Saturday, December 26, 2020

All Claws and Eyes Tunneling

In five minutes, to get Fleabus to the vet, with gloved hands and thick sweatshirt sleeves pulled low to protect our wrists we will try to grab Fleabus and stuff her fleeing claws into a cardboard box (*you* get her into a cat-carrier) (packing tape reinforcing the bottom of box, yo, that's how she got out last time, two weeks ago, in my car, I was u-turning through the elementary school parking lot when she jumped into the windshield) then bobsled packing tape across the top before Fleabus, fiercest feather-weight ever, our favorite cat ever, rips our flesh, rzzz, Best Cat Ever, photo below by Planet from 2005 when Planet was twelve and Fleabus was two, I still believe it better to juggle more fine metaphors abounding than fewer




UPDATE >Everyone survived the crating, visit, and uncrating when homeShe is healthier than a cat her age has a right to be, I'm told, but >kidneys now smaller than peas, so full blood-work doneImminent is closer but not tomorrow





The myth of a golden age of American liberalismWhen the white working class turned against liberalismObamapostasy AutobamabiographyNew Left Review: on Election 2020<<< Millions of worried voters as a result were presented with a zero-sum choice that should never have been necessary.
Era of Emergencies<<< Crudely put, it is that we can no longer afford to carry on in a prolonged era of polite reflection and ineffective resistance. Berserk bacchanal celebrating an Opposite Jesus<<< Indeed, our Reverse Christmas is only possible because it’s just a
modest extension of our standard modus operandi: To a greater or lesser
degree, every day is Opposite Day in America.
A perfect end to 2020 for the Left
ShitlordsFuck Ebsco^^^ That the Christian *god* is a child-rapist is a not-so-mysteriously never mentioned factWas Christ a collaborator?^^^ What did it leave behind? Not much, other than huge platforms for a few top influencers and political operatives who leveraged the Bern into lucrative Patreon and Substack careers.
Night watchmen of oblivionHow Claude Shannon invented the futureThe dark history of school choiceThe post-Trump future of literature (clusterfuckful versus clusterfuckless, continued)On the rise of literary theory in American academia
Always decorum, never policyMoco pizza tournament, either Stained Glass or motherfucking Ledos will win, Vace shouldNine rules for the woke birdwatcherIn support of difficult historyTHING -> HAPPEN
Letters from John AshberyI vouch for #1, #13, #22, #35, #39, #43, #94, and #100Alice Notley's visual artHEY COLOSSUS!<<< Psst, is #1 in box two to its left

 

 

ALL GOOD CONDUCTORS

Christian Wiman

  I.

O the screech and heat and hate
we have for each day's commute,

the long wait at the last stop
before we go screaming

underground, while the pigeons
court and shit and rut

insolently on the tracks
because this train is always late,

always aimed at only us,
who when it comes with its

blunt snout, its thousand mouths,
cram and curse and contort

into one creature, all claws and eyes,
tunneling, tunneling, tunneling

toward money.

                           2.

Sometimes a beauty
cools through the doors at Grand,

glides all the untouchable
angles and planes

of herself
to stand among us

like a little skyscraper,
so sheer, so spare,

gazes going all over her
in a craving wincing way

like sun on glass.

                           3.

There is a dreamer
all good conductors

know to look for
when the last stop is made

and the train is ticking cool,
some lover, loner, or fool

who has lived so hard
he jerks awake

in the graveyard,
where he sees

coming down the aisle
a beam of light

whose end he is,
and what he thinks are chains

becoming keys.

9 comments:

  1. i wish fleabus and his human companions a comfortable, easy, ok trip to the veterinarian - well, maybe that didn't happen - but i hope in the long run it promotes his quality of life

    with regard to moco pizza - i don't see ledo's on the list of tournament entries - i do see "maryland style pizza" on the list, twice - every day i encounter my ignorance, and despite living in maryland for nearly three decades i did not know what it was - there is a youtube video about it

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkLjtpyLW0U

    ledo's appeared in a dream synchronicity story i heard from the dreamer himself - in a corridor in a college in montgomery county - and posted here years ago

    https://tinyurl.com/dream-and-pizza

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fleabus is a she!

      Continental in Kensington is Maryland Style too along with Gentleman Jim's and Stained Glass Pub, the best of the three (though I could live the rest of my life without Maryland Style Pizza. I just assumed Ledos would be on the list since it's won like competitions.

      It's interesting it doesn't list Coal Fire, which is decent if not great.

      The best pizza I ever ate was Zios, on Gaither, next to the vet I was just at, long gone, was best tomato sauce I ever.

      Delete
    2. 1)my apologies for misgendering fleabus - it was due to inattention, entirely inadvertent and without derogatory intent - one of my best cats ever was dinah, named after alice's cat

      2)the first pizza i ever had was in 1959, in naples, where my father was assigned to the nato base there - it was at the restaurant of the hotel paradiso, where we stayed when we first got off the boat - i'm not sure if it was in the same place as the contemporary hotel of that name

      3)in naples mozzarella di bufala was usual - it is creamier than that from ordinary cows - as our friends at wikipedia note The digestive system of water buffaloes permits them to turn low grade vegetation into rich milk which, due to its higher percentage of solids, provides higher levels of protein, fat and minerals than cow milk.

      4)the pizza i have eaten most often in maryland is costco's - i think it's tasty although they offer only three varieties - cheese, pepperoni, and combo

      Delete
  2. We've always had luck pinching the back of our cats' necks when they rebelled. They tend to relax because that's the way their mothers' picked them up.
    I included a character who worked with Claude Shannon in Novel #3!
    Thanks for linking to one of my philosophical posts!
    Best wishes for the New Year! May it be a better one for us all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey! just dropping bye to say Hey!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey! back, I pinged you a day or two back to make sure you were still hibernating and my link wasn't broken. Hope you are well and the art is making you happy!

      Delete
  4. 1)as i have never met fleabus in person and am unlikely to do so i have not had an experiential encounter with her feline femininity - i regret again my misgendering of her

    2)i have just read j. drew lanham's 9 Rules for the Woke Birdwatcher - i will use my clout as an influencer to increase this article's readership by perhaps as many as one or two people

    3)and speaking of bringing thoughtful perspectives to a wider audience, there's this:

    Trump and the Social Trance

    Journal of Psychohistory
    Spring 2019, Vol. 46 Issue 4, p238-258. 21p.

    KENNETH ALAN ADAMS

    This project contends that Donald Trump's tenure as president is dependent on his followers' immersion in a social trance that inhibits recognition and rational appraisal of his likely collusion with Russia in the 2016 election and his unparalleled malfeasance. It is argued that Christian fundamentalists' immersion in the social trance is crucial to maintaining Trump's political support, and traumatic childrearing is the key to understanding the basis for the right's acquiescence in Trump's abhorrent behavior and policies.

    Part I looked at Trump as an exemplar of muscular Christianity and a bully and suggested that fundamentalists' characterization of him as God's agent illustrates the Big Lie, a lie so outrageous it must be true. It was argued that Trump's ascension to power was the culmination of masculine protest against what was experienced as feminine encroachment.

    Part II focused on fundamentalist childrearing and the terrorization of children through religious dogma and corporal punishment. It was argued that fundamentalist parents traumatize their children, generating in them the susceptibility to trance induction, obedience to authority, and defense against anxiety by switching into social alters. It was suggested that in adulthood alter formation is elaborated into political group-fantasies which are linked to trance induction.

    Part III focuses on Trump as an emotional delegate for the split-off rage of his followers and his use of projection to attack his opponents. It is asserted that Trump's childhood experiences were crucial in the development of the persecutory alter with which he merges in these attacks. Trump and his followers share a sense of victimhood, which forms the basis of their collusive association. Trump's success at trance induction, it is argued, involves encouraging his followers to utilize their projections to fill in the alluring omissions in his arguments. The article suggests that rightwing GOPers and Christian fundamentalists were already functioning in a trance state prior to Trump's arrival on the political scene.

    Finally, Trump's techniques of trance induction are described, including the importance of lying, repetition, invidious comparison, and growth panic.

    Copyright of Journal of Psychohistory is the property of Association for Psychohistory Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.

    https://tinyurl.com/socialtranceandtrump

    social alter is a term introduced by lloyd demause, founder of the journal of psychohistory - briefly, the concept is that ordinary people collectively experience the splitting of the personality which is the most distinctive characteristic of dissociative disorder - and so are to some extent amnesiac about the less-than-humane ways that targeted subgroups are treated

    for discussion see

    http://primal-page.com/psyalter.htm
    https://psychohistory.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/mania.pdf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do not worry re: Fleabus, I made the comment because most people hear the name *Fleabus* and think male name (when in fact I named her Fleabus because when we adopted her she *was* a bus of fleas.

      Thanks, as always, for every comment and email

      Delete
  5. speaking of j drew lanham

    you can hear him read [and/or read with your own eyes] a few of his poems at

    https://blog.lauraerickson.com/2016/04/a-few-lovely-poems-from-j-drew-lanhams.html

    ReplyDelete