"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."
The Capital City of Warsaw in Polonia sits on the River Vistula, and it’s perhaps unsurprising to see a mermaid on its coat of arms. What catches the attention is that this mermaid is brandishing a blade and carrying a shield, and her story is indeed worth telling. You can read her story, and a focus on two of the possible sources for the emblem, today on the Patreon.
Pablo Picasso depicted the protecting mermaid on a mural in Obrońców Street: it’s the picture in the header.
Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist, essayist, poet, and translator who became the first woman elected to the Académie française in 1980. No, I’m not kidding. Her full name was Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; “Yourcenar” began as a pen
Anne Michaels is a Toronto‑based Canadian writer who first gained attention as a poet before becoming internationally recognised for her fiction. Her writing is poetic and meditative, blending philosophical reflection on history, trauma, and ethics, and she’s best known for her debut novel Fugitive Pieces
Born Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis in Alexandria in 1863, the poet known as C.P. Cavafy is regarded as the greatest modern Greek poet, though he spent much of his life in the cosmopolitan world of Alexandria. He wrote only about 200 poems, many of them published
Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987) was a Belgian-born French novelist, essayist, poet, and translator who became the first woman elected to the Académie française in 1980. No, I’m not kidding. Her full name was Marguerite Antoinette Jeanne Marie Ghislaine Cleenewerck de Crayencour; “Yourcenar” began as a pen
Anne Michaels is a Toronto‑based Canadian writer who first gained attention as a poet before becoming internationally recognised for her fiction. Her writing is poetic and meditative, blending philosophical reflection on history, trauma, and ethics, and she’s best known for her debut novel Fugitive Pieces
Born Konstantinos Petrou Kavafis in Alexandria in 1863, the poet known as C.P. Cavafy is regarded as the greatest modern Greek poet, though he spent much of his life in the cosmopolitan world of Alexandria. He wrote only about 200 poems, many of them published
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