Thoughts for all seasons, thoughts about human beings and animals, about love and careless youth, thoughts about married life, about all sorts of encounters, about the change of destination and also about Theseus's robbers...
Photo: Ira Zannidakis
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088B3MPT8?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
The question persists, does the ideal bench really exist? Is it just a literary metaphor for happiness or a real spot where one can pause for a while and enjoy nature? The ideal bench is a place of contemplation, of meditation, of the sweet "far niente".
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088B3MPT8?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
The ideal bench, the book, has 43 brief chapters. Being its author, it is difficult to choose the one I like the best. Still I have my own favorites, of course, but I was curious to know what the readers thought. One answered aptly that the best chapter was for her The bench of personal preferences, whereas another reader said that The book bench was for him the most interesting. Should I reveal mine? The bench of the Nativity scene...
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The hot Australian sun shines glorious like a sovereign over this bench in the Botanical Gardens of Ballarat.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088B3MPT8
The book "The ideal bench" taking a rest on a bench. This is the ideal place for reading a book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088B3MPT8
"The ideal bench" or thoughts for all seasons is a series of brief texts which have been written in the course of one year. Seated on a different bench everytime, the writer philosophises about life, human nature, time, the environment and other important or less important matters. A simple bench in some park in Germany becomes the omphalus of the earth. The paperback edition contains also photos. The title has been inspired by a poem by Lito Seizani.
You can order it here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088B3MPT8?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
or here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088B3MPT8?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860
The ideal bench was just a poem in the beginning. This poem that I wrote in 2013 has given inspiration for a writing project. I was seated here when I wrote it, on this very bench which you see as larger, or first from the left, in this photo.
In 2018 I decided to dedicate my free time to a writing project called "The ideal bench". Every Monday I would post on the internet a literary text related to a real or metaphorical bench, just for a few friends, with some photos.
The friends liked this idea and started sending me their own photos of benches from all over the world.
Some people I knew even gave me hints for certain texts and after a full year, I had written around 50 short chapters, one for each week of the year.
Here they are now, my selected few, my favourites, in the form of a book which invites readers to sit comfortably on a bench, breathe some fresh air, and enjoy thoughts for all seasons.
Lito Seizani