Postcard

"Alexandra Meets Diogenes." Postcard. M. Toumbis, Athens

The most revolutionary act is a clear view of the world as it really is.—Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa was quoting Lassalle, that brave, that foolish man.

To tell truth to killers you must be both brave and foolish.

She knew that all too well. Her enemies murdered her

and threw her bleeding into Berlin's Landwehr Canal.

Not being all that brave, I recline here in my tub

Death springs from parrhesia*—via the barrel of a gun.†

"The grave’s a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace."”‡

The Landwehr Canal at night, October 2024

*Parrhesia = freedom of speech, outspokenness; https://foucault.info/parrhesia/?origin=serp_auto

†Cf. Mao Zedong, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_power_grows_out_of_the_barrel_of_a_gun?origin=serp_auto

‡Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"