We go fishing. I have the carry the dog though the
thickets. He is a burr magnet. Otherwise I have to spend half my time pulling the burrs out of his fur. I carry him under my right arm. In my left hand I have my rod and reel. After a dozen casts I
get bored. I need to brush up on my fishing lore (what lures rule and what not). There is a lot that I’m not
doing right and nothing that I am doing well. He’s picked up some more burrs. I
dig them out. He doesn’t whine and try to bite my hand any more. He prefers
that I do it rather than do it himself. He licks my hand as I put back tuff
after tuff of of his long hair from the hooks of an embedded burr. I pick him up,
tuck him under my arm, pick up my rod in
the other hand and hike back to the road. There are four deer drinking from the stream. They
run off when they spot us. It is getting hot. I am getting heated with my sweat
shirt on and totting this damn dog. I shall have a beer. Its Ok because it’s almost
noon. One has to have rules to live by:
no sex with chickens, no drinking before noon. I found a day-glow green lure in
the woods. I am making a collection of these found lures. Now I have two.
Their talk, however, was the talk of sordid buccaneers: it
was reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without
courage; there was not an atom of
foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of them, and they did not
seem aware these things are wanted for the work of the world – Joseph Conrad –
Heart of Darkness
I almost got clobbered by a dead branch from the big tree
that stood above my trailer (aka The Duck). In the night a storm blew in. I had been warned.
I could hear something hitting the roof of the trailer but I thought it was
hail. Two big branches came down in the wind. One almost hit the shelter and
one almost hit me. It landed five feet behind the trailer. I could see the big
hole it made in the soft dirt where it hit. It landed facing away from the
trailer. I was lucky. I had heard sirens in the night. The dog shivered from
fear of the thunder. I went to sleep. I guess the hill behind me got clobbered
by a tornado. Big trees were uprooted and toppled. Metal roofing was twisted
and wrapped around the trees that were still standing. I didn’t think anything
about it. My power didn’t go out. I didn’t know anything about it until I left
camp in the morning. I saw the damage where it has hit the top above me. Wow,
that was very close. I was tucked in behind a berm at the bottom of the hill. I
was lucky.
The difference, finding the / difference: earth, no heavier
/ with me here, will be no lighter when I’m gone – A R Ammons – Collected
Poems, 1951-1971, 1972 p243
Power of the people – electioneering
Power for the people – rural electrification
Power to the people – popular uprising
We don’t want to impose our solution by force; we want to
create a democratic space – Sub Comandante Marcos
Housecleaning – make the bed, wash the dishes, sweep the
floor, clean the stove, water the
plants. The battery has gone dead again. Time to feed the dog again. Again and
again, the same old thing.
Scientists of poetry / they are burning Newark / and when
she went away / I turned in my sleep / and the deepest synapse of my bran /
sparked and broke – Hugh Seidman – Selected Poems, 1995 p4
A big attack by the Germans is imminent. We are throwing together every man they can be
found find to re-enforce this area. They are putting together volunteers from
all over the nearby front. Many did not yet even been issued uniforms,
especially the young boys, but also the lunatics from a nearby asylum. Mothers
had been dropping off there younger sons all morning, many were no older than
six. There was a guy who claimed to be a professor of artillery. He was selling
uniforms. In his opinion blue and pink were the ideal colors for an
artilleryman – a blue tunic with pink pantaloons. Some of the veterans bought his
uniforms for the youngest of the lads and dressed them up so their mothers
could see them and be proud before they went back home. Us veterans intended to
keep our distance from these proud lads.
The destruction of representational images is the
destruction of a hierarchy which is no longer recognized. It is the violation
of generally established and universally visible and valued distances – Elias
Canetti - Crowds and Power, 1978 p19
The Italians began to dance. They played arias arranged for
mandolin, guitar and zinc accordion. Some of the women could not keep quiet.
Men liked to hear women talk. Turn off here. This is the route James took on
his journey into Jerusalem. Someone is behind me muttering the lyrics. He said
that roses in a weed patch are no better than my sister. I told him to take it
back. I suspected that it was an insult but I was not sure. Now I didn’t mind
so much as long as he directed his insults at myself but to bring my family
into this was just uncalled for. I was not particularly fond of any of my three
sisters but one has to draw the line somewhere and this was the line that I
drew. I am now ready to stand up and fight.
In Handel’s and Mozart’s time the public was annoyed ‘not’
to hear a new work – John Adams – Hallelujah Junction, 2008
A cool breeze blows out of the west. The clouds have
disappeared. It is still cold but it is sunny. It is not bone chillingly cold
but cold enough to want to keep your hands tucked into your pockets. It is time
for a hot cup of coffee. This is when I miss having access to electricity. The
microwave is so convenient when it comes to warming up a cup of coffee.
A woman put me down & Freud / smoked twenty cigars a
day. / My friend spoke of prophets / & profit. The air conditioner / makes
the living sound – Hugh Seidman – Selected Poems, 1995 p31
Make the bed, walk the dog, take a pee, take your meds and
brush your teeth. Prepare and eat breakfast, wash the dishes. We’re getting on
with this day. The coffee pot is already empty.
All the great classical communities conceived of themselves
as cosmically central, through the medium of a sacred language linked to a
superterrestrial order of power – Benedict Anderson – Imagined Communities,
1991 p13
Creationism is bad science; but Darwinism is not itself bad
religion.
[What] the political class can’t accept [is] that the
common demand of the current protest wave is for democratic revolution. We want
them gone. We want power – Ben Manski 10/3/11
Bad explanations beg more bad explanations while good
explanations beget better explanations
The way that can be spoken of is
not the true way – Tao Te Ching
The consumer is the real job creator
Each morning they seize their weapons and go out and fight.
They kill each other in sport, but they stand up again; it is not real death.
Through 640 gates they re-enter Valhalla, 800 men in a row – Elias Canetti
- Crowds and Power, 1978 p44
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