Poem by John Ciardi: “Philosophical Poem”
Leafing through this old A-to-Z of celebrities is like finding a Mad Magazine from the nineteenth century. The book's lyrics and images wondrously lampoon the– mostly– old men of European civilization. Instead of being revered as timeless sages, they are brought low, returned to us as fallen flesh-and-blood creatures. Their everyday lives get the tabloid treatment. And, just like today, lust is the common sin that most often brings these high and mighty men crashing down to earth.
A recent article in The Guardian “How to be Human: The Man Who Was Raised by Wolves” tells the story of a boy who was sold into slavery (yes, slavery, unbelievable, it certainly wasn't common) during Spain’s turbulent post-war period. Abused by his master and forced to work as a shepherd in Spain’s remote Sierra Morena mountain range, Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja eventually escaped by taking refuge with a pack of wolves.
Feral Philosophy 