Leave it to the Gulls and John Latta
Great (as is his usual)
The real-life rules of Charles Olson versus Old Skool and TransplantAtlantic Values.
One must wonder if this might have anything to do with Reality TV and the birth of same. Heh. And Lordy. Lordy Lordy we hope not.
Polis is This
29.10.10
27.10.10
Misunderstanding the Messih (ar.)
http://abecedarianfx.blogspot.com/2010/10/magic-mysticism-politics-in-poetry-few.html
A great Halloween Treat for the spectrally inclined Derrida-ist. So many ghosts and you know, it's a good thing we can still buy some eggs. I'd hate it if those things turned into vampires and all we could do is eat the image of an egg. And by gum, worse yet, I am an image too.
Most importantly, the misreading of the Messih by not one but two very important groups of people (those who create the Judeo-Christian dyad)....has led to this type of self important economic theory not to mention a generous amount of literary theory as well...the haves and have nots...all that important stuff about what we call 'reality'. Thing is, reality cannot be considered reality unless someone gets the facts straight and then, reality becomes only a superficial code for something far more important than a mere day's wage.
No Gnosis Required to grasp this problem.....not at all.
[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. -The Women in The Glorious Quran
http://abecedarianfx.blogspot.com/2010/10/magic-mysticism-politics-in-poetry-few.html
A great Halloween Treat for the spectrally inclined Derrida-ist. So many ghosts and you know, it's a good thing we can still buy some eggs. I'd hate it if those things turned into vampires and all we could do is eat the image of an egg. And by gum, worse yet, I am an image too.
Most importantly, the misreading of the Messih by not one but two very important groups of people (those who create the Judeo-Christian dyad)....has led to this type of self important economic theory not to mention a generous amount of literary theory as well...the haves and have nots...all that important stuff about what we call 'reality'. Thing is, reality cannot be considered reality unless someone gets the facts straight and then, reality becomes only a superficial code for something far more important than a mere day's wage.
No Gnosis Required to grasp this problem.....not at all.
[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. -The Women in The Glorious Quran
25.10.10
The Unreadable, Unmanagable poems of Jared Schickling and here is one example of, I believe, a poem that starts and is possibly titled INVECTIVE. It has a fine last line which is simply "inertia" and is constructed like a poorly prepared term paper or something. It translates into something that might be a time capsule received by a race on another planet who is unable to read in English and cannot fathom why John Tesh's last appearance on Entertainment Tonight is worth commenting on.
A truly, truly fascinating excursion into experimental poetry:
http://www.ditchpoetry.com/Jared%20Schickling.pdf
Mr. Schickling's new book out from Blaze Vox, Zero's Blooming Excursion is probably, I can only imagine, an equally fancy delight:
http://www.blazevox.org/bk-js4.htm
A truly, truly fascinating excursion into experimental poetry:
http://www.ditchpoetry.com/Jared%20Schickling.pdf
Mr. Schickling's new book out from Blaze Vox, Zero's Blooming Excursion is probably, I can only imagine, an equally fancy delight:
http://www.blazevox.org/bk-js4.htm
23.10.10
22.10.10
20.10.10
REAL Iranian News here: http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node
CASMII is a non profit organization which aims to educate people about and eradicate sanctions against the peaceful sovereign state of Iran.
CASMII is a non profit organization which aims to educate people about and eradicate sanctions against the peaceful sovereign state of Iran.
Mahmoud Ahmadinijad's First State Visit to Lebanon
Marked by Animal Slaughter and other Anti Western (ahem) activities like Ribbon Cuttings and Victory Speeches. The NERVE of those people!
http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/10920
"I'm not even going to reach for a book on my shelf or search Wikipedia to find Islam's connection to animal killing. Instead I'll resort to common sense: human beings kill animals. In English we call them butchers. Not one article bothered to mention that the "sacrificed" camels, with "their long, graceful necks slit open" would actually be eaten afterwards. When it involves Arabs or Muslims, the implication is that they're savages killing merely for the sake of killing." -Mathew Cassel for CASMII Media Watch
This in response to an article in Slate written by one Ruth Ackerman who seems to take delight in not only slanting the news for her own think tank in order to line her pockets with think-tank gold but who probably is a zionist herself. Not much doubt about those people you know....they either are Zionists or work for them and often times they are both.
Alastair Crooke writes in Race for Iran:
The visit was, in fact, a State visit. The Iranian President was formally invited by the Maronite Christian President of Lebanon some while ago. Iran is a prominent regional state, just as Turkey is – whose Prime Minister happens to be visiting Beirut today.
Iran’s popularity on the streets should not surprise anyone. It is real, and it is heartfelt – and extends beyond the Shi’i of the south of Beirut. Having been present here in Beirut throughout the war of 2006, I experienced the almost universal shock at how leaders and so-called ‘friends of Lebanon’ such as Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice tried to fend-off and delay a ceasefire – in order to allow Israel more time to ‘finish the job’, i.e. to destroy more bridges, more infrastructure and impose civilian casualties – as our ‘price’ to be paid for Hizbullah’s seizure of Israeli soldiers. Feelings here are still raw on this point, and all sectors of opinion know that the only real support for Lebanon in those dark hours came from Syria and Iran. Unsurprisingly, there was a direct element of gratitude in expression to Iran in recent days both for the support then, and its subsequent economic assistance to repair the damage.
Mr. Crooke goes on to describe the importance of the Shi'i philosophy in combating the world-wide sense of oppression that is overwhelmingly present throughout not only the Middle East but in every quarter of the globe:
In May this year, Zbig Brezezinski gave a brief talk at the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) in Montreal. He told his audience that there were two factors shaping global politics in the world today. The first, he said was that “for the first time in all of human history, mankind is politically awakened and stirring”, adding that “all over the world people were aware of what was happening politically and are “consciously aware of global inequities, inequalities, lack of respect, and of exploitation”.
His second point was that the élites that rule us are less united and more diversified than before (he gave the transition of the G8 into the G20 as example); the élite is both less homogeneous and less restrained by adherence to traditional values and culture; the consequence of this is a more surveilled, and a more controlled society, Brzezinski has written.
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hassan Nasrallah quote Imam Ali (the son-in-law of The Prophet)’s dictum that Muslims should be the ‘friend of the oppressed; and enemies of the oppressor’, or speak of western ‘double-standards’, New York Times sophisticates may sneer at this talk as ‘all hat and no cattle’; but they simply miss the point.
In short Islam – particularly Shi’i Islam – is taking over the clothes of the European early Renaissance (before the Enlightenment); Islam stands, for many Muslims, for a humanism and a respect for justice, human dignity and defiance of tyranny that Europe once espoused. Of course, few in the West will see it in these terms: they have been too busy creating an inverted mirror image of what they perceive still to be western ‘virtues’ – and call it Iranian ‘theocracy’.
"Elsewhere" in the media (Slate which is run by the Jerusalem Post folks), Christopher Hitchens, the well known pro Zionist athiest takes a break from treatments to treat his throat cancer caused by addiction to booze and cigarettes (not Allah of course) to write a little expose on "how" Hezbollah became the most powerful broker in Lebanon and probably the most powerful broker in the Middle East. He shows no shame in bad reportage, obvious propaganda and innuendo for which he brings forth no supporting evidence (insinuating Hezbollah in the murder of Hariri and not mentioning the fact that Hezbollah has actual evidence of Israeli involvement (surprise-not!) in the 2005 Israeli engineered and executed Valentine's Day massacre of the former prime minister who single handedly had rebuilt Beirut and restored it's international public image. Something Israel really hates is a Middle East with a Good Public Image.
I'll bet he'd fire his doctors if they treated his cancer that way!
http://www.slate.com/id/2271511/
Marked by Animal Slaughter and other Anti Western (ahem) activities like Ribbon Cuttings and Victory Speeches. The NERVE of those people!
http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/10920
"I'm not even going to reach for a book on my shelf or search Wikipedia to find Islam's connection to animal killing. Instead I'll resort to common sense: human beings kill animals. In English we call them butchers. Not one article bothered to mention that the "sacrificed" camels, with "their long, graceful necks slit open" would actually be eaten afterwards. When it involves Arabs or Muslims, the implication is that they're savages killing merely for the sake of killing." -Mathew Cassel for CASMII Media Watch
This in response to an article in Slate written by one Ruth Ackerman who seems to take delight in not only slanting the news for her own think tank in order to line her pockets with think-tank gold but who probably is a zionist herself. Not much doubt about those people you know....they either are Zionists or work for them and often times they are both.
Alastair Crooke writes in Race for Iran:
The visit was, in fact, a State visit. The Iranian President was formally invited by the Maronite Christian President of Lebanon some while ago. Iran is a prominent regional state, just as Turkey is – whose Prime Minister happens to be visiting Beirut today.
Iran’s popularity on the streets should not surprise anyone. It is real, and it is heartfelt – and extends beyond the Shi’i of the south of Beirut. Having been present here in Beirut throughout the war of 2006, I experienced the almost universal shock at how leaders and so-called ‘friends of Lebanon’ such as Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice tried to fend-off and delay a ceasefire – in order to allow Israel more time to ‘finish the job’, i.e. to destroy more bridges, more infrastructure and impose civilian casualties – as our ‘price’ to be paid for Hizbullah’s seizure of Israeli soldiers. Feelings here are still raw on this point, and all sectors of opinion know that the only real support for Lebanon in those dark hours came from Syria and Iran. Unsurprisingly, there was a direct element of gratitude in expression to Iran in recent days both for the support then, and its subsequent economic assistance to repair the damage.
Mr. Crooke goes on to describe the importance of the Shi'i philosophy in combating the world-wide sense of oppression that is overwhelmingly present throughout not only the Middle East but in every quarter of the globe:
In May this year, Zbig Brezezinski gave a brief talk at the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) in Montreal. He told his audience that there were two factors shaping global politics in the world today. The first, he said was that “for the first time in all of human history, mankind is politically awakened and stirring”, adding that “all over the world people were aware of what was happening politically and are “consciously aware of global inequities, inequalities, lack of respect, and of exploitation”.
His second point was that the élites that rule us are less united and more diversified than before (he gave the transition of the G8 into the G20 as example); the élite is both less homogeneous and less restrained by adherence to traditional values and culture; the consequence of this is a more surveilled, and a more controlled society, Brzezinski has written.
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hassan Nasrallah quote Imam Ali (the son-in-law of The Prophet)’s dictum that Muslims should be the ‘friend of the oppressed; and enemies of the oppressor’, or speak of western ‘double-standards’, New York Times sophisticates may sneer at this talk as ‘all hat and no cattle’; but they simply miss the point.
In short Islam – particularly Shi’i Islam – is taking over the clothes of the European early Renaissance (before the Enlightenment); Islam stands, for many Muslims, for a humanism and a respect for justice, human dignity and defiance of tyranny that Europe once espoused. Of course, few in the West will see it in these terms: they have been too busy creating an inverted mirror image of what they perceive still to be western ‘virtues’ – and call it Iranian ‘theocracy’.
"Elsewhere" in the media (Slate which is run by the Jerusalem Post folks), Christopher Hitchens, the well known pro Zionist athiest takes a break from treatments to treat his throat cancer caused by addiction to booze and cigarettes (not Allah of course) to write a little expose on "how" Hezbollah became the most powerful broker in Lebanon and probably the most powerful broker in the Middle East. He shows no shame in bad reportage, obvious propaganda and innuendo for which he brings forth no supporting evidence (insinuating Hezbollah in the murder of Hariri and not mentioning the fact that Hezbollah has actual evidence of Israeli involvement (surprise-not!) in the 2005 Israeli engineered and executed Valentine's Day massacre of the former prime minister who single handedly had rebuilt Beirut and restored it's international public image. Something Israel really hates is a Middle East with a Good Public Image.
I'll bet he'd fire his doctors if they treated his cancer that way!
http://www.slate.com/id/2271511/
19.10.10
The Beginning of Right Versus Wrong or Original Sin*
Reposting this video in which a Shi'a scholar describes the logic behind the murder of the grandson of the Prophet Mohamed, SA i.e. the murder of Hussein at Kerbala, pbuh. Recently, a person has asked if that is what divides Sunni from Shia and I think it is important to understand a couple of things about that.
At the time of Mohamed's death, Islam was not technically divided into two branches (the right one and the sect). However, it is well known and supported in the Quran itself, that Islam already had two branches i.e. the right one and the errant one. These two groups are referred to in the Quran and in this instance, allegorically related to the two sects during another important phase in Islam:
[27.45] And certainly We sent to Samood their brother Salih, saying: Serve Allah; and lo! they became two sects quarrelling with each other.
Logically, unless both groups are wrong, one group becomes a splinter 'faction' and splits from the mainstream. Logically as well, if this were not the case and the two groups split into two new groups, it would mean a disappearance in its entirety of the 'seed' group. That would be illogical.
Therefore, what happened in Islam from the very beginning is that people became divided into two groups basically. Those that believe in Allah and those that don't. There are always only two groups in that affair. One is absolutely sincere and the others become, in a sense, agnostics to belief. Some progress into full hypocrisy in that affair and still others graduate into absolute disbelief. This has happened in every phase of Allah's religion including the notable affair of the split into sects of the Companions of Jesus Christ (Isa, SA) who after the Last Supper found themselves at odds with each other and set up the sectarian nature of all of Christendom and to this day it remains split into sects:
[5.115] Allah said: Surely I will send it down to you, but whoever shall disbelieve afterwards from among you, surely I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I will not chastise, anyone among the nations. -From the Sura called The Dinner Table which describes the true miracle of the Last Supper and the last act of the apostle known as Jesus.
The Shia/Sunni split is the only split that is in any sense noteworthy in Islam. That is because you will find all sects are a type of one of those groups regardless of how they themselves might align themselves or stress their own "independence" from the crowd. For instance, the Baha'i are not truly muslim by definition because they do not follow any of the Islamic rituals such as fasting during Ramadan, prayer five times a day or Hajj. The do however attribute their existence entirely to the Ahl Bayt and hence are considered by many theologians as Shi'a. In my estimation it is like calling a Jehovah's Witness a Roman Catholic. About the same. In this case however the Baha'i can be compared to the Christian sect known as Mormonism because in effect they exist on the basis of a delusional pschodrama of one person who then translated and transcribed their messianic complex into hard text and produced a 'bible' for their followers: The Book of Mormon versus the Bayan.
By the time however that the prophet's grandson Hussein was murdered, the Sunni/Shia divide was in full swing and ethnic cleansing was either occurring or being forced upon the quiet members of the sect. It is what necessitated the need for what is called Taqiyya or "Religious Dissimulation". Without it, the Shia would have been purged and Islam as we know it would already be dead. No doubt it has much to do with the reason the US and Israel attack Shia countries so agressively...hoping to "wipe Shia Islam off the face of the earth" so to speak with talk of nuking Iran and destroying Hezbollah in South Lebanon.
I like the following video because it really shows the nature of Shia logic. Shia logic is what distinguishes Sunnite from Shi'ite followers of Islam. There are other things that distinguish these two groups of course but logic is the single most important quality that differentiates between the two. I don't think anyone can understand it all just from a video or two but this is a great example of what Shia scholars are talking about when they try to emphasize and dissociate themselves from modern Sunni movements like Al Qaeda.
And no, we Shia have nothing to apologize for and hence we don't when asked to apologize for the Crimes against humanity that "Sunni" Islam has incurred. We are not guilty and in fact are the victims of the same band of idiocracy that was produced with Sunni logic that lauded the death of the relatives of the last prophet and aggrandized the role of the murderer of Hussein and ridiculed the muslim who in turn killed the killer.
*Original Sin is defined as listening to advice from a source other than Allah
Reposting this video in which a Shi'a scholar describes the logic behind the murder of the grandson of the Prophet Mohamed, SA i.e. the murder of Hussein at Kerbala, pbuh. Recently, a person has asked if that is what divides Sunni from Shia and I think it is important to understand a couple of things about that.
At the time of Mohamed's death, Islam was not technically divided into two branches (the right one and the sect). However, it is well known and supported in the Quran itself, that Islam already had two branches i.e. the right one and the errant one. These two groups are referred to in the Quran and in this instance, allegorically related to the two sects during another important phase in Islam:
[27.45] And certainly We sent to Samood their brother Salih, saying: Serve Allah; and lo! they became two sects quarrelling with each other.
Logically, unless both groups are wrong, one group becomes a splinter 'faction' and splits from the mainstream. Logically as well, if this were not the case and the two groups split into two new groups, it would mean a disappearance in its entirety of the 'seed' group. That would be illogical.
Therefore, what happened in Islam from the very beginning is that people became divided into two groups basically. Those that believe in Allah and those that don't. There are always only two groups in that affair. One is absolutely sincere and the others become, in a sense, agnostics to belief. Some progress into full hypocrisy in that affair and still others graduate into absolute disbelief. This has happened in every phase of Allah's religion including the notable affair of the split into sects of the Companions of Jesus Christ (Isa, SA) who after the Last Supper found themselves at odds with each other and set up the sectarian nature of all of Christendom and to this day it remains split into sects:
[5.115] Allah said: Surely I will send it down to you, but whoever shall disbelieve afterwards from among you, surely I will chastise him with a chastisement with which I will not chastise, anyone among the nations. -From the Sura called The Dinner Table which describes the true miracle of the Last Supper and the last act of the apostle known as Jesus.
The Shia/Sunni split is the only split that is in any sense noteworthy in Islam. That is because you will find all sects are a type of one of those groups regardless of how they themselves might align themselves or stress their own "independence" from the crowd. For instance, the Baha'i are not truly muslim by definition because they do not follow any of the Islamic rituals such as fasting during Ramadan, prayer five times a day or Hajj. The do however attribute their existence entirely to the Ahl Bayt and hence are considered by many theologians as Shi'a. In my estimation it is like calling a Jehovah's Witness a Roman Catholic. About the same. In this case however the Baha'i can be compared to the Christian sect known as Mormonism because in effect they exist on the basis of a delusional pschodrama of one person who then translated and transcribed their messianic complex into hard text and produced a 'bible' for their followers: The Book of Mormon versus the Bayan.
By the time however that the prophet's grandson Hussein was murdered, the Sunni/Shia divide was in full swing and ethnic cleansing was either occurring or being forced upon the quiet members of the sect. It is what necessitated the need for what is called Taqiyya or "Religious Dissimulation". Without it, the Shia would have been purged and Islam as we know it would already be dead. No doubt it has much to do with the reason the US and Israel attack Shia countries so agressively...hoping to "wipe Shia Islam off the face of the earth" so to speak with talk of nuking Iran and destroying Hezbollah in South Lebanon.
I like the following video because it really shows the nature of Shia logic. Shia logic is what distinguishes Sunnite from Shi'ite followers of Islam. There are other things that distinguish these two groups of course but logic is the single most important quality that differentiates between the two. I don't think anyone can understand it all just from a video or two but this is a great example of what Shia scholars are talking about when they try to emphasize and dissociate themselves from modern Sunni movements like Al Qaeda.
And no, we Shia have nothing to apologize for and hence we don't when asked to apologize for the Crimes against humanity that "Sunni" Islam has incurred. We are not guilty and in fact are the victims of the same band of idiocracy that was produced with Sunni logic that lauded the death of the relatives of the last prophet and aggrandized the role of the murderer of Hussein and ridiculed the muslim who in turn killed the killer.
*Original Sin is defined as listening to advice from a source other than Allah
18.10.10
14.10.10
13.10.10
Ode To Rocks
In pockets and gardens, under
our beds for miners carry
a fair share in long gray
pails with jugs of soup
near shanks and flesh
with crusts plus those
stored in the chests.
The spare parts of the world
cast about pose a craving
as deep as the ocean is long
as the rivers are wide. A record
of perennial harvests hauled
up from the ground
on ladders of iron, even that!
Beloved fountains of slag
pour into banks of remains
where genuflection pays
paper for gold and time with loss.
Poor men fair well in shifts,
forever on the way in or out
with dirt clinging, dirt in love
with the heroic skin, part
ancient shroud part, let me in.
They are out. I doubt that there is one miner or miner's family who is not completely touched by this momentous occassion. My own father who worked underground for Phelps Dodge refused to be buried when he died for exactly this reason...the fear of being caught in a mine collapse. It's really something to see the world pay attention to the miners and their families...men who work underground and go relatively unnoticed by society day to day....have never been unnoticed by those who love them. Every time there is a mine collapse, I post this poem (In the Mines in Mexico, They Weep) which started many, many years ago and looked quite different then. It's still not finished and today I am adding the line toward the middle, "The small white butterflies." because the miner's themselves (not all) attribute their safety to having stopped to watch a small white butterfly from outside the mine....2000 some feet down into the ground that is. Much of my early work concentrates most definitely on being raised in a mining town and in a mining family including all of the Odes like the one above, Ode to Rocks. And this year we are noticing Freport McMoran returning our old town to its mining focus....roads being built, big machines and men in hard hats wondering around doing this and that...strange lights up on the slag heaps at all hours.
ooh, aah, wonderful! then another interim and another,
one day the sun will die
First draft sometime 03/06 however the sketch for this poem much earlier...probably in the mid 90's.
In pockets and gardens, under
our beds for miners carry
a fair share in long gray
pails with jugs of soup
near shanks and flesh
with crusts plus those
stored in the chests.
The spare parts of the world
cast about pose a craving
as deep as the ocean is long
as the rivers are wide. A record
of perennial harvests hauled
up from the ground
on ladders of iron, even that!
Beloved fountains of slag
pour into banks of remains
where genuflection pays
paper for gold and time with loss.
Poor men fair well in shifts,
forever on the way in or out
with dirt clinging, dirt in love
with the heroic skin, part
ancient shroud part, let me in.
They are out. I doubt that there is one miner or miner's family who is not completely touched by this momentous occassion. My own father who worked underground for Phelps Dodge refused to be buried when he died for exactly this reason...the fear of being caught in a mine collapse. It's really something to see the world pay attention to the miners and their families...men who work underground and go relatively unnoticed by society day to day....have never been unnoticed by those who love them. Every time there is a mine collapse, I post this poem (In the Mines in Mexico, They Weep) which started many, many years ago and looked quite different then. It's still not finished and today I am adding the line toward the middle, "The small white butterflies." because the miner's themselves (not all) attribute their safety to having stopped to watch a small white butterfly from outside the mine....2000 some feet down into the ground that is. Much of my early work concentrates most definitely on being raised in a mining town and in a mining family including all of the Odes like the one above, Ode to Rocks. And this year we are noticing Freport McMoran returning our old town to its mining focus....roads being built, big machines and men in hard hats wondering around doing this and that...strange lights up on the slag heaps at all hours.
In The Mines Of Mexico They Weep
Now there shall be a man cohered out of tumult and chaos . . . . the elder encourages the younger and shows him how . . . they two shall launch off fearlessly together till the new world fits an orbit for itself and looks unabashed on the lesser orbits of the stars and sweeps through the ceaseless rings and shall never be quiet again. - Walt Whitman, in the preface to Leaves of Grass.
In a twilight pilgrimmage
via these frost cracked streets
close to the Campbell shaft
full of our fathers breath and breathing,
we unfold our own cloth on the Fourth of July,
one crease at a time on the crags
near the ballpark in Warren, down from
the Loma Linda and the old mine-boss housing.
Flashlights dangle from the hands
of children. The night catches us deeply
unaware, but they don't think like that,
they are that,
think more about the starting time,
and the firemen on top of the dumps
who signal the end by waving lanterns,
how they crave that sort of thing
up there on those mountains of slag
thinking, as ours do, of the breath
of canaries and candles deep in those old holes.
Now there shall be a man cohered out of tumult and chaos . . . . the elder encourages the younger and shows him how . . . they two shall launch off fearlessly together till the new world fits an orbit for itself and looks unabashed on the lesser orbits of the stars and sweeps through the ceaseless rings and shall never be quiet again. - Walt Whitman, in the preface to Leaves of Grass.
In a twilight pilgrimmage
via these frost cracked streets
close to the Campbell shaft
full of our fathers breath and breathing,
we unfold our own cloth on the Fourth of July,
one crease at a time on the crags
near the ballpark in Warren, down from
the Loma Linda and the old mine-boss housing.
Flashlights dangle from the hands
of children. The night catches us deeply
unaware, but they don't think like that,
they are that,
think more about the starting time,
and the firemen on top of the dumps
who signal the end by waving lanterns,
how they crave that sort of thing
up there on those mountains of slag
thinking, as ours do, of the breath
of canaries and candles deep in those old holes.
The small white butterflies.
A persistent and unheard whimper
fills space on this weary-
happy picnic in July or maybe
it only fills the weariness with something else.
I clasp a child tight in my arms,
a finger closes the tender wound,
hush hush, our waiting begins, we settle down.
Our Fourth of July is in sweet tortuous ruins
thrown in a trash bin of appetites lost.
We've run from one excitement to another
A persistent and unheard whimper
fills space on this weary-
happy picnic in July or maybe
it only fills the weariness with something else.
I clasp a child tight in my arms,
a finger closes the tender wound,
hush hush, our waiting begins, we settle down.
Our Fourth of July is in sweet tortuous ruins
thrown in a trash bin of appetites lost.
We've run from one excitement to another
races, parades, contests, reunions
thankful for a gentle sun, there was no burning
and there will be few scars if any.
The miles between this and that
contract like stars in heaven where
light reaches us much too late
and we as well, get there accordingly.
This is the anniversary of all
that's happened here
for each body on this ragged old quilt,
each poor soul and dumbstruck
face tipped up toward the sky.
The silence between one person and the next
is only the truth where commentary has failed.
I look around me one last time
before the sun takes all the light away -
count the faces I own, erase what's left,
a small town thing to do on an occasion like this.
The darkness is complete and the fireworks begin.
My daughter tells me, during one of the beautiful
interims which goes like this:
thankful for a gentle sun, there was no burning
and there will be few scars if any.
The miles between this and that
contract like stars in heaven where
light reaches us much too late
and we as well, get there accordingly.
This is the anniversary of all
that's happened here
for each body on this ragged old quilt,
each poor soul and dumbstruck
face tipped up toward the sky.
The silence between one person and the next
is only the truth where commentary has failed.
I look around me one last time
before the sun takes all the light away -
count the faces I own, erase what's left,
a small town thing to do on an occasion like this.
The darkness is complete and the fireworks begin.
My daughter tells me, during one of the beautiful
interims which goes like this:
ooh, aah, wonderful! then another interim and another,
one day the sun will die
as copper sulphur spark comets flower dark,
my father scatters in the sky,
my father scatters in the sky,
Oh! Mufasa, talk to me!
First draft sometime 03/06 however the sketch for this poem much earlier...probably in the mid 90's.
5.10.10
Is that a wedgie Eileen Myles is pulling out of her backside? Only she can get away with stunts like that and then there's the stinky poem with super graphics:
Eileen Myles from Monofonus Press on Vimeo.
3.10.10
Israel Guilty of Murder of US citizen
Israel executes six people including one US citizen. Media coverage is practically nil of course because US citizens matter about as much as Palestinians. Which is they matter not at all. Anyways...in the Middle East, most people now believe that Israel is not only a doomed country but it probably only has a decade or less left. This isn't just a handful of people saying this but it is a widespread belief in the Middle East and in the headlines of their newspapers.
Read more about Israel's desperate actions against the flotilla: here
The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.
The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.
The forensic evidence that establishes that fact is "tattooing around the wound in his face," indicating that the shot was "delivered at point blank range." The report describes the forensic evidence as showing that "the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back."
Israel executes six people including one US citizen. Media coverage is practically nil of course because US citizens matter about as much as Palestinians. Which is they matter not at all. Anyways...in the Middle East, most people now believe that Israel is not only a doomed country but it probably only has a decade or less left. This isn't just a handful of people saying this but it is a widespread belief in the Middle East and in the headlines of their newspapers.
Read more about Israel's desperate actions against the flotilla: here
The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.
The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.
The forensic evidence that establishes that fact is "tattooing around the wound in his face," indicating that the shot was "delivered at point blank range." The report describes the forensic evidence as showing that "the trajectory of the wound, from bottom to top, together with a vital abrasion to the left shoulder that could be consistent with the bullet exit point, is compatible with the shot being received while he was lying on the ground on his back."
1.10.10
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