Léopold Sédar Senghor Quotes

Now that everything is, or may be, "digital" and could contemplate its membership in an e-category, the final product should be always studied, not only in its appearance, but in its process, structure, in its modes of functioning and of presentation / fruition and also in an historical perspective.

I am ashamed of the polished words,
so I hide them
throwing rough and crude notes
like the Rondanini Pietà
still raw with matter
on the lines of crystal
like the soul that sparkles in one’s eyes.
...

Only our voices
and gray strips of palm
like shining backs 
of coleoptera,
atrocious
and suffering
under the infinite sun;
…

The head tumbles between the legs
like a wooden ball
you fall, dark night
in the eyes,
the door a span away
inaccessible
you are on your knees
...

Language completes the existence of the world and makes it "usable" for humans.

Day after day
I turn on the machines,
I dispense their immense memory,
every day
I fire up the motors,
then inside I switch myself off.
...

When I speak of language, I do not only mean poetic or verbal language: I am thinking of the language of mathematics, of physics, et cetera. It is a fascinating topic. Language is an interface between us and the world. Beyond language there is nothing but pure mystical contemplation of the universe.

Destiny was superb
it spoke among mountains and gray cumuli
like castles in the sky,
swollen with heat,
with rain,
with harvests,
with infinite richness.
…

E-literature is certainly a broader concept than e-poetry, but it can also be limiting: like Verlaine in a famous line from his Art Poétique, one might conclude: et tout le reste est e-littérature, to emphasize the imponderable specificity of poetry.