Titles but no poems.
This may call for some kind of drastic action, come (what they call) the new year (same minutes, same order in my small town).
And so began the Great Heist of 2013 . . .
You've been warned.
Happy New Year.
Cc: File, Col. Flotsam, St. Joseph
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
THE DOGS OF GENDER (poems)
Call To Arms (To An Earthly Sufferer of No Love) /1
Shyku /4
An Eye For Emily /35
A Real Arrow Through The Head Helps Imagine One /37
Three Steps Towards Better Management (Of The Knife) /39
Cosmetics /40
Notes From The Attic Well /41
Greeks Die /42
Felidae Mysterium /43
Some Thoughts On Soft Trade /44
The Artist /45
Lucky Fodder /46
Oblivians /47
Voyage To Marsupia /48
Bonne Venu /49
Salvation Mirror /50
I Heart /51
A Woman Better /52
The Fat Chick /54
Erogenous Bones /55
Ars Amatoria /56
All Tomorrow's Bodies /57
The Largest Art /58
Yuppies /60
The Great Slave /62
The Old Deal (For Fountain) /63
Spontaneous Tick /64
Maths /65
Gerontocracy /66
Waking Irish /67
Soft Go The Lepers Past Glory /68
Lincoln /70
Strip Notes /71
Nata /72
Posterity: The Biopsy /73
Waiting For The Civilized /75
The Last Line Is The Wild of This One /77
Far Or Near /78
The Lifer /79
OLD GIRL (stories)
pG /1
Possession /6
A Wild One /22
The Man Who Makes Ghosts /27
Atown /33
Still Life With Shona /40
Keepers /57
One Red Horn /59
October The Elder /72
A Necessary Function /74
Killers /75
Old Girl /77
Lucida /79
Snows From The Deep /81
Men of Shively /82
Old Hallows /84
The Second Sister /87
Moving Water /90
Faceless /93
A Mother's Daughter /95
With Maggie /120
The Selected Pests of Mao Zedong /124
For Dead /129
NIGHT IN THE SUN (poems)
Weldaghost /1
An Occurrence In Dead City /5
Gothko /8
Profession /9
Auto-Da-Fe (For Holly) /11
Short Bit, Young Money /14
Lao Tzu In German /15
Big Beer /17
Lack Toes /19
Night In The Sun /20
Chikurubi /23
Xateros /27
The Head of Zumbi /28
Land of Plenty /29
The Amazon /30
Feral To The Wiser /31
Sin Vivo /32
S.O.L. /34
Tiny Samadhi /35
Mun Man /36
Survival Is A Gothic Thing /38
Mangelina /39
The Pope of Morgues /40
The Five Senses /43
Porchtripper /49
The Earlene of Our Dreams /51
One Skilled In Care Would Let Be /53
No After /55
Two Paintings Two Men /57
John Elena McGrady /59
The Full F /61
Mascot Of The Floating World /63
Outs /65
J.G. Will Say It /67
Stadistics /68
The World Stable /70
A Dracula For Marechera /73
Svilva /77
Youngblood Eternal /79
Drawing /81
Spare Change (In The American Colony) /83
Little Factor /84
1.27.45 /85
The Selected Pests of Mao Zedong /86
Pineal Man /89
Mutiny In Heaven /91
Friday, December 21, 2012
QA
Q. You've worked 11 out of the last 12 days, eleven hours a piece. How's that feel?
A. Like someone pulling all of America out of my nose.
Q. And what's the most amazing thing about that.
A. That I wasn't even pulling the longest hours. Brettney worked all 12 and about as many each one. Jesus, she lived and breathed the place.
Q. What does Brettney look like?
A. Like a mom.
Q. What does she drink after work?
A. Old wine.
Q. What's her laugh sound like?
A. Like Christ, if he ever actually had a job.
Q. Wasn't he a carpenter, though?
A. Nope, just a carpenter's son.
Q. And Brettney?
A. She was no mother's son. She was what rich people call a Working Woman.
Q. Do you feel very Springsteen right now?
A. I do.
Q. Does Bruce help get you through?
A. I know he's just the sound of this thing, but yeah, he do.
Q. What're you going to do tonight now that you're off work?
A. I plan to live poems.
Q. You're about the age where people call you Full Grown, a Man, even.
A. I am.
Q. So what's with the poems?
A. Because a Man's just where I end. Not even the beginning, the short straw of where I'm getting.
Q. And where's that.
A. Heaven beyond bourbon on earth.
Q. And what do you think of those other tenured types, or at least most of them?
A. They don't smoke like life. There's not much Brettany in their poems.
Q. And in yours?
A. I hope so.
Q. And why's that?
A. Because she's stronger than a ghost.
Q. How so?
A. She's never heard of France or Freud but has the strongest faith in football, and once, drunk, she ran her car right up on her baby-daddy's porch.
Q. And what did the boss say when she announced that, loud and proud, before everyone?
A. "Stay classy."
Q. And did he say that out of love?
A. Of course not.
Q. And will you say it, out of love?
A. All the way to the parking lot.
Q. And is the spirit that flows through you the greatest ocean on earth?
A. Neither Atlantic or Pacific, but five foot one, shy, with leg braces, yes, I know.
Q. Is it sweet to be of that spirit?
A. Always. Out of its mouth I'm each and every day full grown.
Q. And do you have any regrets?
A. As long as I am kept a kind secret in the good bosom food of the spirit, no.
Q. How many billion people do you think are in it?
A. As many as there are cells in the moment.
Q. Every one coming and going in you?
A. Yup, in and out of me. Great Spirit comes and goes.
Q. I always pegged you for a dark tint, but now you're mind's all open. What's that about?
A. Oh, that heavy stuff is just counterweight to keep pushing up the good stuff.
Q. Which is?
A. Oh, man, if you're here asking, you know.
A. Like someone pulling all of America out of my nose.
Q. And what's the most amazing thing about that.
A. That I wasn't even pulling the longest hours. Brettney worked all 12 and about as many each one. Jesus, she lived and breathed the place.
Q. What does Brettney look like?
A. Like a mom.
Q. What does she drink after work?
A. Old wine.
Q. What's her laugh sound like?
A. Like Christ, if he ever actually had a job.
Q. Wasn't he a carpenter, though?
A. Nope, just a carpenter's son.
Q. And Brettney?
A. She was no mother's son. She was what rich people call a Working Woman.
Q. Do you feel very Springsteen right now?
A. I do.
Q. Does Bruce help get you through?
A. I know he's just the sound of this thing, but yeah, he do.
Q. What're you going to do tonight now that you're off work?
A. I plan to live poems.
Q. You're about the age where people call you Full Grown, a Man, even.
A. I am.
Q. So what's with the poems?
A. Because a Man's just where I end. Not even the beginning, the short straw of where I'm getting.
Q. And where's that.
A. Heaven beyond bourbon on earth.
Q. And what do you think of those other tenured types, or at least most of them?
A. They don't smoke like life. There's not much Brettany in their poems.
Q. And in yours?
A. I hope so.
Q. And why's that?
A. Because she's stronger than a ghost.
Q. How so?
A. She's never heard of France or Freud but has the strongest faith in football, and once, drunk, she ran her car right up on her baby-daddy's porch.
Q. And what did the boss say when she announced that, loud and proud, before everyone?
A. "Stay classy."
Q. And did he say that out of love?
A. Of course not.
Q. And will you say it, out of love?
A. All the way to the parking lot.
Q. And is the spirit that flows through you the greatest ocean on earth?
A. Neither Atlantic or Pacific, but five foot one, shy, with leg braces, yes, I know.
Q. Is it sweet to be of that spirit?
A. Always. Out of its mouth I'm each and every day full grown.
Q. And do you have any regrets?
A. As long as I am kept a kind secret in the good bosom food of the spirit, no.
Q. How many billion people do you think are in it?
A. As many as there are cells in the moment.
Q. Every one coming and going in you?
A. Yup, in and out of me. Great Spirit comes and goes.
Q. I always pegged you for a dark tint, but now you're mind's all open. What's that about?
A. Oh, that heavy stuff is just counterweight to keep pushing up the good stuff.
Q. Which is?
A. Oh, man, if you're here asking, you know.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Basinski / Pitchfork
"Around the time The Disintegration Loops came out, I was about to be evicted; I had no money, I had closed my shop a few weeks before, and I hadn't really had much work, so I was getting way behind in my rent. I was panicking. I had this work that nobody ever understood, and I was just heartbroken. I felt like I'd lived too long, so what's the point? Somehow, I managed to survive, and everything started to change."
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Puccini's
Arias
as sung by
Maria Callas
at the point (life) when
all the old and boring stuff
becomes weird again,
when (life)
your ears
they are blessed,
they are fountains
giving back the (life) pennies.
The days acquire a richness,
and that is all.
as sung by
Maria Callas
at the point (life) when
all the old and boring stuff
becomes weird again,
when (life)
your ears
they are blessed,
they are fountains
giving back the (life) pennies.
The days acquire a richness,
and that is all.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
"Time has taught me a few tricks --
avoiding synonyms, the drawback to which is that they suggest imaginary differences . . . inserting circumstantial details, which are now demanded by readers, into my stories; feigning a slight uncertainty, since even though reality is precise, memory isn't; narrating events (this I learned from Kipling and the Icelandic sagas) as though I didn't fully understand them; remembering that tradition, conventions, 'the rules,' are not an obligation, and that time will surely repeal them -- but such tricks (or habits) are most certainly not an aesthetics" (from a Borges Foreword).
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
A Book Made For You
"New York is a lot like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you taste, and this town would tumble to the ground without money. For those who don't have it, there is always the hope of getting it. This book is meant for them."
Monday, July 23, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Quotes From The Captain 2
"I think that most people would like to think they've got an idea. Well, I'm sure that my mind thinks that I have an idea, but sometimes I fool it and get my best stuff."
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sunday Morning with Danilo Kis
Doubt reigning ideologies and the princes.
Keep away from the princes.
Be careful not to contaminate your speech with the language of ideologies.
Believe that you are mightier than the generals, but do not measure your strength with them.
Believe that you are weaker than the generals, but do not measure your strength with them.
Do not believe in Utopian projects, except in those you are creating yourself.
Be equally bitter towards the princes as you are towards the crowds.
Have a clear conscience regarding the privileges that your writer’s trade provides.
Do not mix the curse of your profession with class oppression.
Do not get obsessed with the urgency of history and do not believe in the metaphor about the trains of history.
Do not board, therefore, “the trains of history,” for it is nothing but a silly metaphor.
Always keep in mind: “he who hits the bull’s eye, misses everything else.”
Do not write pieces about the countries you visited as a tourist; do not write pieces at all, you are not a journalist.
Do not believe in statistics, in numbers, in public statements: reality is that which cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Do not visit factories, kolkhoz, workplaces: progress is that which cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Do not practice economics, sociology, psychoanalysis.
Do not follow eastern philosophies, Zen Buddhism etc; you have better things to do.
Be aware that fantasy is fabrication’s sister, and therefore dangerous.
Associate with no one: the writer is always alone.
Do not trust those who maintain that ours is the worst of all worlds.
Do not trust prophets, you are the prophet.
Do not be a prophet, your weapon is doubt.
Have a peaceful conscience: the princes do not affect you because you are a prince.
Have a peaceful conscience: the miners do not affect you because you are a miner.
Keep in mind that the thing you did not say in the newspapers is not gone forever.
Do not write according to the order of the day.
Do not play all your cards on the moment, you will repent it.
Do not play all your cards on eternity either, you will repent doing this as well.
Be discontent with your destiny, only fools are content with theirs.
Be content with your destiny, for you have been chosen.
Seek no moral justification for traitors.
Stay clear from “absolute righteousness.”
Stay clear from false analogies.
Trust in those who pay a great price for their inconsistencies.
Do not trust in those who pay a great price for their inconsistencies.
Do not promote the relativism of all values: there is a hierarchy to all values.
Accept the awards awarded by the princes with indifference, but do nothing to deserve them.
Believe that the language of your writing is the best language of all, for you have no other language.
Believe that the language of your writing is the worst language of all, although you would not replace it for any other.
Do not be servile, because the princes will employ you as their doorman.
Do not be arrogant, because you will look like the princes’ doorman.
Do not allow them to convince you that your writing is useless to the society.
Do not think that your writing can be considered “useful to the society.”
Do not think that you yourself are a useful member of the society.
Do not allow them to convince you, because of that, that you are a social parasite.
Believe that your sonnet is more valuable that the speeches of politicians and princes.
Have an opinion on everything.
Do not say your opinion on everything.
For you, your words cost you nothing.
Your words are the most precious thing.
Do not represent your nation, for whom else could your represent but yourself!
Do not be the opposition, for you stand not across the princess, you are down below.
Do not stand next to government and the princes, you are above them.
Fight social injustice, but don’t make it into a manifesto.
Do not allow the fight against social injustice to lead you astray from your path.
Become familiar with the thoughts of others, and discard them afterwards.
Do not create a political program, do not create any kind of program: you create from the magma and the chaos of the universe.
Beware of those who offer final solutions.
Do not be a writer minority of the minorities.
As soon as some society begins calling you its own, question what you are doing.
Do not write for the “average reader:” all readers are average.
Do not write for the elite, there is no elite; you are the elite.
Do not contemplate death, and do not forget you are mortal.
Do not believe in the immortality of a writer, that is nonsense taught by teachers.
Do not be tragically serious, for that is comical.
Do not be a comedian, because the boyar are used to being entertained by them.
Do not be a fool of the court.
Do not believe that the writers are the “mankind’s conscience:” you’ve seen too many sons of bitches.
Do not let them persuade you that you are nobody: you’ve already seen that the boyar are afraid of the poets.
Never follow an idea to the death, and persuade no one to die.
Do not be a coward, and despise cowards.
Do not forget that bravery commands a highs price.
Do not write for holidays and jubilees.
Do not write laudations, because you are going to repent it.
Do not write obituaries for the heroes of the nation, because you are going to repent it.
If you cannot pronounce the truth – stay quiet.
Beware the half-truths.
When everyone around you is celebrating, there is no reason for you to take part.
Do no favors to the princes and the boyar.
Seek no favors from the princes and the boyar.
Do not be tolerant out of politeness.
Do not require justice from everyone: “do not argue with a fool.”
Do not allow them to persuade you that all of us have equally valid opinions, and that there is no accounting for tastes.
“When both participants in a discussion are wrong, it does not mean they are both right.” (Popper)
“Allowing that the other one is right does not protect us from a greater danger: allowing that perhaps everyone else is right.” (Idem)
Do not discuss with fools about things they have heard from you for the first time.
Do not be on a mission.
Beware of those who have a mission.
Do not believe in “scientific opinion.”
Do not believe in intuition.
Beware of cynicism, even your own.
Stay clear of ideological gatherings and quotations.
Have the courage to say that Aragorn’s poem in Gepeua’s honor is blasphemy.
Do not allow them to convince you that both Sartre and Camus were right in their polemic.
Do not believe in automated writing and “conscious unconsciousness” – you strive after clarity.
Reject all literary schools that are imposed upon you.
When “socialist realism” is mentioned, you leave the conversation.
On the topic of “socially engaged literature” you are as quiet as a fish: you leave that to the teachers.
You tell the one who is comparing concentration camps with Sante (Dante?) to go and take a walk.
You tell the one who claims that Kolyma was worse than Auschwitz to go to hell.
As for the one claiming that only fleas were being exterminated in Auschwitz – same procedure as above.
Keep away from the princes.
Be careful not to contaminate your speech with the language of ideologies.
Believe that you are mightier than the generals, but do not measure your strength with them.
Believe that you are weaker than the generals, but do not measure your strength with them.
Do not believe in Utopian projects, except in those you are creating yourself.
Be equally bitter towards the princes as you are towards the crowds.
Have a clear conscience regarding the privileges that your writer’s trade provides.
Do not mix the curse of your profession with class oppression.
Do not get obsessed with the urgency of history and do not believe in the metaphor about the trains of history.
Do not board, therefore, “the trains of history,” for it is nothing but a silly metaphor.
Always keep in mind: “he who hits the bull’s eye, misses everything else.”
Do not write pieces about the countries you visited as a tourist; do not write pieces at all, you are not a journalist.
Do not believe in statistics, in numbers, in public statements: reality is that which cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Do not visit factories, kolkhoz, workplaces: progress is that which cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Do not practice economics, sociology, psychoanalysis.
Do not follow eastern philosophies, Zen Buddhism etc; you have better things to do.
Be aware that fantasy is fabrication’s sister, and therefore dangerous.
Associate with no one: the writer is always alone.
Do not trust those who maintain that ours is the worst of all worlds.
Do not trust prophets, you are the prophet.
Do not be a prophet, your weapon is doubt.
Have a peaceful conscience: the princes do not affect you because you are a prince.
Have a peaceful conscience: the miners do not affect you because you are a miner.
Keep in mind that the thing you did not say in the newspapers is not gone forever.
Do not write according to the order of the day.
Do not play all your cards on the moment, you will repent it.
Do not play all your cards on eternity either, you will repent doing this as well.
Be discontent with your destiny, only fools are content with theirs.
Be content with your destiny, for you have been chosen.
Seek no moral justification for traitors.
Stay clear from “absolute righteousness.”
Stay clear from false analogies.
Trust in those who pay a great price for their inconsistencies.
Do not trust in those who pay a great price for their inconsistencies.
Do not promote the relativism of all values: there is a hierarchy to all values.
Accept the awards awarded by the princes with indifference, but do nothing to deserve them.
Believe that the language of your writing is the best language of all, for you have no other language.
Believe that the language of your writing is the worst language of all, although you would not replace it for any other.
Do not be servile, because the princes will employ you as their doorman.
Do not be arrogant, because you will look like the princes’ doorman.
Do not allow them to convince you that your writing is useless to the society.
Do not think that your writing can be considered “useful to the society.”
Do not think that you yourself are a useful member of the society.
Do not allow them to convince you, because of that, that you are a social parasite.
Believe that your sonnet is more valuable that the speeches of politicians and princes.
Have an opinion on everything.
Do not say your opinion on everything.
For you, your words cost you nothing.
Your words are the most precious thing.
Do not represent your nation, for whom else could your represent but yourself!
Do not be the opposition, for you stand not across the princess, you are down below.
Do not stand next to government and the princes, you are above them.
Fight social injustice, but don’t make it into a manifesto.
Do not allow the fight against social injustice to lead you astray from your path.
Become familiar with the thoughts of others, and discard them afterwards.
Do not create a political program, do not create any kind of program: you create from the magma and the chaos of the universe.
Beware of those who offer final solutions.
Do not be a writer minority of the minorities.
As soon as some society begins calling you its own, question what you are doing.
Do not write for the “average reader:” all readers are average.
Do not write for the elite, there is no elite; you are the elite.
Do not contemplate death, and do not forget you are mortal.
Do not believe in the immortality of a writer, that is nonsense taught by teachers.
Do not be tragically serious, for that is comical.
Do not be a comedian, because the boyar are used to being entertained by them.
Do not be a fool of the court.
Do not believe that the writers are the “mankind’s conscience:” you’ve seen too many sons of bitches.
Do not let them persuade you that you are nobody: you’ve already seen that the boyar are afraid of the poets.
Never follow an idea to the death, and persuade no one to die.
Do not be a coward, and despise cowards.
Do not forget that bravery commands a highs price.
Do not write for holidays and jubilees.
Do not write laudations, because you are going to repent it.
Do not write obituaries for the heroes of the nation, because you are going to repent it.
If you cannot pronounce the truth – stay quiet.
Beware the half-truths.
When everyone around you is celebrating, there is no reason for you to take part.
Do no favors to the princes and the boyar.
Seek no favors from the princes and the boyar.
Do not be tolerant out of politeness.
Do not require justice from everyone: “do not argue with a fool.”
Do not allow them to persuade you that all of us have equally valid opinions, and that there is no accounting for tastes.
“When both participants in a discussion are wrong, it does not mean they are both right.” (Popper)
“Allowing that the other one is right does not protect us from a greater danger: allowing that perhaps everyone else is right.” (Idem)
Do not discuss with fools about things they have heard from you for the first time.
Do not be on a mission.
Beware of those who have a mission.
Do not believe in “scientific opinion.”
Do not believe in intuition.
Beware of cynicism, even your own.
Stay clear of ideological gatherings and quotations.
Have the courage to say that Aragorn’s poem in Gepeua’s honor is blasphemy.
Do not allow them to convince you that both Sartre and Camus were right in their polemic.
Do not believe in automated writing and “conscious unconsciousness” – you strive after clarity.
Reject all literary schools that are imposed upon you.
When “socialist realism” is mentioned, you leave the conversation.
On the topic of “socially engaged literature” you are as quiet as a fish: you leave that to the teachers.
You tell the one who is comparing concentration camps with Sante (Dante?) to go and take a walk.
You tell the one who claims that Kolyma was worse than Auschwitz to go to hell.
As for the one claiming that only fleas were being exterminated in Auschwitz – same procedure as above.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Quotes from The Captain
"The largest living land mammal is the absent mind."
"This is no offense, but I can't get through this microphone, it's too little."
On painting. "It's just like combing your hair really, you can't get interested in it otherwise you'd just end up watching yourself. I run away from mirrors."
"You ask them what they think about the Captain having sex, because they've always thought of me as a eunuch--a far-out lunar eunuch, due to my brief association with Zappa. I mean I'm a sexy, healthy male, and I'm not in captivity so I haven't regressed in my organs--I've got blood running everywhere. I wonder what they'll think now that I have a group of men who play men's music to women. Other men can enjoy it too, but it is definitely to women, because I'm playing to a receiver. I'm not playing to a phone company or an operator."
"This is no offense, but I can't get through this microphone, it's too little."
On painting. "It's just like combing your hair really, you can't get interested in it otherwise you'd just end up watching yourself. I run away from mirrors."
"You ask them what they think about the Captain having sex, because they've always thought of me as a eunuch--a far-out lunar eunuch, due to my brief association with Zappa. I mean I'm a sexy, healthy male, and I'm not in captivity so I haven't regressed in my organs--I've got blood running everywhere. I wonder what they'll think now that I have a group of men who play men's music to women. Other men can enjoy it too, but it is definitely to women, because I'm playing to a receiver. I'm not playing to a phone company or an operator."
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
So far this summer I have considered . . .
*buying a record player in order to hear Ben Chasny's music on it, and proper.
*devoting the entire month of June/July car rides entirely to the music of Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Imagine what a milk run would feel like, given that soundtrack.
*tell me, am I on to something or off to something?
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tiny Sips
This is the kind of thing
the kind of thing
that floats in between
people, groups, animals, plants. Not glue,
it touches and connects
without binding. It is
a little all
is all. It is a lot like finding.
What I'm talking about
is Vallejo, some of what happens
in Vallejo:
"My mother [his mother for example] walks in the orchard,
savoring a savor now without savor.
She is soft,
so wing, so gone, so love."
So wing, so gone, so love . . .
Really? Yes.
A new kind of yes. Not an unsad one: an unsaid sadness
said.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Name...
the top 5 most important non-American, non-British writers
the top 5 most readable non-American, non-British writers
(poets, novelists, experimentalists, mentalists, tightrope walkers, etc.
the egg breakers, the egg menders)
the top 5 most readable non-American, non-British writers
(poets, novelists, experimentalists, mentalists, tightrope walkers, etc.
the egg breakers, the egg menders)
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Saturday, March 31, 2012
While you were quoting Monroe,
the bit about pulling music out of the air,
I was pulling this -- apparently pulled out of the air -- out of the air:
I was pulling this -- apparently pulled out of the air -- out of the air:
Two From Bill Monroe
''I never wrote a tune in my life,'' Mr. Monroe once said. ''All that music's in the air around you all the time. I was just the first one to reach up and pull it out.''
--
In 1985, someone broke into his home and smashed the 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin he had been playing for four decades; technicians at Gibson Guitars spent three months reassembling it with microscopes and tweezers.
--
In 1985, someone broke into his home and smashed the 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin he had been playing for four decades; technicians at Gibson Guitars spent three months reassembling it with microscopes and tweezers.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Ernest Becker. "The Denial of Death" pp. 196 - 202
“Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.” (196)
“Modern man lives his contradictions for the worse, because the modern condition is one in which convincing dramas of heroic apotheosis, of creative play, or of cultural illusion are in eclipse.” (198)
“…all social life is the obsessive ritualization of control in one way or another. It automatically engineers safety and banishes despair by keeping people focused on the noses in front of their faces. The defeat of despair is not mainly an intellectual problem for an active organism, but a problem of self-stimulation via movement. Beyond a given point man is not helped by more ‘knowing’, but only by living and doing in a partly self-forgetful way. As Goethe put it, we must plunge into experience and then reflect on the meaning of it. All reflection and no plunging drives us mad; all plunging and no reflection, and we are brutes.” (199)
“The customs and myths of traditional society provided a whole interpretation of the meaning of life, ready-made for the individual; all he had to do was to accept living it as true. The modern neurotic must do just this if he is to be ‘cured’: he must welcome a living illusion.” (199)
“…modern man is the victim of his own disillusionment; he has been disinherited by his own analytic strength. The characteristic of the modern mind is the banishment of mystery, of naïve belief, of simple-minded hope. We put the accent on the visible, the clear, the cause-and-effect relation, the logical—always the logical. We know the difference between dreams and reality, between facts and fictions, between symbols and bodies. But right away we can see that these characterizations of the modern mind are exactly those of neurosis.” (200-201)
“It was G.K. Chesterton who kept alive the spirit of Kierkegaard and naïve Christianity in modern thought, as when he showed with such style that the characteristics the modern mind prides itself on are precisely those of madness. There is no one more logical than the lunatic, more concerned with the minutiae of cause and effect. Madmen are the greatest reasoners we know, and that trait is one of the accompaniments of their undoing. All their vital processes are shrunken into the mind. What is the one thing they lack that sane men possess? The ability to be careless, to disregard appearances, to relax and laugh at the world. They can’t unbend, can’t gamble their whole existence, as did Pascal, on a fanciful wager. They can’t do what religion has always asked: to believe in a justification of their lives that seems absurd. The neurotic knows better: he is the absurd, but nothing else is absurd; it is ‘only too true’. But faith asks that man expand himself trustingly into the nonlogical, into the truly fantastic. This spiritual expansion is the one thing that modern man finds most difficult, precisely because he is constricted into himself and has nothing to lean on, no collective drama that makes fantasy seem real because it is lived and shared.” (201)
“…the only secure truth men have is that which they themselves create and dramatize; to live is to play at the meaning of life. The upshot of this whole tradition of thought is that it teaches us once and for all that childlike foolishness is the calling of mature men. Just this way Rank prescribed the cure for neurosis; as the need for ‘legitimate foolishness’.” (202)
“Modern man lives his contradictions for the worse, because the modern condition is one in which convincing dramas of heroic apotheosis, of creative play, or of cultural illusion are in eclipse.” (198)
“…all social life is the obsessive ritualization of control in one way or another. It automatically engineers safety and banishes despair by keeping people focused on the noses in front of their faces. The defeat of despair is not mainly an intellectual problem for an active organism, but a problem of self-stimulation via movement. Beyond a given point man is not helped by more ‘knowing’, but only by living and doing in a partly self-forgetful way. As Goethe put it, we must plunge into experience and then reflect on the meaning of it. All reflection and no plunging drives us mad; all plunging and no reflection, and we are brutes.” (199)
“The customs and myths of traditional society provided a whole interpretation of the meaning of life, ready-made for the individual; all he had to do was to accept living it as true. The modern neurotic must do just this if he is to be ‘cured’: he must welcome a living illusion.” (199)
“…modern man is the victim of his own disillusionment; he has been disinherited by his own analytic strength. The characteristic of the modern mind is the banishment of mystery, of naïve belief, of simple-minded hope. We put the accent on the visible, the clear, the cause-and-effect relation, the logical—always the logical. We know the difference between dreams and reality, between facts and fictions, between symbols and bodies. But right away we can see that these characterizations of the modern mind are exactly those of neurosis.” (200-201)
“It was G.K. Chesterton who kept alive the spirit of Kierkegaard and naïve Christianity in modern thought, as when he showed with such style that the characteristics the modern mind prides itself on are precisely those of madness. There is no one more logical than the lunatic, more concerned with the minutiae of cause and effect. Madmen are the greatest reasoners we know, and that trait is one of the accompaniments of their undoing. All their vital processes are shrunken into the mind. What is the one thing they lack that sane men possess? The ability to be careless, to disregard appearances, to relax and laugh at the world. They can’t unbend, can’t gamble their whole existence, as did Pascal, on a fanciful wager. They can’t do what religion has always asked: to believe in a justification of their lives that seems absurd. The neurotic knows better: he is the absurd, but nothing else is absurd; it is ‘only too true’. But faith asks that man expand himself trustingly into the nonlogical, into the truly fantastic. This spiritual expansion is the one thing that modern man finds most difficult, precisely because he is constricted into himself and has nothing to lean on, no collective drama that makes fantasy seem real because it is lived and shared.” (201)
“…the only secure truth men have is that which they themselves create and dramatize; to live is to play at the meaning of life. The upshot of this whole tradition of thought is that it teaches us once and for all that childlike foolishness is the calling of mature men. Just this way Rank prescribed the cure for neurosis; as the need for ‘legitimate foolishness’.” (202)
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Mission statement (Small Fates)
"The world is always being consumed by some private mayhem." Talking about Open City and small fates in the Hindu: bit.ly/zBShvH
— Teju Cole (@tejucole) February 18, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Kitchen Sermons /Kitchen Midden / How We Were Happy
1
aim for the right amount of distance
between what you want & what you have
2
the right amount of nearness
between what you love & what you can gather
in your arms
3
the right amount of presence
in the way you mean the word
God
&
use the word
often (privately
of course) in all kinds of weather
and shenanigans
4
the right amount of absence, generally
5
language to say the world
exactly as it is
aim for the right amount of distance
between what you want & what you have
2
the right amount of nearness
between what you love & what you can gather
in your arms
3
the right amount of presence
in the way you mean the word
God
&
use the word
often (privately
of course) in all kinds of weather
and shenanigans
4
the right amount of absence, generally
5
language to say the world
exactly as it is
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Design In Nature
--“In addition, the force output of the muscles of swimmers, runners, and fliers can be calculated from their weight: It is, for all of them, roughly equal to twice their body weight.” (82)
--“…good design involves the nearly uniform distribution of imperfection throughout the entire flow system.” (65)
--“The bifurcated structure of lungs, the round tube shapes of pipes, the cracking pattern of drying mudflats are all designs that distribute their resistances so that globally the flow system becomes less and less imperfect.” (83)
--“…contrast, which is the essence of design.” (62)
--“Science is effective because it is concise. It converts physical phenomena into statements, formulas, and mathematical equations that have great explanatory power. In the process, it also tends to sever objects from their natural state. The mighty Danube ferrying water from central Europe or an elegant antelope jumping across the savanna loses its essential character when translated into data.” (55)
--“People, then, are only half right when they say things seek the path of least resistance. Instead of finding these already cleared paths, flow systems construct their own flow architectures and body rhythms that enable them to move more easily.” (52)
--“The movement toward equilibrium—and the pull of gravity—puts things in motion.” (53)
--“A prerequisite, then, is for the flow system to be free to morph. The emerging flow architecture is the means by which the flow system achieves its objective under constraints. Freedom is good for design.” (44)
--“Imperfections are unavoidable. In fact, they are necessary. Without imperfections (resistances), flow systems would accelerate continuously, eventually spinning out of control. Thus, imperfection (friction, heat leaks, etc.) acts as a brake on the engines (the designs) that drive flow.” (42)
--“…while a system cannot create energy, it will conserve and can transform it.” (40)
--“Consider the snowflake. The prevailing view in science is that the intricate crystals formed by the snowflake have no function. This is wrong. In fact, the snowflake is a flow design for dispersing the heat—called the latent heat of solidification—generated on its surfaces during freezing. As water vapor condenses and freezes it throws off its excess heat. When the ice crystal first forms, its spherical bead is the shape that grows faster than other shapes, the shape that facilitates rapid solidification. When the bead is large enough, needles emerge and enhance solidification (that is, produce ice) faster than the sphere. To facilitate solidification even more, larger snowflakes morph into shapes with more needles that disperse heat.” (10)
--“The engineered world we have built so that we can move more easily does not copy any part of the natural design; it is a manifestation of it.” (4)
--Definition of the ‘constructal law’: “For a finite-size flow system to persist in time (to live), its configuration must evolve in such a way that provides easier access to the currents that flow through it.” (3)
--“Everything that moves, whether animate or inanimate, is a flow system…. The designs we see in nature are not the result of chance. They arise naturally, spontaneously, because they enhance access to flow in time.” (3)
--Two basic features to flow systems. “Flow systems have two basic features (properties). There is the current that is flowing (for example, fluid, heat, mass, or information) and the design through which it flows. A lightning bolt, for example, is a flow system for discharging electricity from a cloud. In a flash it creates a brilliant branched structure because this is a very efficient way to move a current (electricity) from a volume (the cloud) to a point (the church steeple or another cloud).” (3-4)
--“Life is movement and the constant morphing of the design of this movement. To be alive is to keep on flowing and morphing.” (6)
--“…good design involves the nearly uniform distribution of imperfection throughout the entire flow system.” (65)
--“The bifurcated structure of lungs, the round tube shapes of pipes, the cracking pattern of drying mudflats are all designs that distribute their resistances so that globally the flow system becomes less and less imperfect.” (83)
--“…contrast, which is the essence of design.” (62)
--“Science is effective because it is concise. It converts physical phenomena into statements, formulas, and mathematical equations that have great explanatory power. In the process, it also tends to sever objects from their natural state. The mighty Danube ferrying water from central Europe or an elegant antelope jumping across the savanna loses its essential character when translated into data.” (55)
--“People, then, are only half right when they say things seek the path of least resistance. Instead of finding these already cleared paths, flow systems construct their own flow architectures and body rhythms that enable them to move more easily.” (52)
--“The movement toward equilibrium—and the pull of gravity—puts things in motion.” (53)
--“A prerequisite, then, is for the flow system to be free to morph. The emerging flow architecture is the means by which the flow system achieves its objective under constraints. Freedom is good for design.” (44)
--“Imperfections are unavoidable. In fact, they are necessary. Without imperfections (resistances), flow systems would accelerate continuously, eventually spinning out of control. Thus, imperfection (friction, heat leaks, etc.) acts as a brake on the engines (the designs) that drive flow.” (42)
--“…while a system cannot create energy, it will conserve and can transform it.” (40)
--“Consider the snowflake. The prevailing view in science is that the intricate crystals formed by the snowflake have no function. This is wrong. In fact, the snowflake is a flow design for dispersing the heat—called the latent heat of solidification—generated on its surfaces during freezing. As water vapor condenses and freezes it throws off its excess heat. When the ice crystal first forms, its spherical bead is the shape that grows faster than other shapes, the shape that facilitates rapid solidification. When the bead is large enough, needles emerge and enhance solidification (that is, produce ice) faster than the sphere. To facilitate solidification even more, larger snowflakes morph into shapes with more needles that disperse heat.” (10)
--“The engineered world we have built so that we can move more easily does not copy any part of the natural design; it is a manifestation of it.” (4)
--Definition of the ‘constructal law’: “For a finite-size flow system to persist in time (to live), its configuration must evolve in such a way that provides easier access to the currents that flow through it.” (3)
--“Everything that moves, whether animate or inanimate, is a flow system…. The designs we see in nature are not the result of chance. They arise naturally, spontaneously, because they enhance access to flow in time.” (3)
--Two basic features to flow systems. “Flow systems have two basic features (properties). There is the current that is flowing (for example, fluid, heat, mass, or information) and the design through which it flows. A lightning bolt, for example, is a flow system for discharging electricity from a cloud. In a flash it creates a brilliant branched structure because this is a very efficient way to move a current (electricity) from a volume (the cloud) to a point (the church steeple or another cloud).” (3-4)
--“Life is movement and the constant morphing of the design of this movement. To be alive is to keep on flowing and morphing.” (6)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Maybe I should call this
something like "The Kitchen Sermons" or just
"Kitchen." Because,
standing there, stirring mushrooms and onions,
inhaling the sweet earth of it
my daughter says,
I broke the lamp because today is Halloween,
and that's damn funny when it happens in February,
deeply damn funny and it makes me want to smash other things
as well, other things for no good reasons
and then, on her way to bed, my big paw covering entirely
her little one, she says,
I'm gonna dream of flowers alright,
as if we had been talking about that, as if
that were obvious and true
in the kitchen where my son has illustrated
entire universes down to the handles
on the toilets, where my wife has wiped up
ground coffee beans for the 2,346th time,
and she doesn't even drink coffee
which is kind of the point.
"Kitchen." Because,
standing there, stirring mushrooms and onions,
inhaling the sweet earth of it
my daughter says,
I broke the lamp because today is Halloween,
and that's damn funny when it happens in February,
deeply damn funny and it makes me want to smash other things
as well, other things for no good reasons
and then, on her way to bed, my big paw covering entirely
her little one, she says,
I'm gonna dream of flowers alright,
as if we had been talking about that, as if
that were obvious and true
in the kitchen where my son has illustrated
entire universes down to the handles
on the toilets, where my wife has wiped up
ground coffee beans for the 2,346th time,
and she doesn't even drink coffee
which is kind of the point.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
One more from the Book of Meetings
I am invited
here and there
day long
when I am not too tired.
Did you even ever know?
Sometimes is all. Sometimes.
It was far from bliss, this.
Was a kidney punch in the thing they
probably rightly
call soul. Was sort of a constant,
continuously astonishing
education. But
this is how we were happy, when we were happy.
On a very good day, for example. . . .
Let me start again. On an ordinary
Tuesday/Wednesday
with a five-year-old cabernet and son, a two-year-old
car and daughter,
forgetting the future as hard as we hardly could,
you and I and it are
what we are meant to be.
What role we play in that
unhooking, untethering, de-narrating
is God's homemaking, God's demolition.
here and there
day long
when I am not too tired.
Did you even ever know?
Sometimes is all. Sometimes.
It was far from bliss, this.
Was a kidney punch in the thing they
probably rightly
call soul. Was sort of a constant,
continuously astonishing
education. But
this is how we were happy, when we were happy.
On a very good day, for example. . . .
Let me start again. On an ordinary
Tuesday/Wednesday
with a five-year-old cabernet and son, a two-year-old
car and daughter,
forgetting the future as hard as we hardly could,
you and I and it are
what we are meant to be.
What role we play in that
unhooking, untethering, de-narrating
is God's homemaking, God's demolition.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
“Praise the mutilated world and the grey feather a thrush lost, and the gentle light that strays and vanishes and returns.”—Zagajewski
— Teju Cole (@_firescript) January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Leonard Says
“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
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