Taking (contradictory) sides

I’ve noticed that, save for an irrelevant minority, people tend to stick to either one of the following groups: 1) those who are against Israel invading Lebanon AND in favor of Russia invading Ukraine or else 2) those who are in favor of Israel invading Lebanon AND against Russia invading Ukraine. The bullshitting-pseudo-noble-reason they might claim they took those contradicting sides for doesn’t matter much, like any other bullshitting-pseudo-noble-reason for that matter. It’ll be something about imperialism, capitalism, communism, totalitarianism, nationalism, fascism, racism, terrorism, zionism, islamism or any other “-ism”. What’s sure is that they are taking sides against one invasion AND in favor of the other one. Either one.

Haiku

Haiku used to be the name of the first stanza of the Japanese ancient poems. It finally became a literary form itself. The shortest form of poetry, a haiku is always composed of three verses: five, seven and five syllables each.

Lady on a red boat with parasol

On the bridge parapet sits a girl who reads 

against a misplaced blue-lagoon background

while the Oltrarno and the Historic Center swap

tourists turned hostages of their own accord.

Twilight over the Arno

Molten gold seeps underground,
late summer vapors taper up,
a glowing bridge paints and repaints
the sky and the river two-tone blue.

I'm calling the police - Irvin D. Yalom

This is a very short autobiographical story about a Jewish friend of the author who managed to escape the Nazis and flee from Budapest to the USA when he was only 17 years old, by himself, with basically no money, no contacts and no knowledge of the English language. And who then went on to become a top-skilled, world-famous heart surgeon.

Three

Tri-substantial
Human triptych
Triple praying
To a trinity

Spoon River Anthology - Edgar Lee Masters

This is one of the most famous books of 20th century American poetry.
Unlike the previously reviewed Poet in New York by Garcia Lorca and Let us compare mythologies by Leonard Cohen, most of Masters' poems can be easily paraphrased. The text always tends to "mean" something easily understandable by the reader.