Italy is mine

On this day, I wish to pay a tribute to the Animals killed during World War I and all the stupid wars before and after. I obviously appreciate the sentiment, but I do not like at all the memorial monument inaugurated in Paris two years ago: it lacks emotion, as the animals' metal silhouettes are cold and anonymous and the presence of the man holding the pigeon superfluous. When I saw this monument, I disliked it so much that I did not even want to take a picture of it: the ph

Little artwork by me, illustrating the poem Soldati (Soldiers, 1918) written by the great Italian modernist poet Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970). I had the chance to start reading poems at a very early age, long before studying them at school, and I wrote my very first poem when I was eight. To me, Poetry carries every Life's Mysteries and it is like Oxygen: I could never imagine a World without Poetry, without Dead and Living Poets to read and to listen to and without Passi

Here's to You, Georg, Unlucky Hero, Working Class Self-taught Genius: You filled with Music your Hard Life And brought Joy to another Man's Wife You were a Christian, not a Bigot, And a Communist, not an Extremist; You never wanted to kill, but You had to You tried and You failed and were jailed And when the War was near to the end They killed and buried You with Shame For They could not accept that a Man Alone Could think by Himself and fight for All To Georg Elser (4 Januar

In 1605 Europe, men had stylish moustache, wore ridiculous hats and made war instead of love; except for the ridiculous hats, nothing has really changed since then. In England, seven men tried to stop the persecution of Catholics by King James I, but they failed and they were brutally executed. The most famous among them is Guy Fawkes, and today I drew this homage in my diary. Below: details and the whole drawing made by me without any preparatory sketch. The portrait of Guy

I would have loved to have the time and the energy to write a little tribute to Mata-Hari yesterday, on her death's anniversary, but I was exhausted. More than a decade ago, when I was a poor PhD student, I wrote a short article in French about Mata-Hari for a cultural and educational project. I have always been more interested in artists from the past than present-day artists (there are very few real artists, nowadays) and I have a soft spot for the Belle Époque and the entr

During my school holidays in Paris, I am glad to have had the chance to go to the Irish Cultural Centre tonight and watch Clouded Reveries by Ciara Nic Chormaic: a stunning interview-documentary with and about the poet and essayist Doireann Ní Ghríofa, an interesting figure in the Irish literary world. I would have loved to meet her but there was just the director, a resident artist at the Irish Cultural Centre: Ciara Nic Chormaic is a lovely and friendly lady - as all the Ir

You should have tried But You were afraid Because Life was too much A serious game to play For your teenage dreams being Taken seriously...