Barnaba Oretti, Author at Spiegeloog

Words to Start: A Person Protests to Fate by Jane Hirshfield

A person protests to fate: “The things you have caused me most to want are those that furthest elude me.” Fate nods. Fate is sympathetic.…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczApril 24, 2026

Spiegeloog 444: Salience

Spiegeloog 444: ‘Salience’ – Editorial

In a time when so many agents are vying for our attention, in a time of bigger, brighter, more, standing out can feel impossible.

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczApril 20, 2026

Spiegeloog 443: Challenge Words to Start

Words to Start: Autumn by Mikko Harvey

93,651 guinea pigs felt pain last year during scientific experiments. Noble pigs, we only wished to know you! To know ourselves through you, and perhaps…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczMarch 6, 2026

Spiegeloog 443: Challenge

Spiegeloog 443: ‘Challenge’ – Editorial

Dear Readers, While we often think of the themes of Spiegeloog issues in grand, overarching terms, it is important to remember the intensely personal ways…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczMarch 2, 2026

Camera Obscura Spiegeloog 442: Character

Tabula Rasa: Piranesi

In the House there are immense Halls stretching in every direction. The sound of the Tides comes and goes, distant. Save for a few animals,…

Barnaba OrettiFebruary 2, 2026

Spiegeloog 442: Character Words to Start

Words to Start: Rehearsal Notes by Len Verwey

Sorry, I assumed you were awake anyway. Let's try it without the heavy breathing toward the end of the scene in the garden. It distracts,…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczJanuary 23, 2026

Spiegeloog 442: Character

Spiegeloog 442: ‘Character’ – Editorial

Dear Readers, Throughout our lives, we encounter people from all walks of life. Those who are aligned with us in ways we never thought possible,…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczJanuary 19, 2026

Spiegeloog 441: Memory Words to Start

Words to Start: Nostos by Louise Glück

There was an apple tree in the yard — this would have been forty years ago — behind, only meadows. Drifts of crocus in the…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczNovember 28, 2025

Spiegeloog 441: Memory

Spiegeloog 441: ‘Memory’ – Editorial

Spiegeloog 441: Memory covers blacking out, trauma, Severance, and more!

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczNovember 24, 2025

Spiegeloog 440: Performance Words to Start

Words to Start: The Way the Light Reflects by Richard Siken

The paint doesn’t move the way the light reflects, so what’s there to be faithful to? I am faithful to you, darling. I say it to the…

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczOctober 17, 2025

Spiegeloog 440: Performance

Spiegeloog 440: ‘Performance’ – Editorial

Who are you at your core? Do you play a character, or do you feel at home when all pretense has been stripped away?

Barnaba Oretti and Jules KotowiczOctober 13, 2025

Camera Obscura Spiegeloog: The Outtakes

Camera Obscura: Sinners

Widely praised and a box office wonder, does Ryan Coogler’s thriller Sinners avoid the pitfalls of past vampire films?

Barnaba OrettiSeptember 8, 2025

Spiegeloog 434: Transformation Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa: Flowers for Algernon

“I don't know what's worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you've always wanted to be, and feel…

Barnaba OrettiOctober 2, 2024

Science Spiegeloog 434: Transformation

The Modern Magic Trick of Artificial Intelligence

The Matrix. Black Mirror. Terminator. The cautionary tale of a technological takeover of the world has been told from the moment the word ‘robot’ was…

Barnaba OrettiSeptember 16, 2024