Designer Attack

DESIGNER ATTACK
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

A precious jaguar broach prowling the designer mall in Bologna ready to pounce on distracted shoppers.

An island in the Salish Sea

An island in the Salish Sea
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

Savary

I am on
an island

I see islands
sometimes clear

or as muted shapes
through haze

and
sometimes water

so flat
to walk across

seems possible
here we are

surrounded
by ourselves

the sea
and the house

residence
in pieces of us.

Bench, Savary

Bench, Savary
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

This bench is in front of our house on Savary. It looks out over the beach and the boulder pictured in the next photograph. Sit and rest a while!

Solitary boulder

Solitary boulder
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

Every summer we spend a few weeks on the island of Savary, a few hours north of Vancouver, B.C. This boulder is on the beach right in front of our house. The colour of the sea and the stones changes with the changing light of day. It goes from a stark gray to a bluish tint on some days to a more golden red during certain sunsets.

Temple, Baia

Temple, Baia
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

Images are "enigma that are solved through the heart."

Giordano Bruno

Four Pieces for Egberto Gismonti

Um Anjo

I can hear a guitar
make its way down
toward the ear of corn
I can hear the string
tug at the tethered hand
I can guess as to the location
of the world
at this very moment
I can almost imagine
its rotation tilted
on assumption
A year and more
has gone by has been
or is it all to no avail
You hold out your hand
wait for the shake
but it just hangs there
I feel the air
press against my palm
and squeeze tight
holding on
for dear life.



Orixás


After the initial hit
strum chord impact
it continues up and down
the neck of repetition
and the guitar is an envelope
look inside and see
what is playing there for you.
Take a ride on this train
that stumbles across
the landscape
never missing a beat
always blowing in effort
to reach a quiet destination.
The guitar is an envelope
full of dreams and notes
that fly as the wind picks up
and blows into the dark
of your eyes
into the oracle of your ears
into the mouth of change
into the drone of day.



Carta de Amor


In the face of danger
there is an opportunity
grown apart
so the desert provides it
space and throttle
slides over the sand and stones
it’s a study in patience
and the road evaporates
into your eyes
so hot it’s hard to breathe
now this time of year
so unusual for now
this time of year
that comes at an unusual time
of year more than any other
wraps itself around your face
tight as a veil
and suffocates.



Forrobodó


Egberto listens to the metronome
in the other room
as he pounds the keys and shouts
it’s a distraction a way
to chase away those who are not
in the least there
in fast succession
for the last supper
has already left
awful tippers
down to the last one of them
A bad impression
some call it
I can’t forget their faces
it’s a trick
I know it or
should know it
but then there are only points
of reference and our cover
is blown inside of a second
just the same
you want to
take a chance
rake the
leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Anza Borrego

IndianHillBoulder
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

A magnificent boulder in a beautiful landscape. This is one of my favourite areas in the desert. The boulder looks over a significant archeological site and itself bears a petroglyph.

Flowers Yucca

Flowers Yucca
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

This year Southern California has had more than its share of rain. The deserts display the result of this extra available water in their more than abundant blooms. Everything seems to have flowered, from the tiniest bare stick to the largest shrubs. Dry branches break out with leaves and/or flowers; those that usually flower, even under more strenuous circumstances, grow thicker coats of greenery and blooms. The range of colours is itself a whole other experience. Temperatures are still comfortable to take a trip east, to Anza Borrego or Joshua Tree.

Babbo May 2002

BABBO May 2002
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

This is the third anniversary of my father's passing. The photograph was taken during his last days.

Words cannot capture
what will not be read
working against
the weight of his bed
against the tidal pull
and gravitational hold
of this bed-boat
as it holds its own
against impossible seas

Baia

BAIA
Originally uploaded by pverdicchio.

In honour of my father, Mario, who loved places such as this and did his best to introduce me to them when I was a child.


The Heart Sutra


The noble Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,
while practicing the deep practice of Prajnaparamita,
looked upon the Five Skandhas
and seeing they were empty of self-existence,
said, “Here, Shariputra,
form is emptiness, emptiness is form;
emptiness is not separate from form,
form is not separate from emptiness;
whatever is form is emptiness,
whatever is emptiness is form.
The same holds for sensation and perception,
Memory and consciousness.
Here, Shariputra, all dharmas are defined by emptiness
not birth or destruction, purity or defilement,
completeness or deficiency.
Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, no perception, no memory and no consciousness;
no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body and no mind;
no shape, no sound, no smell, no taste, no feeling and no thought;
no element of perception, from eye to conceptual consciousness;
no casual link, from ignorance to old and and death,
and no end of casual link, from ignorance to old age and death;
no suffering, no source, no relief, no path;
no knowledge, no attainment and no non-attainment.
Therefore, Shariputra, without attainment,
bodhisattvas take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and live without walls of the mind.
Without walls of the mind and thus without fears,
they see through delusions and finally nirvana.
All buddhas past, present and future
also take refuge in Prajnaparamita
and realize unexcelled, perfect enlightenment.
You should therefore know the great mantra of Prajnaparamita,
the mantra of great magic,
the unexpected mantra,
the mantra equal to the unequalled,
which heals all suffering and is true, not false,
the mantra in Prajnaparamita spoken thus:
Gate gate, paragate, parasangate, bodhi svaha.”

(from the commented edition by Red Pine)

Napoli Courtyard

Napoli1
Originally uploaded by CCDorje.

Naples is a city full of hidden treasures...courtyards like this are to be found all over the city, waiting for the curious explorer and offering insights into the everyday life of Neapolitans.