Friday, May 13, 2011

Upon Discovering My Entire Solution to the Attainment of Immortality Erased from the Blackboard Except the Word 'Save'



Hey! did you hear Blooger crashed yesterday? Error bX-bclwac, don't you know. Thanks for the emails (before it became apparent this was not just about me). I'm not blegicidal (though battling a wee case of hiatusitus).

As I wrote this in moleskine (I write everything in moleskine first, blooger puking or not) I assumed google would fix things. I left blooger five years ago because it soyally rucked, I left ypepadtay seven months ago because it began soyally rucking as much as blooger had but charged me $125 a year for the privilege. I'd also been told by reliable folk and blogfolk that blooger rucked soyally far less than once. I've no idea what the fuck's up with comments, and I don't know why there's not a button I can click to make links open in a new window for you (and I've tried the cssing but it hasn't worked, though I'm a techtard), but this is the first I've seen a case of bX-bclwac. More importantly, if I ever ask you to migrate again I've asked this guy to kill me (and to double-kill me if I ever twitter or tumblr).

We Thursday Nighters sat down to our pints. I'm asked by L, I tried to read BDR today and I got an error message; what the fuck? I said the blog's back to read though last I looked I can't post. Do you good to not be able to post through the weekend, she said, winning the night's ridiculously priced scotch, but there are major birthdays to be honored Saturday and Sunday and there's a United game Saturday night whose recap will drive more readers away Sunday, but she's right - no more scab-picking until Monday at the earliest! Yay for you!




  • The system works!
  • On the above.
  • Prepping for the resource wars.
  • The dreadful inevitability of Romney.
  • Budget battles
  • Damn! yesterday's post that blooger ate was the best post ever. 
  • Are all religions equally crazy?
  • Fuck-me-jig. I urge you to read that for background on United and RFK . I know some of you tuned in expecting I'd have more, but I haven't the heart to comment beyond noting that this is twice this week Kevin Payne has threatened the District, for all the good that will do him, and to note that there are politicians in every jurisdiction not Baltimore (and even there I'm sure) who would LOVE the opportunity of demagoguing a proposal of using state funds for a soccer stadium.
  • More.
  • Maryland tolls.
  • Bleggalgazing.
  • This is true: once I move a post from moleskine to digital I compose it first in gmail and mail it to myself since I hate accidentally hitting publish in blooger before I'm ready. Came in handy for another reason this time.
  • What the hell happened to Dave Foley.
  • On Richard Powers.
  • Coover interview.
  • Richard Thompson opens for John Prine? What. The Fuck. I've nothing against John Prine, don't mind when I hear him, but Richard Thompson opens for John Prine?
  • Bank vault in heaven.





UPON DISCOVERING MY ENTIRE SOLUTION TO THE ATTAINMENT OF IMMORTALITY ERASED FROM THE BLACKBOARD EXCEPT THE WORD 'SAVE'

Dobby Gibson

If you have seen the snow
somewhere slowly fall
on a bicycle,
then you understand
all beauty will be lost
and that even loss
can be beautiful.
And if you have looked
at a winter garden
and seen not a winter garden
but a meditation on shape,
then you understand why
this season is not
known for its words,
the cold too much 
about the slowing of matter,
not enough about the making of it.
So you are blessed
to forget this way:
jump rope in the ice melt,
a mitten that has lost its hand,
a sun that shines
as if it doesn't mean it.
And if in another season
you see a beautiful woman
use her bare hands
to smooth wrinkles
from her expensive dress
for the sake of dignity,
but in so doing reveal
the outlines of her thighs,
then you will remember
surprise assumes a space
that has first been forgotten,
especially here, where we
rarely speak of it,
where we walk out onto the roofs
of frozen lakes
simply because we're stunned
we really can.


8 comments:

  1. You might not mind John Prine when you hear him, but I do. What the fuck, Richard Thompson?

    I wouldn't mind the whole blogtastrophe if blooger would just be a little clearer about what's going on. "Everything should be fine now!" isn't reassuring when everything isn't fine yet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He's opening the next night for Prine in Bawlmer too. I have a vague memory of him opening for Prine before at Wolftrap - I guess Iris Dement isn't available. I also guess it's easy money - play for 45 minutes, go have dinner. I don't begrudge him.

    I had a colleague who listened to KPIG online a cubicle over half a dozen years ago. KPIG played Prine all the time, Thompson never (John Hiatt ALWAYS, somebody called Todd Snider ALL THE FUCKING TIME).

    I assume Thompson would outdraw Prine, but I'm probably wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi BDR, forgive the prefab copy n paste, but this is th comment I left at Jack Crow:

    FWIW I still think blogger is a good value, because I remember what it was like in the Pyra Lab days. According to this web site, downrightnow.com/blogger, they were out for 20 straight hours. No idea how accurate it is, though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, did you hear Blooger crashed yesterday.

    I was in that crash! Luckily I lost was a kitten youtube. I'm trusting Blooger will restore everything, because they would never lie.

    Right?
    ~

    ReplyDelete
  5. As I type this yesterday's post has reappeared on-blog and re-fed on readers. Comments aren't back and there are strange hieroglyphs next to the tags....

    I would have bet blogger wouldn't lie, they just wouldn't bother saying....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Posted for Richard:

    "I assume Thompson would outdraw Prine, but I'm probably wrong."

    Yeah, I think you are indeed wrong there. Prine has a pretty big following. I doubt Thompson ever had the mainstream American success that Prine had in the 70s.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I thought you had over-celebrated Elkin's birthday, hence the absence. Say, BDR, in your heart of hearts, do you consider Elkin a New York writer or a Mizoura one?

    Athitakis was super generous on Powers, no? He had to dig deep for the gold. For me, Power's turned out to be more a son that shines as if he doesn't mean it.

    Coover new book--yay.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I told you the other day that you broke the internets.

    ReplyDelete