Wednesday, May 6, 2015

If Existing Is Plagiarism, Then What Is Death?




  • More on my inability to knausgaard. As autobiographical as this blog is, there is far more that I want to write about - do, in fact, write about - my life that will never appear here or anywhere anyone other than me can read. While I can claim with some conviction that I am sincerely respecting the privacy of loved ones, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, disliked ones, hated ones, cowardice, a fear of confrontation, motivates my silence as much if not more. So while I think there's a certain cowardice in using real life as source material, it's also cowardice to not use real life as source material, so fuck me.
  • My love of language? or my need to hide behind it?
  • My fervent anti-wish: FBI waterboards Mohammed cartoon-contest shooters, under duress they confess they were paid by Geller, polarities are reversed, hilarity ensues.
  • Ampay Ellergay and free speech.
  • What do we see when we read?
  • As bleggalgazed as this bleg is, there is far more that I want to write about Blegsylvania - do, in fact, write about - that will never appear here or anywhere anyone other than me can read. Though that might hopefully change, but only in regards to me and my stupidass presence in Blegsylvania.
  • But sincere thanks for all Kind sent my way.
  • Why Hillary became a goddess.
  • I swear to Baal, sometimes I think Republicans exist just to get Democrats elected. I know, of course they do, I mean to say sometimes I think Republicans knowingly exist to get Democrats elected.
  • Life isn't linear.
  • Percival Everett, for those of you who do (and those of you who should, which is you).







THE ECSTASY OF CAPITULATION

Daniel Borzutzky

I.
One reason to eat is to not speak, said the man
with a mouth full of food. When she told me that my

silence was worse than her silence, I agreed,
even though she was wrong. It is shallow to fight

for things, he said, but sometimes it can be fun. You
look like a tunnel, she said, and kissed my lips. What

I like least about words is their capacity
to invoke more words, she said, as she trashed my

poem. According to the New York Times, gay
teenage boys want monogamy while

heterosexual boys prefer “friends with
benefits.” My psychiatrist told me it was

okay to lie about the important details
of my life. As a result, I fell in love with

her. I stopped seeing her as a patient but when
we dated the spark was gone. If, as Cioran writes,

existing is plagiarism, then what is death?
I was lost all night in the forest only to

discover these were streets I knew quite well. In the
Oresteia, Apollo argues that the true

parent is “he who mounts.” Because the Furies fail
to ask what happens when the woman is on top,

they lose the case. In evaluations, a
student wrote: “Daniel would be a better teacher

if he wasn’t such an asshole.” Weren’t such an
asshole, I wanted to tell her, though as her

comments were supposed to be anonymous, I
could not admit that I recognized her

handwriting. On a first date, I innocently
went to the bathroom when the check arrived. She thought

I was trying to stick her with the bill but when
she realized I was unaware of dating

etiquette she was charmed.  We had a nice kiss
goodnight, but afterwards I was so flustered I
went to a bar by myself, drank whiskey, and smoked
my first cigarette in years.


II.
                       Throughout my life I have always wanted to tell the truth,
                       even though I knew it was all a lie. In the end all that matters
                       is the truth content of a lie.
                                                     —Thomas Bernhard, Gathering Evidence


Before I met Lisa in person, says Jerry,
a user of an online dating service, I
really enjoyed the wit and flirtatiousness of
her emails. But on our first date she was stiff as
a board. I wasn’t attracted to her, though I
slept with her anyway, just in case I might like it.
And I did. I liked it so much, that now we’re
getting married.

I love you, she said, as she smacked her child’s head.

I love you for your holes, she said,
not just the holes in your shoes and socks, but the
gaping holes in your personality.

When she asked me if I was uncomfortable,
I told her I wasn’t.
I really was uncomfortable.
What I neglected to say
was that I enjoy being uncomfortable.

Two old friends meet in a café to discuss
mutual funds and stock options. Thus begins a
story that ends with one man slicing off the
other’s neck, and stuffing his mouth with love poems
to Young Werther.

Life is too short to be genuine,
he said, as he stared into her deep
brown eyes. It was the most genuine thing
he’s said all day.



2 comments:

  1. If, as Cioran writes, existing is plagiarism, then what is death?

    nature's way of telling you to slow down?

    ReplyDelete
  2. re percival everett - before this morning, i had read nothing by him

    now i have read his intro to the 'jefferson bible'

    http://www.akashicbooks.com/extra/excerpt-from-the-introduction-by-percival-everett/

    perhaps i will read something else by him later

    ReplyDelete