Monday, December 21, 2020

You Had Been Swinging Restlessly Between the Appearance of Spontaneity and the Appearance of Serious Thought

We could not get Fleabus in the catbox last Saturday so Stanley, healthy, now up-to-date with shotsAre you plugged in?The schizoid structure of technology-driven advanced capitalismWe're to find a cardboard box and drop Fleabus in it while one of us hold the box flaps down while the other furiously tapes the flaps shutThe gate of heaven is everywhere
Metaphor, religion, and the human conditionWe caught Fleabus pissing on a towel Saturday, pissing on Earthgirl's yarn Sunday Feminism in lockdownEvery now and again, you can see public officials’ true priorities by watching the difference between what they aggressively advocate for and what they don’t.The vet, who has offered to loan us two pairs of his heavy-duty anti-pissed-off animal gloves, says we don't have to poke air holes in the box
A year ago I spent each third night (Earthgirl and SeatSix too) syringing morphine down my mother's throat at eight and twelve and fourArtificial Intelligence, White Supremacy, Military-Industrial ComplexAmericans will never succeed in fighting economic injustice by appealing to the official US political systemPostmodernism: DefenceAvedon Carol's occasional links
Maggie's weekly linksI was ready for my mother's death now I'm readier for Fleabus', can fail that tooThere is no vaccine for climate catastropheThis new grid thing not going away soon, opens doors I'm closing her and closes doors I'm opening here, I need to indulge and explore until I don't, hopefully not everyday and not foreverDeterritorializing the future
Jail time for CEO of GOOGLE (Jeff types into his free fucking blogging platform)I'm not saying it's imminent, I am saying it's before we move to MichiganWe interrupt your regularly scheduled programmingDoes using the google spreadsheet app count as a new tablet the crucial concern, I argue no because I'm still typing, paper and pens in exile
Covid-19, poetry, & the pastmodern{ feuilleton }'s weekly linksHow white is the book industry?I can't update what I copy/paste from here into blooger so I can't update typos or add new content, this is a lesser concern, fine metaphors aboundThe Venus of Akron
Napoleon has his cat-ticker doctor appt Jan 19, I caught *him* today mercilessly harassing a new nextdoor kittenSacred Mountains speakWhy not more Stereolab here?Dear RaTherefore, grid me, this project, and especially other projects, as Charley says, the novelty will wear off for you before it wears off for me, though bleggalgazing about it already is, so that will stop if I can help it

 


 

HOW TO DISAPPEAR

Rae Armantrout

1

You had been swinging restlessly
between the appearance of spontaneity
and the appearance of serious thought.

You had been changing lanes
after a glance
in a mirror honest about
its tendency to distort.

What choice did you have?

It was soothing to watch
wisps of smoke
from a nearby chimney
disappearing
one by one.

2

Do you like pulses,

ridges, ripples
stretching into obscurity?

Would you prefer a flicker
to a steady light source?

This one stutters
slightly,

hesitant,

as if it could hold something
in reserve

2 comments:

  1. 1)grid line 7 column d here is Dear Ra - the epistolary novel by johannes goransson

    2)a study guide for that book is available at

    https://theaccomplices.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/DEARRA-Teaching-Guide.pdf

    3)among the possible assignments listed in the study guide

    What's your favorite painter? What's your favorite drink? What's your favorite body part? Write poems about them. Write poems that are them. Write poems to them. Write poems that use them as props.



    4)there is a 2016 'revised, expanded' edition of this book - however, although it is half an inch taller than the first edition from 2008, it is also ten pages shorter

    when we do the arithmetic



    5)ra reminds me of the egyptian god of the sun - and this grid was published on the date of the winter solstice - the 20th century band utopia (roger powell, todd rundgren, kasim sulton, willie wilcox) had an album titled named for the sun god released in 1977

    it began with "Overture: Mountaintop and Sunrise" composed by Bernard Herrmann for the film Journey to the Center of the Earth

    without a break this continued into Communion with the Sun

    Ra, climbing the horizon
    Rising up the mountain, lighting up the valley below
    Ra, giver without measure
    Beacon of compassion, shining through the spectrum of life
    Day is born, night is gone
    One in all, all is one
    Communion with the sun


    the last song on the side is Sunburst Finish - the name is sort of a pun, as it could refer to a particular style of guitar decoration

    Eye of the sphinx now winks at you
    What is he thinking? Wish that I knew
    Wonder of wisdom
    Far beyond this mortal comedy


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL_nwUWhD1Q


    ReplyDelete