The Pharoes Are At It Again


Charles Alexander tells us that he, Eric Henry
and other friends have created a terrific
animated movie- showing why tyrants and thieves
have so much in common:

Pirates and Emperors {click here}

(you do need *Quicktime* or *Windows Media*
to see the movie)

Everyone must have a night world and a day world.
And often, this day world is as afraid of unleashed work,
as the night one is of unleashed love.


notebook: 9/8/86
published in: *The Boundary of Blur*
********************************************************

Of Dogs and Tricks


"A dog starved at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state."
Blake
*Auguries of Innocence*



Innumerable times during the first Kerry/Bush debate,
Bush uttered the words: "We're working hard."
At the very end of the NY Times artlicle on this event,
the observation was made that maybe he was referring
to the debate itself.

It is well known how lazy George W. Bush is. He reeks
of laziness. In the Michael Moore sockumentary *Fahrenheit 911*
much is made of this quality for good reason. It is obvious
to nearly everybody.

Why not to everybody? Possibly this laziness is part of
Bush's appeal. I know I will sound like a grouchy old man,
an aging curmudgeon, when
I mention that endless complaints about fatigue, boredom, restlessness,
along with the explosive growth in the desire for
and production of universally available, easy,
superficial amusement are now entrenched in
everyday "US and only US" life.

I came to the conclusion that the meaning of the Blake
aphorism cited above is that when dog owners, for
example, don't care about their dogs enough to take care of them you have
an environment where so many people are so lazy and selfish
the whole society might very well be heading rapidly down the drain.

I've always believed that the attacks of 9/11/01 happened
because as a nation, our institutions are so dysfunctional
that we are extremely vulnerable. Bush represents the tip
of an iceberg of laxity meling right in front of us the way
an icecream cone melts in a spoiled child's hand while he is
too busy watching tv to notice it.

There may be a lot of explanations for all this- technology,
anomie, alienation, lack of involvement, hopelessness,
you name it.

How can it change? Can it change? Does anybody
truly care, beyond the easy practices of complaint,
gab and promises?

I don't know. But Kerry and Edwards seem like fairly hard
working guys. Bush/Cheney are totally spoiled, exploitative, violent,
angry upperclass twits as far as I can tell.

Laziness is closely associated with manipulativeness, and finally
psychopathy and criminality. Bush and Cheney get extremely high scores
in all these areas and stink of these practices, only we can't get near
enough to them to truly appreciate the intensity of that stink.
Lots of expensive advertising and publicity
function like perfume or aerosol deodorant to cover
the horrid smell of their hateful and harmful
policies. The fact they have so many supporters should
tell us a great deal about about our sagging culture. It would
take a ton of people like George Soros, Michael Moore, Jon Stewart,
Kerry/Edwards, Theresa Heinz, to name a few, to dig us out of the
pile of dogshit we're now buried under in Us and Only Usland.

John Edwards Illustrates the Power of Deconstruction

Edwards may or may not be famliar with the work of
Jacques Derrida, but today he showed he has an excellent
intuitive grasp of deconstructionist style interpretation.

Edwards, in a campaign speech in New Hampshire
pointed out that George W. Bush,during the third
debate asked the question, "Is my time up?

Edwards pointed out that he felt US voters
will indeed show that Bush's time is up
when they vote on November 2cd..

Wisdom: does it consist of little more than
accepting how long it takes for something to
actually "happen"? If satisfaction is the measure
this is easy to see.




Notebook: 1/1/88
published in *The Boundary of Blur*
(Roof, 1993)

The book itself is the fiction.



notebook: 6/19/89
published in *The Boundary of Blur*
(Roof, 1993)
*************************************
from Jeffrey Encke's *Most Wanted*
deck of cards
the nine of hearts:
"to face certain damage/with an
annoyed president's/resignation/
a toucan's fanatic jaw"
Most Wanted {click here}

*************************************
Cheney's
error our gain-the Soros site-{click here}
via Caterina.net {click here}
*************************************
Omnivorous reader Steve Evans (Third Factory) {click here}
reviews Laura Moriarty's new book *Self Destruction- which she herself described to me
as a "science fiction novel" this past summer in Berkeley. Can't wait to read this one!

This just in from Taylor Brady:
One small correction, though: the science fiction novel she mentioned to
you is called Ultra-Violetta, and is a separate project from
Self-Destruction. (She's been qute prolific lately).

*************************************
Continuing my survey of Theodore Dreiser, finishing
his *An America Tragedy* and have just started his *Trilogy
of Desire*, with the first in the series, *The Financier*:

"He did not care to fight. That seemed silly for the individual
man to do. Others might- there were many poor, thin-minded
half-baked creatures who would put themselves up to be
shot; but they were mainly fit to be commanded or shot down.
As for him, his life was sacred to himself and his family and his
personal interests. He recalled seeing, one day, in one of the
quiet side streets, as the working-men were coming home from their
work, a small enlisting squad of soldiers in blue marching
enthusiastically along, the Union flag flying, the drummers
drumming, the fifes blowing, the idea being, of course, to so
impress the hitherto indifferent or wavering citizen, to exalt
him to such a pitch, that he would lose his sense of porportion,
of self-interest, and, forgetting all- wife, parents, children-
and seeing only the great need of the country, fall in behind
and enlist.,,,The poor fool who fell in behind the enlisting
squad- no, not fool, he would not call them that- the poor
overwrought, working-man-well Heaven pity him! Heaven
pity all of them! They really did not know what they were
doing..."

Jeffrey Encke's deck of poem cards,
what a fine idea. Each time you read
them, new poem- combinations emerge,
and the poems gradually come closer into view.
This is an pleasurable accretion.
Just now reading them, with Bonnie
Raitt and Jackson Browne on the tv in the background,
familiar blues, new poems,
very fine indeed.

Here's one: (2 of hearts) (figurines
at the bottom of the card on a background of dark cloudy red)

"biding time/on lawns of false signs/
I thnk of that kiss, /conjured/
from a handshake"

More...

Most Wanted {click here}

When In Doubt, Read Porchia



"The fear of separation is all that unites."




"No one understands that you have given everything.
You must give more."




"The condemnation of an error is another error."

*Voices*
Antoniio Porchia
translated by WS Merwin
(Biig Table, 1969)


*******************************************************
This Just In!

Faux press e books {click here} coming on Strong with exciting new work from Christina (Strong)
and Joe Elliot.

(an extremely nice person who I love to tease by saying
"first we had George Elliot, and then we had TS Eliot
and now we have Joe Elliot"
Who, but the sweetest person, would
put up with such nonsense? But Joe
just smiles tolerantly and takes it.

Do check out this
stuff, It looks great. And Christina!
I am a major fan)
***************************************
Don't know why I feel compelled to mention
that lately I've been listening constantly to
Brahms 2cd Piano concerto as played by
Leon Fleisher, and Brahms Piano Pieces,
Op 76, Two Rhapsodies OP. 79 and Fantasies,
Op. 118 as played by Idil Biret. Both can be
purchased "for a song" at Tower (the latter
on Naxos and the former on Sony Masterworks
Heritage). Gorgeous!

The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging

Josh Corey (Cahiers de) {click here}
reading *Moby Dick*, "tired of talking about poetry", seeing Ahab
everywhere, preaches a sermon well worth reading.

Inspired, and thoroughly disgusted, I click on
Disco Squirrels sing
"Disco Sauna" {click here} via
Unprotected Texts {click here}
via Crag Hill's Poetry Scorecard {click here}

and, if that doesn't get your mind off politics of death and destruction
Crag Hill leads us to Lanny Quarles who leads us to
gallerichickenscratch {click here}


Go on Ahab, make my day!

Poetry: a language without a homeland.

notebook: 12/29/87
published in: *The Boundary of Blur*
(Roof, 1993)

Right now on Sundance (cable tv station):
REM and Bruce Springsteen
singing together at a Wash, DC benefit for the
Kerry/Edwards ticket.
Vote for change {click here}
(also webcast)

The Dixie Chicks: "Put an end to mad cowboy disease."
************************************************************

Busy with lots of non-blog or poetry-related work lately,
but I am very much looking forward to telling you all about
an excellent new work: poems with art on a full deck
of cards, by Seattle based poet Jeffrey Encke,
titled *Most Wanted*; the reference to the (in)famous
deck passed around in Iraq, evidentally, of *Most Wanted*
criminals, is ironic, though the electrifying blurb by
Tony Tost caught my eye, and attracted me all the more:

"Jeff Encke is going to get us all arrested. How do we
love our enemies? Like lovers? Encke walks a tightrope
between empathy and promiscuity. His poems are a primer
course on how to stay human in a dark time."

-Tony Tost, author of Invisible Bride.

the Ace of Spades: "to discern space/with a door/
with a wall/ the nation of our love"


More very soon on this fine and most
collectible item, including contact info.

Most Wanted {click here}

"our insides are burning with complex ideas... come home"

Finish Your Phrase (Brother Tom Murphy) {click here}

Derrida's Shining

Tributary (Allen Bramhall) {click here}
responds to *The End of an Era* below on Derrida; and the discussion continues
in the *Tributary* "comments" section.

New York Times is Over If You Want It

via Phaneronoemikon {click here} :
Barrett Watten thankfully responds, in his unmatchably incisive way,
to the predictably hostile, clueless, small-minded,
dumbed -down obit for Jacques Derrida in the New York Times.
**********************************************************************
Topher Tunes Tiimes {click here}
I always enjoy Toph's photos and photo links- today he
linked to an excellent web-based photo site: check this out-
FILE-a collection of
unexpected photography {click here}
(once upon a very long time ago
*Life* had some great photographers-
this anagram title is likely a light reference
to that era)

Mark Wallace's *Haze* (Edge Books, 2004) reviewed
in *Rain Taxi* {click here}

"We live now in an empire which, in the name of reasons,
has stolen our lives away from us, but which will sell
them back to us at the cost of all that we have, if only
we can provide that empire with sufficient reason for
letting us live. Every time we speak of a reason, we
let the theft occur all over again, we participate in the theft."

Mark Wallace
"Reasons to Write"
*Haze*
Edge Books {click here}
Publisher- Rod Smith
***************************************************************
"INTROSPECTION

DOESN'T ANYBODY DO ANYTHING INTROSPECTIVE ANYMORE-
PURPLE VINES COVERED WITH WHITE FUZZ. LACKING, LEANING
...INTO THE SPIRITUAL MAW, THE ACCIDENTAL BLACK DOT."

from *V.IMP* by Nada Gordon
Faux Press {click here}
Publisher- Jack Kimball

Nada Gordon's weblog is
ululations {click here}