Thursday, January 6, 2011

We Had to Beg a Stranger to Be a Victim and Crouch Behind a Girder, and Let the Dogs Discover Him and Tug Him Proudly, with Suppressed Yaps, Back to Command

Unless this is your first or at most second time visiting this shitty blog, you know I'm constitutionally incapable of not noting this:

Ethan:
FUCKING WEIRD.

Two days ago I decided I really, really needed to transfer all of my various different lists (in my head, bookmarked sites, printed out lists, handwritten, wishlists at various stores, etc.) of books I want to read into one central location. And last night I had to track down the Barthelme syllabus again, because the place I had seen it three years ago no longer had it. And now today you post it.

Synchronicity.
Me:
Serendipity! And thanks for bump at your place. I know you were being Kind, but I got an email back at the old place (before you joined in, I think) ripping me for "competitive blogwhoring" with all the links. Well, duh and all, of course I'm an attention slut - I'm a fucking blogger - but he completely refused to accept any chance I might be Kind too.
Ethan:
I've never understood why "blogwhoring" should be considered a bad thing...and like I said, people who provide lots of links for me to look at are damned useful. Hah--you're useful.

So noted. Consider this:
With four minutes remaining, Steve Kean's side fretting and Steven Gerrard sizing up his second goal of the night from the penalty spot, Liverpool sensed another remarkable comeback and escape route for Hodgson. But those days are over. At least under this manager and with this squad. The captain who has forged a career on rescue missions blazed over and, quite possibly, the 63-year-old's fate was sealed.

Defeat was accompanied by the now familiar refrains of "Dalglish" and "Hodgson for England" from the Liverpool supporters. A new ditty was added last night. The Blackburn fans chanted "You're getting sacked in the morning" after Benjani Mwaruwari stroked home his second of the game and Rovers' third shortly after the interval. The Liverpool fans then joined in.

Discuss the difference between serendipity and synchronicity (beyond the primary and obvious benefit that the word serendipity doesn't remind you of Gordon (The Bad) Sumner, though synchronicity just sparked this moment of serendipity).

As for blogwhoring, thanks for the business, John, Jane.








SEARCHERS

D. Nurkse

We gave our dogs a button to sniff,
or a tissue, and they bounded off
confident in their training,
in the power of their senses
to re-create the body,

but after eighteen hours in rubble
where even steel was pulverized
they curled on themselves
and stared up at us
and in their soft huge eyes
we saw mirrored the longing for death:

then we had to beg a stranger
to be a victim and crouch
behind a girder, and let the dogs
discover him and tug him
proudly, with suppressed yaps,
back to Command and the rows
of empty triage tables.

But who will hide from us?
Who will keep digging for us
here in the cloud of ashes?


5 comments:

  1. Marshall said his intention is to inject competition into the national economy and force the federal government to change monetary policy he believes is leading to hyperinflation. According to his bill, "many widely recognized experts predict the inevitable destruction of the Federal Reserve System's currency through hyperinflation in the foreseeable future."

    And by "widely recognized experts" he means college dropout Glenn Beck.
    ~

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  2. Yesterday, I dropped off my comix at the printer. As a test sheet, they ran one copy of the sheet of drawings on the top of pile that represents the middle 4 pages in the book. One of the pages on the sheet is the scene where they drive to Salem, Ohio and park in the parking lot of the toilet factory while lightning is hitting the smokestack.

    After leaving the drawings with the printer, I got in the car, turned on the radio, and tuned into 87.9 fm, the local pirate radio station. They were playing Howling Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning"!

    Synchronous serendipity? Serendipitous synchronicity?

    Later in the day, I went to pick my wife up at work. While I waited in the car, I tuned into the college radio station. They were playing Captain Beefheart's "Moonlight on Vermont", the first time I have ever heard a radio station play Beefheart!

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  3. Now I've got snippets of solo Sting tracks I've unfortunately heard over the years rattling in my head. Bastard.

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  4. Hey, be fair. The Police SUCK! too.

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  5. Hah, thanks for the front-paging.

    I like the word "synchronicity"--one of my favorite roots, one of my favorite prefixes, one of my favorite meanings--too much to let Gordon Fucking Sumner ruin it.

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