On: JM Coetzee on Zbigniew Herbert

[fourgreen]

He is a good poet. Each time in my job when we miss a deadline, or when our implementation causes a bug on the production I read his "Why the classics" (https://allpoetry.com/Why-The-Classics), especially this fragment:

generals of the most recent wars

if a similar affair happens to them

whine on their knees before posterity

praise their heroism and innocence

they accuse their subordinates

envious colleagues

unfavourable winds

Thucydides says only

that he had seven ships

it was winter

and he sailed quickly

[readthenotes1 → fourgreen]

Thanks! That was unexpectedly touching.

"will it be lovers' weeping in a small dirty hotel when wall-paper dawns"