Articles by: Dustin Pickering

The Prospect of Earning Freedom — a review of The Well-Earned, edited by Kiriti Sengupta 

The Prospect of Earning Freedom — a review of The Well-Earned, edited by Kiriti Sengupta 

The French theologian Simone Weil wrote, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” On the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, Hawakal Publishers released The Well-Earned, a poetry anthology edited by Kiriti Sengupta. This collection sought the nearly impossible: poems defining liberty. Freedom of expression is the artist’s bedrock. However, there seems to be a lack of poetry anthologies[Read More…]

by — 08/09/2022 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review
The Disimpassioned Logic of Capitalism in Bitan Chakraborty’s Redundant—a review

The Disimpassioned Logic of Capitalism in Bitan Chakraborty’s Redundant—a review

Redundant Author: Bitan Chakraborty Translated from the original Bengali by Malati Mukherjee Published by Readomania, New Delhi May 2022, Paperback, Page 102, ISBN: 978-93-91800-38-3 “Redundant” as a word addresses excess. For something to be “redundant,” it must be superfluous. In the context of Bitan Chakraborty’s novella Redundant, we absorb excess through the exploits of one of the central characters, Shubho,[Read More…]

by — 01/06/2022 — Comments are Disabled — Book Review
Without Protest : On the meaning of Searching for Truth

Without Protest : On the meaning of Searching for Truth

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the root of the verb protest is “to make a solemn declaration” or as a noun it refers to a pledge. Throughout The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Mohandas Gandhi notes the oaths he carried with him at various lengths. In Part One: Chapter VIII, he resolves to never steal again after he began[Read More…]

by — 22/10/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy
Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square, Philadelphia, by John Lewis Krimmel, 1819

This Independence Day, Let’s Celebrate the Apocalypse

“…rather these question marks arise when the human condition is so improved and ameliorated that the inevitable mosquito bites of body and soul are found to be altogether too gruesome and gory, and in the poverty of their experience of actual pain, people will even take being troubled by ideas to be suffering of the highest order.” Friedrich Nietzsche, The Joyous Science trans. R.[Read More…]

by — 20/07/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
#Minnesota, Sketch by Dustin Pickering

Chipping Away At Time’s Edifice

“…history is potent enough to deliver, on time, in the medium to long run, most of the possible scenarios, and to eventually bury the bad guy.” Nassim Nicolas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness This essay assumes a personal and historical tone during time of global unrest. It is my response to the murder of George Floyd and seeks to re-imagine what could[Read More…]

by — 15/06/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Life/Philosophy
Pandemic Paxicide

Pandemic Paxicide

Globally, three million children a year die of hunger or malnourishment according to theworldcounts.com. The site also notes the number is dropping steadily. In a May 2019 editorial ,Voice of America reports, “Today, some 821 million people suffer chronically from hunger. And although this is significantly fewer people than the numbers we saw a decade ago, hunger still kills more people than AIDS,[Read More…]

by — 26/05/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Uncategorized
Strangers in Our Midst – ( dedicated to President Donald Trump)

Strangers in Our Midst – ( dedicated to President Donald Trump)

  In the uncertain and unsettling time of the COVID-19 crisis, we may be wise to consider our good fortune and family. We are fortunate, in fact, that our family bonds exist and we have loved ones at all. This testifies to God’s ever shining mercy. However, in the current crisis we should also consider those who are distant from[Read More…]

by — 13/04/2020 — Comments are Disabled — World
Poetry as Utopia and Apocalypse

Poetry as Utopia and Apocalypse

The word “prophet” is rooted in the Greek word prophetes, a word that breaks down etymologically into “to speak before or foretell”. A soothsayer is considered a prophet in the sense that he foretells events. Such is the soothsayer in Julius Caesar who tells Caesar to “beware of the ides of March” when he was doomed to assassination. The Prophetic books of the Old[Read More…]

by — 01/04/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature
The Poet as Warrior

The Poet as Warrior

   (Dedicated to Kai Coggin) W. H. Auden’s poem “In Memory of W. B. Yeats” is often quoted to dismiss the importance of poetry as a form of social justice. The current fashion among poets is that poetry can revolutionize social inequalities, make positive changes, build empathy for marginalized groups, and convey information about causes important to the poet. For[Read More…]

by — 21/03/2020 — Comments are Disabled — Arts/Literature
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