It's finally here
It's finally here
The print version of Mercurius’s iconic Surreal-Absurd series is now available!
An anthology like no other.
The sea has as many colours as beauty has moods
Three photographs of the sea. 2020. Thomas Helm.
Say morning, and a bird trills on a doorstep outside a kitchen
Today we are going to meet a great poet, Shara McCallum. I first met her at the 2017 Miami Book Fair. She had recently published her book: Madwoman.
The Ego versus Death
It’s been there since birth, that little voice inside me, singing, or shouting, or wailing, me first, me first, me first. The rudimentary mantra of existence.
Tales from Dublin Pubs: O'Connell, J. of South Richmond Street
Barman Freddie (who curses like a sailor and practices an old world pouring technique involving knives and generous spillages) is wont to enjoy his own supply behind the counter, and grows slower to serve and more moody accordingly.
Mercuries #5 - The Animal Drums
The first major poetry-film of the 21st century - Gareth Evans. The Animal Drums…
The Two Theatres of Life
Human life is composed and regulated by a seemingly infinite series of stages, of spectacles that breathe meaning into our invented worlds.
Transform your mind: star fire
Looking up means seeing infinitely further than our day-to-day lives ever allow; such an experience has a deep inward echo, prompting us to contemplate the truth behind humanity and maybe beyond. A celestial realm of possibility, of nothingness; imagination’s pure potential littered with the coded twinkling of ancient fires.
Dreaming of my future husband
Dreaming of my future husband. The wedding shops of Istanbul. 2018. Three photographs by Thomas Helm.
Ikigai: Find your own meaning
Meaningful work is a powerful tool for keeping us sane. In his book that charts his time at a Siberian Labour camp, Dostoevsky acknowledges that although the work is hard there is a salvation in following it through from beginning to end and seeing its use. The way to truly break someone would be to divorce the work from meaning.
The mystery of the seven-pointed star
The meaning of this personal story lies in the excavated depths, where frequencies invent whole worlds then lie submerged within them. The end of the transformational road is the ineffable image of the seven-pointed star, a symbol that pertains neither to me nor anyone.
Tales from Dublin pubs: Addison Lodge of Botanic Road
The Addison Lodge is a chameleonic venue phenomenon in existential crisis. This establishment is fighting for its life and the only reason it’s still breathing is because it’s located next to the lungs of the city: the Botanic Gardens of Glasnevin.
Mercurius: A window, a sea, a friend
What is Mercurius Magazine? And why does it exist? Our editors get creative with their perceptions…
Flor blanca (white flower)
Flor blanca (white flower) by Ariadna. A song for solidarity in troubled times. Presented to the public for the first time by Mercurius Magazine.
Exercise in Utopia
Those who want to explore space will take a ship and sail across the stars. They will discover other worlds, full of wonders. They might peacefully colonise them, or establish local representative offices. Space trade will begin and intergalactic trade unions will be founded.
Another depthless source
“Another depthless source” acrylic and oil on linen. 40 x 30cm.
Jose Castiella 2019
Blindness is the root of all disaster
If Paris had seen the fall of Troy in the theft of Helen, he might have left her well alone. Regret is an echo of former blindness murmuring in the present. Remorse is self-awareness pointing out a role you might have played in disaster.
Contemporary American poetry: A selection
Dear Mercurius friends, today I invite you on a journey through the different voices of contemporary American poetry, all of them published online via the music platform Spotify.
Surf Lessons
You never forget the first time you “catch a wave”. Squinting into the sun, looking backwards, waiting for the rising swell, capped by a white foam. Paddling as fast as you can to keep up. And then the feeling of being carried by something infinitely more powerful than yourself.
Change: Wisdom realising emptiness
What bliss and dread to know that nothing comes to anything in the finale of our days: we breathe and breathe again and then, before the look has scarcely touched the hour, we fade into another dream, a different fragment of a different star.
Tales from Dublin pubs: The Lower Deck of Richmond Road
The pub has a unique way of getting a helping hand behind the bar when it gets busy. They allow certain customers to do the unthinkable: cross over the threshold and step behind the bar to occasionally help out.
The never-ending quest…
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