Category Archives: Mondays with Pessoa

Forgive Me Fernando

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Mark Kerstetter

Forgive me Fernando, but it’s harder being a whole personthan breaking off bits and blowing the whims of life into them. Forgive the word “whim” but if it weren’t for a relinquishmentas to a wind of the many selves clamoring … Continue reading →

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Pessoa (no one is safe)

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Mark Kerstetter

No one is safe—Johnny Depp Pessoa—the man known as “Pessoa”—has run out of rooms.We must learn to speak of himin the past tense.Oh, but who is “we” here?Random Google searchersfrom alias to zenith,inquiring minds of all kindswho just want to … Continue reading →

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The Book of Disquiet, a Thousand Times

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

I’ve never been able to lose myself in a book…. After a few minutes it’s I who am writing….–Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet, Richard Zenith ed. Penguin paperback There are a thousand ways to read The Book of Disquiet. … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa (and Marianne Moore)

Posted on December 15, 2017 by Mark Kerstetter

This will be chatty, really an announcement of sorts. There’s a new Disquiet in town.

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Mondays with Pessoa: Bernardo’s Lament

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Mark Kerstetter

He remembers a sense of several lives passing through the one. Beyond the torture of impatient youth, of fearful ignorant youth, beyond the common pains, all of his lives seemed to converge on the quivering edge of—not promise, not yet … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa (and Duchamp)

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Mark Kerstetter

  Art is a mirage —Marcel Duchamp We manufacture realities [p 66] Art lies because it is social [p 226] —Fernando Pessoa What do Bernardo Soares of The Book of Disquiet and Marcel Duchamp, the man often said to be … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa: Who Are You, Reading Me?

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Mark Kerstetter

I am like the sun shining on a cold day. You will not see me or feel me for I have already died. And if I have properly discovered the truth of consciousness then you only experience me through your … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa: The Double Dream

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Mark Kerstetter

I wanted to record some notes on todays’ Pessoa reading which has taken the form of a poem. The notes, it seemed to me, should stand separately from the poem, as they are not intended for those who don’t care … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa: Bernardo Alone

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Mark Kerstetter

Sadly I write in my quiet room, alone as I have always been, alone as I will always be. * we, the self-aware actors, are also our own spectators, our own gods…. – Fernando Pessoa as Bernardo Soares, The Book of … Continue reading →

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Monday with Pessoa (and Stevens and Rilke)

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Mark Kerstetter

No matter how much we take off what we wear, we’ll never reach nakedness, which is a phenomenon of the soul and not of removing clothes. —Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet, p 221 It has always been my particular madness … Continue reading →

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