In order for this world to have any importance, in order for our undertaking to have a meaning and to be worthy of sacrifices, we must affirm the concrete and particular thickness of this world and the individual reality of our projects and ourselves. This is what democratic societies understand; they strive to confirm citizens in the feeling of their individual value; the whole ceremonious apparatus of baptism, marriage, and burial is the collectivity's homage to the individual; and the rites of justice seek to manifest society's respect for each of its members considered in his particularity.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, Citadel (NY: 1976), pp. 106-107.
<p><span><span>I should have commented on your recent poem re-drafts yesterday. It gives me more pleasure to read your poetry, much more so, than reading others you often cite. </span></span>
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</p><p><span><span>I have been re-reading "Francesca and Paolo" several times for pure enjoyment. Thank you for taking up writing these perfect gems again. I missed them.</span></span><span></span></p>
Thank you. I've been busy, and what is more the busy that makes one tired, and that really isn't a good context for poetry writing. But hopefully that will start clearing up over the next few weeks.
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