Thursday, October 31, 2019

You Think It's Funny, the Dead Man Being Stiff?



  • I vouch for new Swans and new Swans new album
  • Unmistakably Swans but sound palette different than recent Swans
  • New Swans older more voice than noise Swans
  • older me more






  • But bells, one song with bells, o faith
  • I turned off Charlie and Dave in bottom of 7th inning against Earthgirl's protests, I told her, trust me, Earthgirl can vouch
  • I also vouch for Marvin Bell
  • In red tablet, unintentionally, five straight clusterfuckless days, I should follow my baseball advice jinx-wise tablet-wise
  • bigger at other place
  • I gave the latest Pere Ubu three more chances to win me
  • not roadtrip rotational on *short!* shuffle yet but soon





   

THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN #15

Marvin Bell

1. About the Dead Man and Rigor Mortis

The dead man thinks his resolve has stiffened when the
             ground dries.
Feeling the upward flow of moisture, the dead man thinks his
             resolve has stiffened.
The dead man’s will, will be done.
The dead man’s backbone stretches from rung to rung, from here to
             tomorrow, from a fabricated twinge to virtual agony.
The dead man’s disks along his spine are like stepping-stones across
             a lake, the doctor told him “jelly doughnuts” when they
             ruptured, this is better.
The dead man’s hernial groin is like a canvas bridge across a
             chasm, the doctor said “balloon” when they operated,
             this is better.
The dead man’s toes are like sanded free forms and his heels are as
             smooth as the backs of new shoes, the doctor said “corns”
             when they ached, this is better.
The dead man’s eyes are like tiny globes in water, continental
             geographies in microcosm, all the canyons are visible, now
             washed of random hairs that rooted, now free of the
             strangulated optics of retinal sense, this is better.
All the dead man’s organs, his skin, muscles, tendons, arteries, veins,
             valves, networks, relays—the whole shebang hums like a
             quickly deserted hardware store.
To the dead man, a head of cabbage is a forerunner of nutrients.
The dead man’s garden foreshadows the day it is to be plowed under,
             agriculture being one of the ancient Roman methods for
             burying the Classics, the other was war.
No one can argue with the dead man, he brooks no interference

             between the lightning and ground, his determination
             is legendary.


2. More About the Dead Man and Rigor Mortis

You think it’s funny, the dead man being stiff?
You think it’s an anatomically correct sexual joke?
You think it’s easy, being petrified?
You think it’s just one of those things, being turned to stone?
Who do you think turns the dead man to stone anyway?
Who do you think got the idea first?
You think it’s got a future, this being dead?
You think it’s in the cards, you think the thunder spoke?
You think he thought he was dead, or thought he fancied he was
             dead, or imagined he could think himself dead, or really
             knew he was dead?
You think he knew he knew?
You think it was predetermined?
You think when he stepped out of character he was different?
What the hell, what do you think?
You think it’s funny, the way the dead man is like lightning, going
             straight into the ground?
You think it’s hilarious, comedy upstanding, crackers to make
             sense of?

4 comments:

  1. The earlier views, those of Hobbes or Locke for instance, saw language as an instrument, and understood meaning in terms of designation. Discovering the meaning of words is finding what ideas or things they stood for. ... By contrast, a hermeneutical view requires a very different conception. If we are partly constituted by our self-understanding, and this in turn can be very different according to the various languages which articulate for us a background of distinctions of worth, then language does not only serve to depict ourselves and the world, it also helps constitute our lives. Certain ways of being, of feeling, of relating to each other are only possible given certain linguistic resources.

    Charles Taylor, Human Agency and Language (Cambridge: 1985), pp. 9-10

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  2. A grudging congratulations to your boys. They earned it.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and will take away the sting when Rendon is starting for Mets at third and Strasburg is #1 starter for Phillies next year.

      But 5-0 in elimination games is remarkable as is the 86-43 run after that four game sweep by Mets in May (especially considering they lost Scherzer for a good bit of it).

      Didn't see an inning all year, listened to Charlie and Dave for hundreds. I'm happy for them.

      O! self-congratulatory yodel - I remember arguing with Richard (and you, maybe?) five/six/seven years ago I'd take Rendon over Harper.

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    2. We lust after Rendon. Would make a great Brave (if we can't resign Josh D). Hooper, not so much.

      So, I'm guessing there'll be no more 'Is it time to fire Martinez?' tweets until the next time. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

      Delete