Thursday, December 22, 2016

He Pencils a Sign for His Shed STOP THINK AVOID EVIL




Something's up with Rosie. She's not eating. She doesn't want touched. Vet tomorrow. Lordy.

Last time I'll urge this upon you: Do the speed limit everywhere. Go four, five miles over, don't watch the countdown clock of the crosswalk and break before yellow, just drive ridiculously by the rules like rubes in the movies of John Harvill's drivers-ed class and watch humans go by, it's like Intro to Hobbes. It's fun.

I was, as Earthgirl tells me when I remark each time hey, look at that asshole, an asshole driver. When driving by myself Kensington to Frederick to Hagerstown to Hancock to Cumberland to Morgantown to Washington to Wheeling to Zanesville to Gambier and back, I'd race the clock, a total dick. Total dick.

So to be less an asshole I need set it up as entertainment via sociological experiment with heavy snark component so I can feel superior. Fuck me, but any road to Kinder is better than no road.







  • Holyfuck, I love ▲ song. I now have Lampchop tickets for April 1, 2017 show at U St Music Hall in DC, and so do you if you want.
  • Nothing to say.
  • Year of Suck, reviewed.
  • Trump and the taming of the Oligarchs.
  • Fuck workWhen I see, for example, that you’re making millions by laundering drug-cartel money (HSBC), or pushing bad paper on mutual fund managers (AIG, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley, Citibank), or preying on low-income borrowers (Bank of America), or buying votes in Congress (all of the above) – just business as usual on Wall Street – while I’m barely making ends meet from the earnings of my full-time job, I realise that my participation in the labour market is irrational. I know that building my character through work is stupid because crime pays. I might as well become a gangster like you.
  • Islands of the Colorblind. Do.
  • The Major Refutation? I was given a Barnes & Noble gift card yesterday.
  • News yesterday: Sunn O))) playing 930 on March 13! and I'm like, once I'd have bought tickets on word, now I'm like if there are tickets available March 13 I'll consider it then, what the fuck is wrong with me?






DECEMBER

Jean Valentine

1

We all walk up and down
and around our block, talking out loud
to ourselves, caring less each year who hears us.
The amputee who runs our newsstand stops,
thinks. He pencils a sign for his shed
        STOP     THINK

        AVOID    EVIL
and grins like a tommy, then
stops, thinks.
The crazy lady, 7 foot tall in her space shoes,
swinging her cane at all the small children,
stops.

                        I will have satisfaction!
                        Why are you such cowards!
                        Snakes in the grass!
The children and I laugh out loud, like Huns.
The tommy nudges himself,
winks.

2

Fat with insights
sharper than a tooth
I make my Christmas lists.

the pelican
the lamb
the coral fan

the seals
the shells
the whippoorwills

the polar bear yellowing by the fire
both warm brown eyes long picked,
four mice waltzing

three hens who know what the sky is doing
and you, my two goslings,
and you

 

6 comments:

  1. Love the poem as usual. Hope Rosie will be okay. Just got back from the vets with Mr. Bebe the Cat, he's lost too much weight over a month and was vomiting. Vet couldn't find anything wrong so we started him on new food which he attacked like there was no tomorrow. Hopefully it was that simple. Regarding driving I agree and that's what I do, five over the limit. Like a friend once told me, better they are pissed off than you are. Good advice.

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  2. San Francisco traffic has turned into a version of Tiny town bumper cars -- the impatience and aggressive displays are normal now. People honking (read: standing on it) when someone ahead of them is not as fast as their demands on humanity is very common.

    A few weeks ago I watched a person (and a local, from the rear license plate holder), driving a white SUV -- nice one; an MBZ, with wife and two kids -- make a left turn in front of a Powell-Bay streets cable car which was already in motion. As if it would stop for the car. Predictably, cable car struck SUV in left front quarter panel, and it's driver jumped out, yelling at the brakeman, "What the fuck is wrong with you? Didn't you see I was turning??" I was happy to give the Muni accident investigators my observations.

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    Replies
    1. I think it was George Carlin's joke, but the difference between an asshole and a jerk? An asshole drives faster than me, a jerk slower.

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    2. We could use George C., now. And, didn't say it earlier but hope things are well with the Kitty. Pets are family; all kinds of things seem to happen to family at ExMass -- not always bad.

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  3. from a summary of a book by karen armstrong:

    We are not doomed to a selfish existence; we have the ability with disciplined, repeated action to construct new habits of thought. If every time we were tempted to say something vile about a colleague, ex-spouse, or country with whom we are at war, we asked, “how would I like that said about me and mine?” and refrain we would reach the state of ekstasis = momentary ‘stepping outside’ the egotistical self. If we did this, as Confucius advised, “all day and every day”, we would be in a state of continuous ekstasis, which is not a trance, but the permanent selflessness of a Buddha or sage.

    http://www.charterforcompassion.org/share-the-charter/multifaith-council-of-nw-ohio-summary-of-the-twelve-steps-to-a-compassionate-life

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    Replies
    1. from the same source:

      Golden Rule requires self-knowledge. Take responsibility for misdeeds, but realize that rage, fear, hatred, greed [that make us behave badly] derive from the reptilian four F brain. As sages of old did, we must free ourselves from fear by adopting a compassionate lifestyle and mind-training regimen....

      Skeptics say the Golden Rule does not work, but they have not tried to implement it whole-heartedly and consistently. It is not a doctrine to believe or not, it is a method. The only test of a method is to put it into practice. People have centuries found that behaving in accordance with the Golden Rule, brought a deeper, fuller level of existence.

      It will be a slow, incremental process. Resolve each day:

      To act in accordance with the positive Golden Rule – “Treat others as you wish to be treated yourself.” Not grandiose, but small act of kindness. Look for an opportunity to create a “spot in time” for someone.

      To fulfill the negative version of the Golden Rule – “Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.” Try to stop yourself from making that brilliantly wounding remark. Each time you succeed will be an ekstasis.

      [end of quote from summary of karen armstrong]

      a personal note - in my high school yearbook, decades ago, one person made note of my sharp - and sometimes piercing - wit

      in fact, as i look back on my younger years, i see that in several ways i could have been a better person than i was - i am definitely older, arguably wiser - and indisputably closer to death

      may the creative forces of the universe be with us all - and may peace be with all potentially sentient beings, to the extent possible






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