It's An Alright Kind of Place Where Nothing is Unusual

There are the give-aways so many give-aways – one after the other – no explanation or commentary – have here this little juicy tidbit and its pure gold. Who was to know? No forewarning of what is to come. No flashing neon solicitating attention – hey!, pay attention to this – its for your own benefit – the ten most frequently viewed, the ten most popular – no not any of this. How much trouble each one was is not known – how difficult each one’s birth was is not known – how each one rose to the surface is not known – how each one came to written down is not know. All that is know is that here it is. See here they are swimming among the words, they are awash is the ink. And this is not all that there is either. When the sun is out and at just the right angle many can be seen swimming lazily in the water where previously there didn’t seem to be any – maybe only that big one over there [a finger points to stage right], but only if they move and a glitter of light [a bright beam of orange lights is directed at stage center] hits their scales just right then can they be seen – pure gold – koi - so many but it takes concentration and patience – scarce resources – so many things to do – so little time – so many demands.

Men do not respect those whom they must obey – Richard Sennett – The Hidden Injuries of Class, 1972 p226

Really Existing Socialism – socialism as has been practiced rather than as an idea. Really Existing Free Markets – markets that really exist rather than the idea of free markets. Really existing is always a moonshadow.

The term [socialized medicine] has been a powerful political weapon – even though nobody can quite define what it means. The term was popularized by a public relations firm working for the American Medical Association in 1947 to disparage President Truman’s proposal for a national health care system. It was a label, at the dawn of the cold war meant to suggest that anybody advocating universal access to health care must be a communist. And the phrase has retained its political power for six decades – T R Reid – The Healing of America, 2009 p11

It rained – then, the sun, it came out
The pavement glitters – the air hangs
      Heavy
Then it comes again – the rain
      Pours down
Time moves on, so does the rain
      The rain moves on
Only puddles remain  while time leaves
      Us ever worse off

Tune up the dawn’s motor / While I sit on the edge of my eyes / And click off the entry of images – Vicente Huidobro – The Selected Poetry of, 1981 p93

To remain sane you may need to see the world around you itself as insane, and although you will feel that the technical definition of this insanity that you have diagnosed could  be applid to you, don't. You no longer exhibit any of the symptoms of this insanity yourself  – you remain standing looking towards the horizon, watching the cities as they burn. That piller of salt - that one back there - that was my wife.

When we don’t have much information to go on we often allow the beauty of a phrase to validate its truthfulness – M T McGlone

If we are mystified and stymied and willing to go to our death for false causes such as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – than what chance do we have of confronting any real threats

In turning people against each other, the class system of authority and judgment-making goes itself into hiding; the system is left unchallenged as people enthralled by the enigmas of its power battle one anther for respect – Richard Sennett – The Hidden Injuries of Class, 1972 p 150

I loved here but she was
     Queer
I thought her strange
Tis’ why I loved her’
But she lost her exotic
     Appeal
What had once seemed
     Charming
Became simply annoying
And I had to move on

One can never retreat from life, but one can always escape from thought, and yet to have lived is not enough, to have loved is not enough, one must talk about it constantly – Raymond Federman – The Twofold Vibration, 1982 p61

The pavement is bone dry
There is no water in the gutter
The creeks are still running high
The blue-jays are in flight
You can step on the brakes
      And not slide
You come to a halt
      And look about
Nothing in anyway
      Seems unusual

To get people to think carefully and to prevent them from making silly mistakes, make them work to process the question; making the font hard to read, the cadence awkward, and the wording unfamiliar – Drake Bennett – The Boston Globe