What is striking

art

We are so small and
the greatness is so great. […]
What is striking is
the enormous force of weakness.

~ Hélène Cixous, from “The Cauliflower of the Lautaret,” Love Itself: In the Letter Box


Credits: Image – Exactly  Poem: The Journey of Words

 

22 thoughts on “What is striking”

  1. Curious, what is the source of your quote. The original would be in French. “Nous sommes si petits et la grandeur est si grande … Ce qui est frappant est l’énorme force de faiblesse.”

  2. The grip of “Weakness”…we have all had intimate, languishing moments in which we allow ours selves to be faithless in the ability to effectively navigate in this world….
    I googled early this morning and read a few pages from ‘Love Itself: In the Letter Box By Hélène Cixous’ in which “The Cauliflower of the Lautaret” is within… the Cauliflower in the title has to do with a succulent Cauliflower gratin that was enjoyed by her family in the Southern French Alps. They were vacationing in this area where one of the mountains is called Lautaret. Although, she and her daughter attribute the name to the Loss Ness Monster.
    On another note, when I read the books title ‘Love Itself: In the Letter Box By Hélène Cixous’ it brought to my mind some partial lyrics I wrote awhile ago….” Keeping quite about my love for you, baby…put the love in the shoe box, baby..put the lid on the shoe box, baby….” these lyrics represent how sometimes people hold onto & put treasured mementos in a box . Sometimes they revisit the physical mementos and feel in their heart and soul the memories passion or in the case of unrequited love the dreams of unfulfilled desire… somewhere in the depth of my garage are some old love letters from high school & university, era, sent to me, they include areas marked out with black crayon so that when my snoopy sisters got a hold of them they had to image what some of those words and sentences said, ha, ha oh the measures of youth..this is assuming that the snoop gene was pasted down to them – I snooped when I found a box of letters from my father to my mother they were tied with a ribbon..My sister is going through the estate of a family member and she has learned so much about our family & extended family members life’s through the letters and items…Joy & Sorrow and what she has shared from the letters has left us with an understanding of how difficult and sad some peoples lives were..gripping stories that need to be shared…We cried…Our deep compassion, grew… I am tearing now, knowing what I know…

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