This is Nothing Personal

November 20, 2020

Criticism on Fridays #3 is Today’s OperaWire’s Cover Story

November Friend

Today I went to see Hala. She hasn’t changed a little since the last time I’ve seen her. I like our little dates, and yet I’m always…

Words hard to say

My father is 68 and has chronic asthma, and he got diagnosed with COVID-19. He’s ill for 9 days. He has fewer. No doctors come…

Letters

He’s struggling to find time to write to her. His days, which he never found easy were now full of struggles — to think of her (took time), to shape his thoughts into a letter (took even more), to write it in a proper language (what a waste of time). He hates it, and he resists it. He takes a pause. He doesn’t…

Beautiful is a moment

One of the most heartwarming stories in my life happened to me in Florence

It all started with a loud disappointed moan.

That’s how she knows

Her unease grows. But there’s nothing on the surface.

That early morning time when there’s no reason to get up yet, but also no time to dream, she awakes feeling broken.

Never late

Late afternoon. The girl’s watch has stopped.

She used to replace the battery every two years since she got it as a gift for graduation. And so she did 6 months ago.

And yet, she’s now looking at an absolutely motionless red dial of her watch.

Follow not

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five… 
Nobody else seems to move in. For now, he is sure of it. A tiny lady reads on the bench. A young couple chats in a foreign language. All passengers are set inside a stuffy trolleybus.