It is the sorrow of things
Holds us fast at night
Where the end of things
Closes minute by minute
Until nothing makes sense
And sense itself becomes nothing
Saturday, December 09, 2023
ta, shane, and, ta ta
Glen Hansard and Lisa O'Neill Perform "Fairytale of New York" at Shane MacGowan's Funeral in Tipparary Ireland
final circle
I have
nothing
to say
about God
and I
won't
say it
good
con-
ver-
sa-
tion
allows
what is
(not
imaginable)
to be
envisioned
Friday, December 08, 2023
used phrase lot
Hemingway’s
typewriter
Will go at auction
Like an old DeSoto
How many
miles
How many words
Remain
In it
an archeology of resignation and redemption
one chocolate donut
with chocolate milk
tending fire on frigid night
after furnace fail
before morning prison
rohatsu ends
the young 'almah girl is born
(with no barrriers)
buddha is enlightened
John Lennon is shot dead
sliver moon off east
one last log for vigils office
as night crew makes snow
on mountain, droning spouts —
Sinéad O'Connor birthday
(she was right, you know)
if you cannot find me, it changes nothing
we tend fire in wood stove
she turns around on belly-chest
purring brief stasis
just as we tend friendship
enough for warmth
but not too hot to strike
fear destruction at 2:15AM
cat climbing head-butting
kneading arm claws just
shy of ripping skin --
I do not have friends
it is a flaw that fails
to right itself, solitary
soon to be off, worrying
the night, a red-lined furnace
space heaters 15 degrees cold
I keep vigil as she turns again
stretching for an inch of comfort
the way night holds us
barely aware of God
silencing away
Thursday, December 07, 2023
the demise of decorum
It’s possible that
His mental disturbance has spread
Across the whole country
One after another
Become deranged and gleefully
Drool their uncontainable foolhardiness
théâtre de l'absurde -- a play in one question
Précis:
Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone reported today that one of those MAGA Republicans, House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), spoke freely Tuesday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., at a celebration for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Although the address was being livestreamed, Johnson apparently believed he was speaking privately. He told the audience that the Lord called him to be “a new Moses.”
Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told the audience that the U.S. is “engaged in a battle between worldviews” and “a great struggle for the future of the Republic.” He said he believed far-right Christians would prevail. (--in Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, 6dec2023)
A Play in one Question
by M. Ostly Risible
Characters:
Mike Johnson, as himself, a vaudeville hoofer
Moses, a historical personage, deeply embedded in literature
Christ, something radical, passing through cosmic consciousness
Act 1
Moses: He said what?
Christ: [silence]
-fin-
... ... ...
Billboard Theater Review:
Audience was heard to ask: "When is the next performance?"
Wednesday, December 06, 2023
i support your right to kill yourself, not others
guns guns guns guns (god)
my dear brothers and sisters
you have gone so wrong
南無阿彌陀佛男眾唱頌 *
Buddha doesn't move
Cosmos sways in and out chant
no-mind follows joy
... ... ...
* (I entrust myself to the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life.)
cf. The Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, Mark and Taitetsu Unno, Tricycle
Tuesday, December 05, 2023
colder weather in the autumn
The only form of life that hangs onto the past is man. When nature has brought in colder
weather in the autumn, the leaves fall. They fall because the tree has finished its annual
cycle and it needs them no more. The tree has no fear as it lets go of each leaf. It has no re-
gret at letting go of something that has served its purpose. Those leaves will never return,
but there will be new leaves in the spring to serve a new purpose. (--in, As A Center Of Consciousness You Are Invisible, by Raymond Charles Barker)
I can remember
your name
I have not
forgotten you
you looked at me
across restaurant
table near Yale
decades ago
(told me not to lose
any more weight)
as we were
always
enroute
elsewhere
through
one another
tolle et lege
Why, for example, does acousmatics, or the teaching model by which the teacher remains hidden from the disciple who listens to him, belong to a prephilosophical Pythagorean esoterism, just as, much later, auricular confession corresponds to a secret intimacy of sin and forgiveness? (--in Listening, by Jean-Luc Nancy)
The sound filled out that solitude to which the tone gave rhythm ahead of time. (—Raymond Queneau, A Hard Winter)
mute muse
sits in kitchen
no coffee
this --
cold morning
doing nothing
Monday, December 04, 2023
irish sunset
Shane MacGowan dies
Sinéad O’Connor dies
both December born
she the 8th, he 25th --
their music
their music
have i told you lately
The joy of waking up to who and where you are —and loving it—is an ecstatic experience of freedom.
– Dale S. Wright, “Why Should I Appreciate Life?” Tricycle
first snow
over everything
covers
house and trees
electricity out
I sit by dooryard glass
looking through
what is here
and what is
not here
the stillness of
which reveals
what lets go
of itself
Sunday, December 03, 2023
no boat will come
I am not waiting for Godot
not waiting for anything
that train has rolled off
station left and right empty
sparrows land on bared yew branches
cat looks over shoulder, yawns
Thought about church this 1st advent
then thought again, made coffee, sat --
nothing there that is not here
wind nudges tired prayer flags
rain begins raw falling
they say some snow tonight
in December harbor few fishing boats
docks on the hard gripped by muscles
there are reasons to stay in Maine
one is empty mooring, another
friend emptiness itself walks
on weary feet through gate by road
it's got a good beat and you can dance to it
Listening to Scott Simon's book Swingtime for Hitler: Goebbels’s Jazzmen, Tokyo Rose, and Propaganda That Carries a Tune, (c. Sept.2023)
It "confronts the disturbing parallels between disinformation in Hitler’s Germany and fake news today." (Notes, Scribd)
The audios of the Nazi band swing and jazz propaganda songs are fascinating.
Shows the madness of lies and the converse longing for truth in a new light.
The Right Wing insanity in contemporary America has long ancestry and strong faith.
Listen carefully.
Their song is playing.
Many are dancing to it.
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