“After all, the only rule of travel is, Don’t come back the way you went. Come a new way.”
— Anne Carson, Plainwater: Essays and Poetry
We are at the insane time of year when so much happens in so short a period. It is less than two months until the New Year, weeks away from Christmas, and days before the Thanksgiving Holiday and St. Nicholas Day. A whirlwind of family, friends, food, travel, and craziness of all kinds.
As the Winter Solstice approaches it has become a tradition of ours to sit back in the evenings with a glass of wine listening to Christmas Jazz and watching videos of walkthroughs of the various Christmas Markets in Germany and France. The next best thing short of strolling through Denver’s Christkindlmarket.
Two of my short stories have recently been published. SHADOWS, was published online in LIT Magazine (October, Fiction, Issue 41). Sitting on his favorite park bench, a poet ponders the inevitability of losing oneself as the onset of Parkinson’s invades his life. Among the SHADOWS that surround him he reflects on family and his work. You can read SHADOWS here.
NO ONE is scheduled to be published (November 19, 2025, Issue 74 — Fall 2025) online in the Red River Review. During an unexpected rainstorm NO ONE takes notice as an artist waits to meet a potential model in a café. The overcrowded refuge gives Sheila the opportunity to anonymously observe the man who bears a resemblance to the prowler who invaded her studio a year ago. Amidst the cacophony and chaos of those trapped in the cafe, Sheila contemplates if he could be the unidentified intruder. NO ONE can be read here.
Earlier this month we attended the Denver Film Fest. I logged thirteen films at the Sie Film Center, including Franz, A Simple Soldier / Простий солдат, Living the Land / Sheng xi zhi di, and The Stranger / L’étranger. The acting, directing, storytelling, and cinematography in all the films that we saw were marvelous. As with any collection there are going to be favorites and some of mine in no particular order included:
Calle Málaga, Morocco’s submission for the Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards. Directed by Moroccan director Maryam Touzani and starring Carmen Maura as an independent pensioner who defies her daughter and refuses to give up her family home.
Palestine 36, directed by Annemarie Jacir. Selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards. A moving tale of a family during as Palestine versus British colonial rule in 1936.
A Poet/Un Poeta, directed by Simón Mesa Soto. It also has been selected as the Colombian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards. An aging poet faces his failures in his life, art, family as he tries to inspire a youthful protégé.
My Father’s Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr., has been selected as the UK’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards. Two brothers spend the day with their father traveling to Lagos as the nightmare of the 1993 Nigerian election and its aftermath.
Left-Handed Girl, directed by Shih-Ching Tsou. A single mom and her daughters return to Taipei to start a new life. It has been selected as the Taiwanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 98th Academy Awards.
Cover Up, is a 2025 American documentary film produced and directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus about the work of Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Some of the titles I have been reading over the last six weeks include:
Amulet by Roberto Bolaño part of his conglomerate feeding off of his wonderful The Savage Detectives.
Intrigued by suggestions from Charlotte Rogers article Latin American literature contains warnings for American universities that yield to Trump I read The Censors by Luisa Valenzuela and The Feast of the Goat: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa (Author) , Edith Grossman (Translator). Adding these two titles to the recently read García Márquez’s “The Autumn of the Patriarch.”
I took a mental holiday for a couple of weeks and for fun attacked some spy novels. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad has been on my TBR list for a while so I dove in with Conrad’s book. Contemplating the art of espionage always brings to mind George Smiley so of course I had to wander over to le Carré and Call for the Dead: A George Smiley Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 1) by John le Carré followed by The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel by John Le Carré.
And there was this collection The Letters of a Post-Impressionist by Vincent Van Gogh, translated by Anthony Mario Ludovici. As a Van Gogh fan and after visiting the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam this past spring, I found this to be a wonderful insight into the artist.
Some notes on the above titles. I sometimes provide links to Amazon as a courtesy and receive no renumeration from Amazon, however I do feel that they provide in-depth book descriptions which I believe is a good place to start when searching for new titles to read. Also, as I have said before, I cannot say enough about Internet Archive dot com. They are a valuable tool for research as well as a treasure trove of hard-to-find online books. And never forget your neighborhood bookstore or local library.
Until next time. Peace
Note on the cover photo: Union Station Christmas, Denver CO (December 2022)
*The Der Kärntnerhof was at one time the home of the wartime brothel “Madame Rosa,” revamped into a hotel in the 1950s and renovated in 2013. The Hotel is located just off the Historic District on a quiet side street.
Duane M. Engelhardt 