Luciano Duarte | Literature and philosophy

Force the Brain

Extremely useful exercise: force the brain, whip it. I say and imagine myself in front of the original Latinos. At first, the sensation of useless effort; then persistence, obsession: and words, forced, fill themselves with meaning. The technique is not new, much less original; useful from strange languages to texts of abstract essence. The brain seems to reward insistence, to work on the basis of punches, coercion. And if, in its vertiginous flow of ideas, it can often get in our way, when bound, compelled, it works tastefully on our behalf.

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Achieving Bliss

Losing our illusions, accepting death, freeing ourselves from financial shackles, laughing at our ridicule, measuring our mediocrity, resisting desire, accepting frustration, annihilating pride, dedicating time to that which fills us with meaning: this is how we achieve bliss, or rather: how we can lick it, until our tongue is dry…

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The Bureaucrats’ Resistance

I admire the resistance of the bureaucrats. In the world, there are many bureaucrats. Ten, fifteen, thirty years performing exactly the same functions, fulfilling the same processes, satisfied and proud of their own experience. The serious countenance at work, the words filled with security, skill, precision. Experts in reports, forms, formal requisitions. Masters in procedures, specifications, certificates, regulations, minutes… I admire the resistance of bureaucrats, for I cannot imagine myself in such a universe but in despair, extreme frustration, eager for death. Filling out forms for thirty years? Please, please, give me the same hemlock as Socrates…

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The Rhythm of the Letters

In prose the punctuation, the extension of periods, the chaining of paragraphs; in poetry, besides punctuation, the distribution of tonics, the extension of verses and their relationships: these are the markers of the rhythm of the letters. As for the rhythm: sandy, treacherous terrain; indomitable beast; marvelous and irresolvable enigma; visible perfection but distant, very distant…

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