XIAN’S SALSA RECIPE

“Here is the salsa I keep in my fridge at all times. A day does not go
by that I do not put this stuff on something. Since I began adhering to
this ritual my quality of life has improved dramatically.

1. Roast a few tomatoes, poblanos, and serranos. To do this, stick'em
on skewers and toast'em like marshmallows in your gas flame until they
blister (if you have electric, throw'em in an iron skillet and roll'em
around).
2. Do the same thing with a couple cloves of garlic.
3. Chop up a bunch of onion and marinate it in juice of 1 lime for at
least 15 minutes (this is key).
4. Chop up everything else and chuck as much or as little of it into a
blender as you want, depending on how chunky you like it. Mix it
together with the unblended stuff. It will look foamy and unpleasant,
but that's just air bubbles. They go away in a little while.
5. Mix in the onion and some cilantro and some salt, and maybe some
chipotle powder from Penzey's. Done, and done.”

Whatever happened to Isaac Bonewits?

Have you seen the new Bombay Sapphire commercial? There's one poet
who's not starving--.

Want ultimate Cool Points? Get a Lojban t-shirt!

When in the course of Human Events... Naaah.

   ”DIVIDENDS

This advantage to be seized; and here, an escape prepared against an evil day;
So it is arranged, consummately, to meet the issues. Convenience and order. Necessary murder and divorce. A decent repute.

Such are the plans, in clear detail.
She thought it was too soon but they said no, it was too late. They didn’t trust the other people.
Sell now.
He was a fool to ignore the market. It could be explained, he said. With the woman, and after the theater she made a scene. None of them felt the crash for a long time.

(But what is swifter than time?)

So it is resolved, upon awakening. This way it is devised, preparing for sleep. So it is revealed, uneasily, in strange dreams.
A defense against gray, hungry, envious millions. Aveiled watch to be kept upon this friend.
Dread that handclasp. Seek this one. Smile.
They didn’t trust the others. They were wary. It looked suspicious. They preferred to wait, they said.

Gentlemen, here is a statement for the third month,
And here, Mildred, is the easiest way.
Such is the evidence, convertible to profit. These are the dividends, waiting to be used.
Here are the demands again, considered again, and again the endless issues are all secure.
Such are the facts. Such are the details. Such are the proofs.

Almighty God, these are the plans,
These are the plans until the last moment of the last hour of the last day,
And then the end. By error or accident.
Burke of cancer, Jackson out at the secret meeting of the board. Hendricks through the window of the nineteenth floor.
Maggots and darkness will attend the alibi.

Peace on earth. And the finer things.
So it is all devised.
Thomas, the car.”

--Kenneth Fearing

I wonder how it's going to rebound on this side
of the Big Water when Blair gets the boot for his
WMD lies?

"By volume, the ink in your unkjet cartridges costs seven times more than vintage champagne." --Boingboing

AFGHANISTAN 1998 Missiles Attack on former CIA training camps used by Islamic fundamentalist groups alleged to have attacked embassies.
IRAQ 1998-? Bombing, Missiles Four days of intensive air strikes after weapons inspectors allege Iraqi obstructions.
YUGOSLAVIA 1999 Bombing, Missiles Heavy NATO air strikes after Serbia declines to withdraw from Kosovo. NATO occupation of Kosovo.
YEMEN 2000 Naval USS Cole bombed.
MACEDONIA 2001 Troops NATO forces deployed to move and disarm Albanian rebels.
UNITED STATES 2001 Jets, naval Reaction to hijacker attacks on New York, DC
AFGHANISTAN 2001-? Troops, bombing, missiles Massive U.S. mobilization to overthrow Taliban, hunt Al Qaeda fighters, install Karzai regime. Forces also engaged in neighboring Pakistan.
YEMEN 2002 Missiles Predator drone missile attack on Al Qaeda, including a US citizen.
PHILIPPINES 2002 Troops, naval Training mission for Philippine military fighting Muslim Abu Sayyaf rebels evolves into US combat missions in Sulu Archipelago next to Mindanao.
COLOMBIA 2003-? Troops US special forces sent to rebel zone to back up Colombian military protecting oil pipeline.
IRAQ 2003-? Troops, naval, bombing, missiles Second Gulf War launched for "regime change" in Baghdad. US, joined by UK and Australia, attacks from Kuwait, other Gulf states, and European and US bases."
[Ya have to love it: the robot fink at Amazon suggested, after i
looked up "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace": Bush 2004
Merchandise.]

Alright, i was wrong in my prediction about Q is for Quahog.
But i kept that one to myself.

Three times as many books are being published as
twenty-five years ago.

CAMBODIA l975 Troops, bombing Gas captured ship, 28 die in copter crash.
ANGOLA l976-92 Command operation CIA assists South African-backed rebels.
IRAN l980 Troops, nuclear threat, aborted bombing Raid to rescue Embassy hostages; 8 troops die in copter-plane crash. Soviets warned not to get involved in revolution.
LIBYA l981 Naval jets Two Libyan jets shot down in maneuvers.
EL SALVADOR l981-92 Command operation, troops Advisors, overflights aid anti-rebel war, soldiers briefly involved in hostage clash.
NICARAGUA l981-90 Command operation, naval CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against revolution.
LEBANON l982-84 Naval, bombing, troops Marines expel PLO and back Phalangists, Navy bombs and shells Muslim positions.
GRENADA l983-84 Troops, bombing Invasion four years after revolution.
HONDURAS l983-89 Troops Maneuvers help build bases near borders.
IRAN l984 Jets Two Iranian jets shot down over Persian Gulf.
LIBYA l986 Bombing, naval Air strikes to topple nationalist gov't.
BOLIVIA 1986 Troops Army assists raids on cocaine region.
IRAN l987-88 Naval, bombing US intervenes on side of Iraq in war.
LIBYA 1989 Naval jets Two Libyan jets shot down.
VIRGIN ISLANDS 1989 Troops St. Croix Black unrest after storm.
PHILIPPINES 1989 Jets Air cover provided for government against coup.
PANAMA 1989 (-?) Troops, bombing Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed.
LIBERIA 1990 Troops Foreigners evacuated during civil war.
SAUDI ARABIA 1990-91 Troops, jets Iraq countered after invading Kuwait. 540,000 troops also stationed in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel.
IRAQ 1990-? Bombing, troops, naval Blockade of Iraqi and Jordanian ports, air strikes; 200,000+ killed in invasion of Iraq and Kuwait; no-fly zone over Kurdish north, Shiite south, large-scale destruction of Iraqi military.
KUWAIT 1991 Naval, bombing, troops Kuwait royal family returned to throne.
LOS ANGELES 1992 Troops Army, Marines deployed against anti-police uprising.
SOMALIA 1992-94 Troops, naval, bombing U.S.-led United Nations occupation during civil war; raids against one Mogadishu faction.
YUGOSLAVIA 1992-94 Naval NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.
BOSNIA 1993-? Jets, bombing No-fly zone patrolled in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs.
HAITI 1994-? Troops, naval Blockade against military government; troops restore President Aristide to office three years after coup.
ZAIRE (CONGO) 1996-97 Troops Marines at Rwandan Hutu refugee camps, in area where Congo revolution begins.
LIBERIA 1997 Troops Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
ALBANIA 1997 Troops Soldiers under fire during evacuation of foreigners.
SUDAN 1998 Missiles Attack on pharmaceutical plant alleged to be "terrorist" nerve gas plant.

WASHINGTON DC 1932 Troops Army stops WWI vet bonus protest.
WORLD WAR II 1941-45 Naval, troops, bombing, nuclear Hawaii bombed, fought Japan, Italy and Germay for 3 years; first nuclear war.
DETROIT 1943 Troops Army put down Black rebellion.
IRAN 1946 Nuclear threat Soviet troops told to leave north.
YUGOSLAVIA 1946 Nuclear threat, naval Response to shoot-down of US plane.
URUGUAY 1947 Nuclear threat Bombers deployed as show of strength.
GREECE 1947-49 Command operation U.S. directs extreme-right in civil war.
GERMANY 1948 Nuclear Threat Atomic-capable bombers guard Berlin Airlift.
CHINA 1948-49 Troops/Marines evacuate Americans before Communist victory.
PHILIPPINES 1948-54 Command operation CIA directs war against Huk Rebellion.
PUERTO RICO 1950 Command operation Independence rebellion crushed in Ponce.
KOREA 1951-53 (-?) Troops, naval, bombing , nuclear threats U.S./So. Korea fights China/No. Korea to stalemate; A-bomb threat in 1950, and against China in 1953. Still have bases.
IRAN 1953 Command Operation CIA overthrows democracy, installs Shah.
VIETNAM 1954 Nuclear threat French offered bombs to use against seige.
GUATEMALA 1954 Command operation, bombing, nuclear threat CIA directs exile invasion after new gov't nationalized U.S. company lands; bombers based in Nicaragua.
EGYPT 1956 Nuclear threat, troops Soviets told to keep out of Suez crisis; Marines evacuate foreigners.
LEBANON l958 Troops, naval Marine occupation against rebels.
IRAQ 1958 Nuclear threat Iraq warned against invading Kuwait.
CHINA l958 Nuclear threat China told not to move on Taiwan isles.
PANAMA 1958 Troops Flag protests erupt into confrontation.
VIETNAM l960-75 Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats Fought South Vietnam revolt & North Vietnam; one million killed in longest U.S. war; atomic bomb threats in l968 and l969.
LAOS 1962 Command operation Military buildup during guerrilla war.
CUBA l961 Command operation CIA-directed exile invasion fails.
GERMANY l961 Nuclear threat Alert during Berlin Wall crisis.
CUBA l962 Nuclear threat, naval Blockade during missile crisis; near-war with Soviet Union.
PANAMA l964 Troops Panamanians shot for urging canal's return.
INDONESIA l965 Command operation Million killed in CIA-assisted army coup.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1965-66 Troops, bombing Marines land during election campaign.
GUATEMALA l966-67 Command operation Green Berets intervene against rebels.
DETROIT l967 Troops Army battles Blacks, 43 killed.
UNITED STATES l968 Troops After King is shot; over 21,000 soldiers in cities.
CAMBODIA l969-75 Bombing, troops, naval Up to 2 million killed in decade of bombing, starvation, and political chaos.
OMAN l970 Command operation U.S. directs Iranian marine invasion.
LAOS l971-73 Command operation, bombing U.S. directs South Vietnamese invasion; "carpet-bombs" countryside.
SOUTH DAKOTA l973 Command operation Army directs Wounded Knee siege of Lakotas.
MIDEAST 1973 Nuclear threat World-wide alert during Mideast War.
CHILE 1973 Command operation CIA-backed coup ousts elected marxist president.

CUBA 1906-09 Troops Marines land in democratic election.
NICARAGUA 1907 Troops "Dollar Diplomacy" protectorate set up.
HONDURAS 1907 Troops Marines land during war with Nicaragua
PANAMA 1908 Troops Marines intervene in election contest.
NICARAGUA 1910 Troops Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto.
HONDURAS 1911 Troops U.S. interests protected in civil war.
CHINA 1911-41 Naval, troops Continuous occupation with flare-ups.
CUBA 1912 Troops U.S. interests protected in civil war.
PANAMA 1912 Troops Marines land during heated election.
HONDURAS 1912 Troops Marines protect U.S. economic interests.
NICARAGUA 1912-33 Troops, bombing 10-year occupation, fought guerillas
MEXICO 1913 Naval Americans evacuated during revolution.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1914 Naval Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo.
COLORADO 1914 Troops Breaking of miners' strike by Army.
MEXICO 1914-18 Naval, troops Series of interventions against nationalists.
HAITI 1914-34 Troops, bombing 19-year occupation after revolts.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1916-24 Troops 8-year Marine occupation.
CUBA 1917-33 Troops Military occupation, economic protectorate.
WORLD WAR I 1917-18 naval, troops Ships sunk, fought Germany for 1 1/2 years.
RUSSIA 1918-22 Naval, troops Five landings to fight Bolsheviks
PANAMA 1918-20 Troops "Police duty" during unrest after elections.
HONDURAS 1919 Troops Marines land during election campaign.
YUGOSLAVIA 1919 Troops/Marines intervene for Italy against Serbs in Dalmatia.
GUATEMALA 1920 Troops 2-week intervention against unionists.
WEST VIRGINIA 1920-21 Troops, bombing Army intervenes against mineworkers.
TURKEY 1922 Troops Fought nationalists in Smyrna.
CHINA 1922-27 Naval, troops Deployment during nationalist revolt.
HONDURAS 1924-25 Troops Landed twice during election strife.
PANAMA 1925 Troops Marines suppress general strike.
CHINA 1927-34 Troops Marines stationed throughout the country.
EL SALVADOR 1932 Naval Warships send during Marti revolt.

Pillage & despoilment are second nature to egotists.
It is only an extension, after all, of what they do
to their own humanness.

Oh good, someone put that list of US interventions from
Gore Vidal's book online (via Metafilter):

"SOUTH DAKOTA 1890 (-?) Troops 300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee.
ARGENTINA 1890 Troops Buenos Aires interests protected.
CHILE 1891 Troops Marines clash with nationalist rebels.
HAITI 1891 Troops Black revolt on Navassa defeated.
IDAHO 1892 Troops Army suppresses silver miners' strike.
HAWAII 1893 (-?) Naval, troops Independent kingdom overthrown, annexed.
CHICAGO 1894 Troops Breaking of rail strike, 34 killed.
NICARAGUA 1894 Troops Month-long occupation of Bluefields.
CHINA 1894-95 Naval, troops Marines land in Sino-Japanese War
KOREA 1894-96 Troops Marines kept in Seoul during war.
PANAMA 1895 Troops, naval Marines land in Colombian province.
NICARAGUA 1896 Troops Marines land in port of Corinto.
CHINA 1898-1900 Troops Boxer Rebellion fought by foreign armies.
PHILIPPINES 1898-1910 (-?) Naval, troops Seized from Spain, killed 600,000 Filipinos
CUBA 1898-1902 (-?) Naval, troops Seized from Spain, still hold Navy base.
PUERTO RICO 1898 (-?) Naval, troops Seized from Spain, occupation continues.
GUAM 1898 (-?) Naval, troops Seized from Spain, still use as base.
MINNESOTA 1898 (-?) Troops Army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake.
NICARAGUA 1898 Troops Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur.
SAMOA 1899 (-?) Troops Battle over succession to throne.
NICARAGUA 1899 Troops Marines land at port of Bluefields.
IDAHO 1899-1901 Troops Army occupies Coeur d'Alene mining region.
OKLAHOMA 1901 Troops Army battles Creek Indian revolt.
PANAMA 1901-14 Naval, troops Broke off from Colombia 1903, annexed Canal Zone 1914.
HONDURAS 1903 Troops Marines intervene in revolution.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1903-04 Troops U.S. interests protected in Revolution.
KOREA 1904-05 Troops Marines land in Russo-Japanese War.

Flags & creeds are parasites on humanity; parasites
that cause derangement. The sooner we shake them off,
the better. I will be proud of that nation which gives
every child medicine & every adult employment; & no
other. I will be ashamed of those nations which perpet-
uate the cult of Guns 'n' Punishment, & i will despise
all those to whom nature is less sacred than personal
gain. Let the Red-assed Baboons smirk for their hour
in the sun. That hour--is ineluctably doomed.

What finally divorces me from all existing psychologies, is
their assumption that the usual is the normal. In
other words, their empiricism. But if one single psychologist
could remember what it was like to be a kid, growing up in
a world that often seems violently contrary to right and reason,
he would no longer doubt, but be certain that normal human
existence is something we have scarcely dreamed of. And
when we do reach toward it, we want to continue clinging to
all that's unhealthy in our old lives. Thus philosophies of
rationalization, ideologies, instead of philosophies of ration-
ality, which would consist of a constant analysis and testing
for what beliefs will work. But with ideology, you end up
making excuses for why it didn't work.
   It is the error in science that's significant.

And scholars still can't decide whether Propertius was screwed
by his copyists or really did make flying leaps of association like
a modernist...

The pain of incompletion is a lodestar--if we allow ourselves to
listen.

Coffee is exactly what i used to think Truth had to be: black,
bitter, and makes your head reel if you down it all at once.
Needless to say, truths are nothing like that, and no coffee
tastes as good as it smells. Cynics fall for the promise of
truths. They are in love with the smell of coffee.
   --My cynical mysticism.

I wish i could read a really good poem about
Tokay. (I think it was Andrei Codrescu who wrote,
"Republican Tokay is a contradiction in terms.")

Listening to Esma, Queen of the Gypsies. Oh, "Nasvali So Uljum"--!
We only think we understand oppression.

A brief history of art-robots. (via Consumptive)

Hello Kali. (via Prentiss)

So the photographer of lots of people pretending to lie dead in public
places in Cosmopolis is a real person? His name is Spencer Tunick. (via
Gawker)

Much as i appreciate the poet of Lord Weary's Castle, i think
it would not be hard to demonstrate that for every year in which
Lowell wrote a good poem--Robert Duncan wrote a better one.

The trouble is, there's a bunch of authority-basis principles;
one might find them distributed according to Jungian axes, perhaps
(but that's a discussion i prefer not to go into just yet), or the pure
hap of parenting: legitimacy via force, via politics (which
may or may not coincide with consensus), via tradition, via the trappings
of authority itself (which, alas, is most true of American business today--bad
decisions don't seem to matter, as long as you "walk the walk"), via love &/or
family, or (finally) via competence--this
last the one that i, being the sort of person i am (INTJ), consider the only sane
alternative. Does that mean i want a meritocracy whose leadership is
determined by exams? (I have to admit i haven't been impressed by the
Mensans i've met--the local artists' co-op had far more interesting, &
accomplished, people in it.) Well, at the very least, --this last election could
have been solved by a spelling test.

   "Fourth of July Poem"

Enough done gone boom already.

7 4 84

One thing i am learning [from my night job], that the night is
just like the day; it is just as bright, and i can imagine having
my other senses acute enough to move about in it freely--
but also, i think that the day, is just as obscure, just as
hidden and unobserved (through our inattention) even
though flooded with light and light's reflections... I don't
know how to begin to describe this or paint it, but i want
to someday. Because it is like a great allegory of awareness
...all around us for everything; and that must be the only reason
to be a realist...and why so many (gropingly) choose to try it.

'533. 'I often think that the night is more alive and more
richly colored than the day.' --letters of Van Gogh

Going to the woods to gain silence is like getting ice from the
North Pole. By the time you arrive it's almost all gone.

A real doctor would tell me, All you need is to run wild in the
woods awhile. "But i have run wild all my life!" Yes--except
you ran in a maze. That doesn't count... Every rat in
the maze thinks it's running wild. But put them in an open field,
and they keep on making maze patterns. Do you want to be a
Big White Coat? Then learn how to make up new mazes. But
don't talk about wilderness or the woods.

Sometimes i fall silent. If i were suddenly asked, What are you
thinking? i would say: "I'm not thinking. I am contemplating
something inside me as if it were outside of me."

Christmas on Earth. After a national political convention,
the prostitutes there take a month off. --This is a fable we
want to believe about all "vice". When we indulge, it's not
to feel joy, but to play Santa Claus.

We are inordinately impressed by those who can train their
face (actors, yogis, impassive peasants, cats). What does this
say about our concept of the mind? Personality is a face-metaphor,
extended to include the whole body & body movement (especially
talk-style). Mind as: the underlying bone structure of a face. (Brain-
washing = reconstructive surgery.) --What kind of mind-concept
would we have if we didn't have mobile faces? Would we
consider monkeys like magical protean Houdinis on that account?
(Jesus who walked through walls.) Would we never try to teach
anybody? (Shape their expressions: straighten up, kid!) ...Would our
hands be useless??

My [T]heosophical [Society] incense is unbearably sweet with a
lingering after-aroma of carrion. Just like theosophy in
fact. Which makes me wish every philosophy, every religion,
every mind-set system would produce its own brand of joss
sticks. We could judge them at once, without having to run
them through our brains; painlessly...
   Scientology, for instance: Comet cleanser.
   Materialism (consumerism): leaded gasoline
(with additives).
   Methodism (unreformed): the back of the
closet where you keep all winter coats (in the South that is).
   Artism: turpentine, of course, --in all its
mystical ramifications.
   Taoism: ripe peaches (not as found in a
supermarket!).
   Buddha's buddhism: peaches on the ground
starting to go bad.
   Zen buddhism: supermarket peaches, with a
whiff of ethylene (or formaldehyde or whatever it is).
--You play this game. But only with the systems which have lured you.
Nietzsche: "My genius is in my nostrils." --Ozone? (as detected by
acidhead-third nostril)

How can i blame anyone for what they believe? Our definitions are
as much forced upon us as the deformations of age, illness, and
employment: they are the surfaces where our bodies touch the
hook we all writhe upon.

Yesterday Pollution Red, today only Orange. After driving home
i feel a slight sore throat, & when i first get into the car there's
a funny sensation around my eyelids like the stinging that means
i've gone too long without bathing (but i haven't). It's only the
sky falling, friends. We were warned.

New movie about Bonhoeffer (which i haven't seen
yet). Timely. Reminder to all of us: when this devout Christian pacifist
learned the true nature of the Nazi government, he joined the
plot against Hitler.

The other morning on the radio they were doing a story on
"songpoems" i.e. those companies that would record your
lyrics using a house band, for a fee, & claim to be able to
make you a star if you give them "seed money". I didn't get
to hear if they ever covered John Trubee (they probably didn't),
but here's one of the great underground art stories of the
80's: "Blind Man's Penis".

If Kisha Kurokawa isn't the Buckminster Fuller of Japan, i
don't know who is. He wants to combine the best of traditional
Japanese aesthetics with modern technology; & if there are any
humans left on this planet in 300 years, that's how they'll be
building...

"Can the water talk?
Is it possible
That the wind can listen?" --Sahara Sunday Spain

   "Planet of the Republicans"

Now that our world has been taken over by red-assed baboons,
Those who are not will still want to act like red-assed baboons.

Ask for a little mercy, ask for some sense
You're sure to be shouted down by a choir of red-assed baboons.

We few cowed humans left when we meet each other
Can't even bring ourselves to say the words "red-assed baboon".

7-2-03

Sometimes i try to imagine that these are exciting times
i'm living in. Instead of--dreary and terrifying.

For each of us there are important words, and these we define
unlike anyone else. I wonder if all huge misunderstandings
begin in not asking: What do you mean by this? --Because
it's such a dumb question, really.

Though i am sick of violence, this alone cannot give me a
belief in nonviolence. Ahimsa--soul force--i have never
seen work. And the only environment where i always
have enough love--the wilderness--that's just where i don't
need to believe in nonviolence... No, i can't do more than
try to be fair with each person, from day to day, moment to
moment. I don't have the integrity for convictions.

   "Where Every Prospect

There will be no evil
No throat bared in
Scarlet agony here
But only the green grass

Waving beside peaceful roads

Along which gay
Runners carry thoughts of the sun
To fill the wilderness
With animals of loftier design

Than bowed to thug

And gun
In whose image created they
This
Where no peace is
Where only the stench of
Smoking flesh
Can adequately say, Now

Man is not evil"

--Kenneth Patchen

Insofar as we aren't free, our lives generate injustice. Friction.
But it's no use to search for the blame. Rather, learn not to react
from your sensitivity--knowing how far we are from being completely
free--learn how not to make it worse. When to get away from words,
and when to take refuge in them. Because even the most balanced
of us is recovering from a grave and subtle sickness. (To say this
without cruelty.) (Or sentimentality either.)

Will and willingness: law and justice.

Ah Christiania... i visited there in 1977. Saw the hash supermarket.
Didn't see any naked hippies in body paint (alas). Now the Blue Meanies are
after them too.

How to tell a poem from a joke: read it backwards. (Works
with books, too!)

As it is that i have only noticed my body heat on rare
occasions--so insulated has been my usual environment--
also only rarely do i feel the power of love; but in this
case it's noise that covers it up, rather than an abundance.
And loneliness is when your noise level suddenly drops
and you find out how little loved you are. Unless you have
learned to love yourself, you'll be forced to scamper under
the nearest dense illusion: this is what we really mean by
"the power of love"...

How i am with influences. --I dance in the skin of the lion, i
dance in the skin of the deer. I even talk with someone an
hour and come away borrowing their cadences in my head.
Is this weakness? I think it is strength--to leave my ego by
sympathetic projection and be secure of returning. --Then
why don't i know it when i'm doing it? (I almost never detect
my influences till much later...) Maybe: i don't have to. Maybe:
identification is the other side of knowledge.
   And "subjectivity" is the myth that
conceals this fact.
   For, as Reason was discredited by
bad thinking, insincere identification led to too much
undependable inner-knowledge...

A streetpreacher: "Y'all are highly organized, but still
stupid!"

"Then there is Dallas. Perhaps in no other city is there so
great a distance between what a city actually is and what
people like to think it is." --Wayne King in NYT Book Rev
8-5-84

In my book i would change all the appearances; & keep the
meanings. The City of Magnificent Splendors ("that city
of all great cities which alone has no reason to be there").
Describe the City by its Lights.

"In my opinion caricature reaches its height only in periods
of decadence or when art cannot rise to the heroic." --George
Grosz

"Poetry which relates to the beings of another world ought
to be at once mysterious and picturesque." --Macaulay

magniveté - between jest & earnest

A triad- knowledge, ignorance, mystery.

I scored 100% Green, 94% Kucinich (no surprise) on this
questionnaire. I would, however, like to see some other
things factored in, like amount of support they're likely
to get from the Democrat Party machine; & how vulnerable
they are to red-herring smear campaigns (don't you think
Kucinich is going to get painted as a card-carrying Commie?
i really think we need somebody STUPIDER & SQUARER, like
Kerry--)...

“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” EP (1979) on blue vinyl...putting
it on cassette now so i can listen at work.

'The Mind of the Father said that all things should be cut
into Three...' --Chaldaean Oracles, quoted by Proclus

I imagine a world where, instead of bilateral symmetry, all
lifeforms are triform; animals have 3, 6, or 9 legs. Three
genders: he, she, se which are yang, yin, & balance. Any
two can mate but it takes all three kinds to procreate.

"The Sk [Sâmkhyakârikâs of Ishvarakrâna] and the Ys
[Yogasûtras of Patanjali] present a clear-cut doctrine, by
which all three gunas are inherent in every phenomenon
and cause the differences between them by the ever varying
proportions in which they enter into each. This theory is
known as gunaparinâma..." --Early Samkhya, E H
Johnson (1937)

Their nature causes them to instinctly analyze things into
triads, just as ours creates dualistic philosophies. And where
there is no third term, their minds perceive a blank, which
they call the DORD.
------------------------------------------------------- `

    NOTHING MEANS NOTHING

This morning i understood.
Or this afternoon.
A fly cast its shadow
on the gray wooden floor,
its wings a translucent one
a semi-shade.
Not that, not this--
cried the sage in the marketplace.
He wasn't playing
a sophist's game
with that Asian sun
nor did he seek to stifle
our questions like you'd swat a fly.
Invisible wings
(not this, not that)
were fluttering, and the half-tones changed shape.

When i saw her again today
so briefly,
i understood.

I once heard a coach say, "A good player has to be three
things: Host-ile, Ag-ile, and Mo-bile"... That's not so bad
for an artist either.

Level Red pollution watch today. Breathe shallow. Be grateful
for all that dinosaur grease we just killed 10,000 people for.
We've got enough now for Level Red the rest of our lives,
probably--& a little beyond.

On a lighter note, how 'bout that Chante? --I'm just
glad she wasn't rich. Then she would've walked
free & made Texans look even worse than they
already do. But hey! authorities just arrested a couple in
Brownsville for strangling & decapitating their three toddlers!
The circus isn't over yet, not by a long shot!! Stay tooned.

    "Song for a Red Pollution Sunday"

Children's book prize handed out
   By the Second Lady
Says a voice on NPR
   Melodious & weighty
While Iraqis' burning eyes
Stare at where the worn G.I.'s
   Count ammo in the shady

Children must be brought up right
   Spare them toxic reading
Feed them with the will to fight
   For Bible, flag, & breeding
One day soon will bring the call
Ship 'em off to stand & fall
   And in the sand lie bleeding

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