exists only for its own sake,
not for any purpose or process
that we might dream up.
It exists only to exist,
to distinguish itself
from solids, gases and liquids.
But does it have to be aggressive ?
Dingo the Dissident
Thursday 31 August 2017
Wednesday 30 August 2017
Tuesday 29 August 2017
Monday 28 August 2017
Sunday 27 August 2017
"...the entire civilisation is sick,
otherwise
appalling ideologies
such as fascism and Stalinism
could never have flourished."
- Jan Švankmajer
appalling ideologies
such as fascism and Stalinism
could never have flourished."
- Jan Švankmajer
from Little Otik |
Saturday 26 August 2017
Friday 25 August 2017
Thursday 24 August 2017
Wednesday 23 August 2017
Language and Time.
Guaraní - still spoken by 80% of the population of landlocked and impoverished Paraguay, not many of whom speak Spanish - interprets time differently from Indo-European, Semitic and other settled-people's languages. Time future is permanently in doubt: the word for tomorrow means if the sun rises again. The concept of time past is dual - divided between what happened (or what is alleged to have or accepted as having happened), and what was supposed to happen but did not. This may, of course, be due to the appalling War of the Triple Alliance...
read more >
read more >
Tuesday 22 August 2017
I'm not sold
on the idea of time
as other than an illusion.
One of the (not so many) wise things
that Bertrand Russell said was that
the Universe started only five minutes ago.
as other than an illusion.
One of the (not so many) wise things
that Bertrand Russell said was that
the Universe started only five minutes ago.
Monday 21 August 2017
Why Joseph Conrad wrote so well.
MFK Fisher recounts that
he learned English as a sailor on night-watch
by reading a page of the King James translation of the Bible,
tearing it out and lighting his pipe with it,
and then reflecting on it (probably in Polish)
for the rest of the watch.
he learned English as a sailor on night-watch
by reading a page of the King James translation of the Bible,
tearing it out and lighting his pipe with it,
and then reflecting on it (probably in Polish)
for the rest of the watch.
Sunday 20 August 2017
Gloss on lines by R.W.Emerson.
Don't follow paths,
don't ride the crowded monorail,
but make your own
and leave no trail.
don't ride the crowded monorail,
but make your own
and leave no trail.
Saturday 19 August 2017
If we are no longer
the sole possessors of empathy, altruism
and even language, perhaps all that we can uniquely claim
are vengeance, hate, religion, complaint, hypocrisy....and apportioning of blame.
and even language, perhaps all that we can uniquely claim
are vengeance, hate, religion, complaint, hypocrisy....and apportioning of blame.
Friday 18 August 2017
Blame
is something we should hurl only
(but frequently) at politicians,
bankers, businessmen, religious leaders and the powerful,
not something we should throw at each other,
not even occasionally.
(but frequently) at politicians,
bankers, businessmen, religious leaders and the powerful,
not something we should throw at each other,
not even occasionally.
Thursday 17 August 2017
Crime & Punishment.
Mary, a five-ton circus elephant who killed her new trainer,
was hanged for the crime by heavy-duty construction equipment in 1916 in Tennessee.
Topsy, another.wayward circus performer on Coney Island in New York,
was fed poison, electrocuted and strangled in 1903,
the execution of true justice filmed by a crew from Edison Studios...
was hanged for the crime by heavy-duty construction equipment in 1916 in Tennessee.
Topsy, another.wayward circus performer on Coney Island in New York,
was fed poison, electrocuted and strangled in 1903,
the execution of true justice filmed by a crew from Edison Studios...
Wednesday 16 August 2017
Tuesday 15 August 2017
“The Germans are not human beings.
"From now on the word German pierces our hearts and is for us the worst imaginable curse.
We shall not panic. We shall kill.
If you have not killed at least one German a day,
you have wasted that day [...]
for us the greatest of all joys is a heap of German corpses.”
- IIya Ehrenburg, Russian propagandist of German-Lithuanian-Jewish extraction.
We shall not panic. We shall kill.
If you have not killed at least one German a day,
you have wasted that day [...]
for us the greatest of all joys is a heap of German corpses.”
- IIya Ehrenburg, Russian propagandist of German-Lithuanian-Jewish extraction.
Monday 14 August 2017
On Writing Historical Fiction.
'You need to know ten times
as much as you tell."
- Hilary Mantel
This is surely also true of biography
and autobiography, which are themselves
forms of historical fiction.
as much as you tell."
- Hilary Mantel
This is surely also true of biography
and autobiography, which are themselves
forms of historical fiction.
Sunday 13 August 2017
The Most Evil Empire.
Churchill and Christ in a gunboat!
Make the wogs walk on water,
set fire to their villages.
Grab whole continents
and sub-continents.
Smash factories,
destroy societies,
take all resources,
make them grow opium,
make them smoke opium,
divide and rule,
let them starve,
deliver hundreds of thousands
to firing-squads and concentration-camps,
wipe out more 'lesser breeds' than Stalin or Hitler
- and award yourself a permanent seat
on the cynical UN Security Council.
Make the wogs walk on water,
set fire to their villages.
Grab whole continents
and sub-continents.
Smash factories,
destroy societies,
take all resources,
make them grow opium,
make them smoke opium,
divide and rule,
let them starve,
deliver hundreds of thousands
to firing-squads and concentration-camps,
wipe out more 'lesser breeds' than Stalin or Hitler
- and award yourself a permanent seat
on the cynical UN Security Council.
Saturday 12 August 2017
Really ?
It's just what an aircraft dinner from the 1960s
was for The Great Unwashed who travelled by cheapo charter flight -
and who now get even worse.
Friday 11 August 2017
Reality
for most people
seems to be banality.
But real reality
(as every earwig knows)
is surreality.
seems to be banality.
But real reality
(as every earwig knows)
is surreality.
Thursday 10 August 2017
Five Haikai
The brandy finished -
time to get down to business
and admire the moon.
*
Having sucked my blood
the horse-fly dismounts and sits
on cow-parsley head.
*
From the same corruption
emerge a stink-horn toadstool
and a violet.
*
Ten million sperm
dripping on the book-jacket.
Words are waste of words.
*
A brief urgency -
my bare arse is caressed by
the April nettles.
time to get down to business
and admire the moon.
*
Having sucked my blood
the horse-fly dismounts and sits
on cow-parsley head.
*
From the same corruption
emerge a stink-horn toadstool
and a violet.
*
Ten million sperm
dripping on the book-jacket.
Words are waste of words.
*
A brief urgency -
my bare arse is caressed by
the April nettles.
Wednesday 9 August 2017
I wish I had written this...
WITHOUT CAMOUFLAGE
by Eric Chaet
I didn’t choose camouflage or invisibility.
I’ve tried, all along
to make what I think manifest
to behave as I think I should
however contrary to custom
to let everyone who wished
see that I was pursuing goals
they believe are unattainable.
But I was only one
& how I appeared was discounted
as an imagined figment
or temporary insanity
or an instance of this or that
doomed religion or political movement.
Without shaving my beard
or changing into more conventional clothes
I find myself allied with brown sparrows
who duck out of sight
among shadows, leaves, & branches
with rabbits, mice, deer
& timid boys & girls
& intimidated subordinates everywhere
engaged in every occupation
with all who have failed
or feel they’re failing—
& the stampeding so-called successes
talk clever bullshit on TV
& allocate resources
to maintain the current
& develop the next round of outrages
as tho' I’d never struggled or spoken.
You see a bit of me here & now
but soon you’ll be otherwise occupied.
If you remember, then, what you’ve seen
& decipher (which is easy) what it means
I’ll gladly be of greater service to you
than those blinded by what they expect
can imagine.
by Eric Chaet
I didn’t choose camouflage or invisibility.
I’ve tried, all along
to make what I think manifest
to behave as I think I should
however contrary to custom
to let everyone who wished
see that I was pursuing goals
they believe are unattainable.
But I was only one
& how I appeared was discounted
as an imagined figment
or temporary insanity
or an instance of this or that
doomed religion or political movement.
Without shaving my beard
or changing into more conventional clothes
I find myself allied with brown sparrows
who duck out of sight
among shadows, leaves, & branches
with rabbits, mice, deer
& timid boys & girls
& intimidated subordinates everywhere
engaged in every occupation
with all who have failed
or feel they’re failing—
& the stampeding so-called successes
talk clever bullshit on TV
& allocate resources
to maintain the current
& develop the next round of outrages
as tho' I’d never struggled or spoken.
You see a bit of me here & now
but soon you’ll be otherwise occupied.
If you remember, then, what you’ve seen
& decipher (which is easy) what it means
I’ll gladly be of greater service to you
than those blinded by what they expect
can imagine.
[more by Eric HERE]
Tuesday 8 August 2017
Another Sign of Senility.
I turned on the car radio the other day
(it's pre-set to boring and talky France-Musique)
and was amazed to hear some superb Arab-Jazz fusion
which turned out to be Jan Garbarek with Anouar Brahem and others.
Finally! I thought, somebody has got the message
that there is music beyond post-11th century Europe.
But when I got home, I couldn't find it on the listings,
so went to the car to check what station I was on.
I had been playing one of my own CDs.
So it's back to mainly-baroque boredom on France-Musique.
(it's pre-set to boring and talky France-Musique)
and was amazed to hear some superb Arab-Jazz fusion
which turned out to be Jan Garbarek with Anouar Brahem and others.
Finally! I thought, somebody has got the message
that there is music beyond post-11th century Europe.
But when I got home, I couldn't find it on the listings,
so went to the car to check what station I was on.
I had been playing one of my own CDs.
So it's back to mainly-baroque boredom on France-Musique.
Monday 7 August 2017
Language, Truth and Logic
If the offspring of a cat
is a kitten,
I think it highly likely that
the offspring of a mat
is a mitten.
is a kitten,
I think it highly likely that
the offspring of a mat
is a mitten.
Sunday 6 August 2017
Saturday 5 August 2017
Friday 4 August 2017
Epithalamium ?
On the 14th of June 2017
we (aged 75 and 55 respectively)
had our platonic,
same-sex and boyish,
sweetly intimate
relationship
of over 20 years rewarded
for a modest fee with an official
and embossed
Civil Partnership certificate.
we (aged 75 and 55 respectively)
had our platonic,
same-sex and boyish,
sweetly intimate
relationship
of over 20 years rewarded
for a modest fee with an official
and embossed
Civil Partnership certificate.
Thursday 3 August 2017
A Reply to Adam Zagajewski
poetryfoundation.org/zagajewski
Of course we should praise the mutilated world -
but we should rage against its mutilation.
Let us not praise in any way
our mutilating selves,
our self- and world-mutilating creeds,
'values', 'ways of life'.
Rage against the deserts we call 'gardens',
our cynical and criminal misuse of water,
our making the poor ever-poorer, rare animals rarer,
our destruction of trees by farms and fancy furniture and paper,
our pollution of the oceans through sheer greed,
our servicing of cities by continuous slaughter
which we drown out by night-club laughter.
Of course we should praise the mutilated world -
but we should rage against its mutilation.
Let us not praise in any way
our mutilating selves,
our self- and world-mutilating creeds,
'values', 'ways of life'.
Rage against the deserts we call 'gardens',
our cynical and criminal misuse of water,
our making the poor ever-poorer, rare animals rarer,
our destruction of trees by farms and fancy furniture and paper,
our pollution of the oceans through sheer greed,
our servicing of cities by continuous slaughter
which we drown out by night-club laughter.
Wednesday 2 August 2017
Before there was glass
in church windows
there was thin but untransparent
alabaster.
The hovels of the poor
had the caul-
like skin of a cow's stomach
stretched and dried
over a hole in the wall.
there was thin but untransparent
alabaster.
The hovels of the poor
had the caul-
like skin of a cow's stomach
stretched and dried
over a hole in the wall.
Tuesday 1 August 2017
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