001. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's
cruel arms.
9-6-03
002. Abundant possibilities, like small leaves in the winds of time,
003. dance for man-created visions of belief, of symbols, of
joy.
004. Whirlwinds of certainty reduce the multiplicity of
worlds
005. to texts and testaments, to vows, to hatred, to defense
with guns
006. of what were words, images, thoughts, abstract,
unreal,
ephemeral,
007. nothing ever felt or smelt or nothing seen, eaten,
tasted, heard.
008. The cooling wind moves against flesh, sunshine's
heated quarks open ways
009. un-thought of in a constrained world.
New
beliefs will be encoded,
010. fought for, died for, will rise in
song,
real or unreal, foolish
011. or blessed, they live and perish,
endless
entertainment filling
012. the endlessness of time passing,
encouraging rigorous thought,
013. analysis, debate, causing codes
old,
new, simple and divine.
014. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-7-03
015. Bonding two percent of the world, human history distorts
life.
016. It serves the merchant, the ruler, the Ayatollah, the
Guru.
017. In times past it served Priest and Pope. History is written of
wars,
018. of disasters, discoveries. Little is written of people
019. who live and die. The amusement of history ignores mere
life.
020. Limpidity, ubiquity maintains life outside history.
021.
A deceiving mobility, a treacherous charm, exults life,
022.
precludes
all classification. Most genuine records of time
023. are erased by
their swift passage. What censorship forgets, people
024. accomplish
in peace's silence. The usefulness of perceived truth
025. precludes
truth, conceals the missing, extols one thread above the cloth,
026.
distorts the design, throws balance, favors greed, envy, exclusion.
027. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-8-03
028. Codifying the unseeing, endless aspects of abstract thought
029.
man must pursue his amusement in philosophy, science, art.
030.
Religion still exercises man's supreme creative powers,
031.
inventing
demons, bugaboos and gods, high overhead, seated
032. upon
irradiating
stars, susceptible to warring states,
033. powers of self and
destruction greater than a god can conceive.
034. Living in states of
deception, overweening pride, hubris, greed,
035. man in his
entertainment-lust has now mastered apocalypse --
036. formerly his
gods' assignment. He ignores the fact that his -- man's --
037.
annihilating Big Bang will eliminate his inventions,
038.
imperatives;
the world, unthought, will return to its pristine self.
039. The
world,
untextualize, free, will manifest amazing forms.
040. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-9-03
041. Delete it and no one will miss your history, my history.
042.
All
history, literature, scholarship, science, linguistics
043.
philosophy,
psychology, politics are but single threads
044. in humankind's
grand
tapestry, inclusive human history.
045. Plucked, raveled up or
unraveled, they form a free floating mirage,
046. hovering against
the
background and multiplicity of all
047. peoples living and dead
swept
on the waves and tides of the ocean
048. of being. But individual
threads are no more meaningful than
049. one movie or another when
re-edited, spliced together,
050. admired or not admired, but soon
forgotten, or even,
051. if remembered, but one two-hour summary
from
the quadrillion
052. quadrillion quadrillion events, hours passed,
recorded and lost.
053. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-10-03
054. Entertainments, an exact term, hardly serious or needed,
055.
are but ways of passing the time. Luckily language came along
056.
quite soon, and soon writing followed. How else to fill the days
except
057. with stories, speculations which, given little else to
do,
soon
058. became dogma, truths handed down by gods, angels or
whatever
059. else was in the sky, talking stars, echoing spaces, limitless
060. vistas: sky, appearing empty, held myriad, odd messages.
061.
Interpretations were devised, solidified into cultures.
062. People
roasted in blazing hells, simulated from human fear.
063. Men's
abstract words became concrete instruments with which to torture
064.
those who said otherwise. Swords, guns were invented to reinforce
065.
the opinions of the rich, while the innocent poor hurdled life.
066. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-11-03
067. Fortunately time manages to fade or transform anything.
068.
Vows
of changelessness are buried deep in the fabric of each new text,
069.
Each catastrophic, chaotic, unimaginable event
070. creates a taste
for
permanence, permanent remembrance destroyed,
071. just as the moment,
the building, the life broken, cast aside in
072. marked/unmarked
graves, is no more, is disremembered from grief or
073. exuberant
entertainment or driven by the violence
074. of wind blown time,
just
as gods ride off to become literature.
075. Even carved stone
eventually crumbles, is eaten by the wind.
076. Smooth-faced,
immortal
texts belie the purpose of their creation.
077. What once was, is no
more, is gone. Unnoticed archaeology
078. bargains for respite from
the wind: is granted a moment, is gone.
079. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-12-03
080. Gratuitous, done without charge, life is given, a gracious gift.
081. How did the human mind fill so quickly with the
absurdities
082. of should and shouldn't? Poison kills, but nonsense
proliferates on
083. forever and forever like reverberations from
black
bells,
084. giant bells, log-struck in the dark, in the winter air,
into non-
085. judgmental nothingness. Silence follows, followed by
more theories,
086. guesses, hopes, incarcerations, blinders folded
around vision.
087. Don't see too clearly lest, without sound, the
balsa-wood structure comes
088. tumbling down, each hypothesis
accumulating dust transformed
089. into lore. A dictionary is a
useful
thing, hiding in
090. alphabetical order all the playthings of the
human mind,
091. rearranged, reassembled, it embroils all but life --
in this world.
092. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-13-03
093. Homo Ludens, he who must play, but does so grimly. Life or
death
094. is often his game. History says so, but history's tissue
095. is almost essentially lies. Nothing like history ever
096.
happened. There may have been disease, slaughter, starvation, but people,
097. most of them, were elsewhere, living little, cultivating
gardens,
098. gestating, enjoying sun, moon. The rains came down, the earth
flourished.
099. Many people enjoyed bounty until history, played by
few,
100. disturbed the planet, created chaotic and
uncountable
101. justifications, called reason, called serious,
called
anything
102. but what they were: un-named murder of the earth,
plants, the animals,
103. un-named killings of each other for, first)
possessions, later) for
104. power, a slow intangible, abstract as
entertainment's need.
105. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-14-03
106. Investigation is a choice form of entertainment for man.
107.
It
pays the investigator -- always of the appropriate
108. class.
Millions, inevitably spent, maintain swarms of livelihoods
109.
while
the professionals deeply investigate why the poor are
110. poor and
never a nickel need be spent on the impoverished
111. to alleviate
their hunger, homelessness, hopelessness, cold, pain.
112. Then committees and consultants, counselors with offices, staffs
113. (all of the appropriate class, who have and must maintain
standards
114. of living) are brought in, maybe, occasionally, to talk with
115.
the (lower standard of living) poor. But it will never become
116.
mandatory to give money to the poor. They wouldn't know how
117. to
spend it! Ah! Why are the poor dumb? Ah, we must investigate!
118. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-15-03
119. Keystrokes dealt on the computer of time sliding eternally
120.
toward codes, tricks, even glass-bead-games cannot organize
playfulness
121. free of theory, dogma, yes-but. Gently let the
synapses snap,
122. the dendrites dwindle, the blood brain barrier
lift
and fall. Weep not,
123. for the world turned to words will turn
again
to the futile image
124. of idle despair and lonely beauty moved,
inexorably,
125. toward chaos, implosion, black holes. Gravity's
slow
need to invert
126. the world is aided, ever so little, by hot,
human
hubris.
127. Pause now and then to contemplate the patient ease of
extinction
128. visited on the dinosaurs by meteor or internal
129.
compulsion -- an almost human madness to become something else.
130.
Tap, tap, tap on the computer's creation the keystrokes of doom.
131. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-16-03
132. Ludicrous shadows play, cornered in my darkened mind, winnowing
133. my wisdom until there is none. Where some was thought to be,
now
there
134. is scum scuppering overboard. It is amazing how many
135. words I spell for which I barely know a meaning.
Lubriciousness
136. grabs for almost anything. It prefers luminescence, but will
137. accept even dark, decaying cilantro leaves in a slimy,
138.
unclean sink which leads, who knows where? -- into the bowels, five
stories down,
139. into the sewers where our quest for entertainment
will build new
140. lives when we have forgotten old friends and old
todays composed of
141. anti-compassion, hatred, greed,
market-value,
mawkishness and
142. murder. But no need to apply accurate words, we
can make it
143. just fine with something-like. Kneel! bow! worship
the busy human mind.
144, Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-17-03
145. Marvel at the world chewed up to manure man's demand, whence spring
146. the daffodils, anemones, the fragile Icelandic poppies
147.
grown
tall on Santa Monica Boulevard beneath the palms and
148.
the-spreading-as-wide-as-a-world Morton Bay Figs cultivated,
149.
be-smogged, hydrocarboned to death. Disrespect for the way things are
150. leads man by the nose toward ever greater and greater
vanity.
151. Bonfires of the vanities light our planet. Luminosity
152. from their flames travels on and on and on and on and on and on
153. into the universe, beyond our galaxy, beyond other
154.
galaxies forever, ever more. Where is the edge, the limit,
155. the
walls and voids beyond which dwells oblivion? There is no such
156.
thing -- confirms science. Nothingness does not exist. Time has no end.
157. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-18-03
158. Nevertheless, we do end. We could do better. We could
159.
replace
philosophies, beliefs, fairy-tales, science studies --
160. we could
grant them their amusing, time-passing stature and get on
161. with
the dreadfullness of living, dribble drops of compassion here
162.
and
there instead of studying, we could say "Hello" to the poor,
163.
give
them food, houses, employment, honor their dignity and their
164.
humanity, cancel their debts. Why does any programmed-for-death
165.
earthling, for his ninety years, need billions? To blind him to exposed
166. bones from starvation, big bellies from malnutrition, torn
human
167. body-parts bandied about by bombs, mines, greed? Why did the
human
168. mind run away with the human heart? Can it be caught? Can
it be
169. cajoled, kidded, tempted, tickled by loving other human
hearts?
170. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-19-03
171. Over there in the dust among the rocks of the road lie the brains
172. and teeth of a dead Iraqi, blown up or dropped from an open
173. shroud. What is an Iraqi? O, not a plant or a mineral.
174.
That's a being, human, but not important. Iraqi killers
175. are
important: brave, mourned, far from home, trying their best to ram their
176. idea of life down the throats of all those who disagree
with
177. their "democratic" ideals. "Hegemony" is a favorite
178.
concept. "Smart Bomb," is a brilliant euphemism for "killing just
179. Iraqis." Vocabularies differ, but games remain the same:
180.
Boys will be boys and they grow up to be men, with the strength of
men,
181. with boys' brains. Count the bodies, count the brains, wash all the
gore into
182. the river of time, where truth's stones are polished
by
hypocrisy.
183. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-20-03
184. Part now with pleasure, certainty, hope. The worst, unbelievable,
185. will happen. You will no longer walk, you will no longer stroll
186. the quiet twilight. No matter how slow you are willing to go,
187. you will no longer go. Stasis reigns. Stasis has taken the
reins.
188. Death has bid farewell. Change is gone. We are stuck in life,
immobile,
189. without choice save to learn. Learn what? Learn the
slow invention of time.
190. Death and time, O, great sisters, be;
let
be; be on my side -- now. Shun
191. the light, shun the day, shun
what
was. What is now? Ask again. What is
192. now? Where can it be
found? -- breathing. In darkness, breathing is now, no
193. other.
Breathing is the light, sky, space. Gentleness is the nature
194. of
the birds, the molecules, death. Resurrection comes with the sun.
195.
Newborn creatures will grow, unlike any of memory's children.
196. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-21-03
197. Questions need to be asked again. Three narcissus bulbs are
greening.
198. The first, two days ago. The last? A week from now?
In
the future
199. perfect tense nothing will have changed. The sun
gets
lazier every
200. day. Soon it will not get up 'til eight. The days
grow shorter, my sleep
201. descends deeper. Grogged over by time, a
certain light-headedness
202. remains. I shed imperatives. I know
what
enlightenment means:
203. bouncing like a neutrino -- no weight, no
mass, the spin of one half --
204. through the universe,
smiley-faced, an image of idiotic
205. glee, bliss, peace. Who
needs
it? Not I cries the Twenty-first Century
206. deep in the gore of
its
anger, determined to hold back change. Things
207. must be as they
are
because they have been as they are, Will! Be!
208 As! They! Are!
Nature laughs, speeds up her plans for a nine-headed cow.
209. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-22-03
210. Resurrecting another time's sound, other tastes, another place,
211. Beethoven on tape, but lacking Oistrakh's cadenza.
None-the-less
212. it signals how far I have come. I see the music's, bones,
structure.
213. I hear deaf Beethoven at work. Then, I knew nothing
of
music.
214. In the twenty years since I last heard the Violin
Concerto,
215. my dendrites and synapses have vaulted, run, jumped, leapt,
lain
quiet
216. sparked connections, taught me I am the whole world. I do not live
in
217. the world, the entire world lives in me. Once entered nothing
departs.
218. The knitting speeds up, busy as grandmother, tatting,
crocheting.
219. No need to re-create the fresh, cool air, the
morning's sunnyness,
220. the playful cat's leap at finding I knew
the
concerto by heart.
221. I've been in another country, another
culture.
I've come home
222. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-8/16/23-03
223. So what to believe in beyond the nether end of nothingness?
224.
Shiva is the name of the great god of destruction, the name of
225.
my
cat. Shiva Purna. The whole world is a post for honing his
226.
claws. At his mouth's sides, pink mucus membranes adorn his strong jaws,
long
227. canines. He is a carnivore. He has trouble distinguishing
228.
my hand from raw meat on his plate. Or does he? Does he, like humans,
229. have the endless desire to eat up everything? Digest it! Shit
230, it out! Want more! Attack as part of his nature? All things
must
be
231. destroyed, before creation can begin again. The cycle of
232. being: to live, to die again, again, around seasons, around
233. ages, millennia gurgle, churn up time, things change, time
repeats.
234. Before, I listened to foggy images, now I hear music.
235. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-24-03
236. Thirty-five, forty years ago I used to watch our cats sidling
237. through the tall golden grass of late summer in the
Pennsylvania
238. heat, padding soundlessly, moving with infinite slowness,
caution,
239. charm, watching, listening, sniffing an unusual blade
of
grass, still
240. green, biting it, moving on, then, for no apparent
reason, lie
241. down, paws tucked, contented, often out of my view.
"Why there?" I would
242. ask myself. "Why just there?" We might not
see that cat again for hours.
243. But walking, if I chose, I would
find one cat here, another there.
244. "Why just here?" I'd
whisper,
kissing pink nose and taut, inquisitive
245. whiskers in the vast
desert, vast as the Gobi: rocks, wind and dust,
246. "Why just
here?"
Why pluck that reason from the rubble of time, carry
247. it
forward,
triumphant, to be buried beneath moments' mountains.
248. Those who would truly know the world, must lay down judgment's cruel
arms.
9-10/25-03
249. Valery has written: "The Gods have received from the human mind
250. the gift of the power to create because that mind, being
cyclical
251. and abstract, may aggrandize what it has imagined to
such
a point
252. that it's no longer capable of imagining it."*
Forward
253. or backward, time remains without direction.
White-booted,
bloody,
254. memory and the lack thereof replace every
imperative.
255. Be-whiskered, bemused, soft, purring was this the
cinema or life?
256. "What happens to me is my life," especially if
I
am asleep.
257. The grand viziers of wisdom pass in their great
turbans
with short skirts
258. flutteringly like un-cocooned butterflies --
none daring to see:
259. "Who's real?" And what would it matter?
Beyond larvae, beyond pupae,
260. use every word you can, lest life
perish and this poem survive.
261. Those who would truly know the world, have lain down judgment's cruel
arms.
EPILOGUE
9-26-03
262. Ascribe this strange poem to age. Blaze joy through it. Let it
baffle
263. before blame, let it shine, bustle, contrive to amuse,
crenelate,
264. charge across time, slowly convene dare-devil critic,
desperate
265. disciple, dauntingly destine Essene or excessive
excuse,
266. endure to hauntingly embrace feeble reason freely: fare,
foe,
267. fee, frequent follicle and flame grimace a pain-like
guillotine,
268. grumble, groan, but soon graduate, take a deep,
heme-colored, hirsute,
269. histamine hoarse hippie for hire.
Insupportable, insulate
270. ire irrevocable, intense, keystone
Klee-like lines surely kite
271. Kampuchea or any knee. Live with
love
lowered to re-lave
272. laureate in a lime-green loge, mime morale,
morals, a mongoose
273. made from catastrophic moonshine. Nightie be
damned, never negate.
9-27-03
274. Naivete necessitates noise, obdurate sounding off, oblique,
275.
obscure and a rarely obscene palpable, pongee paradise.
276.
Parachute
from a projectile, quake while seeking the quintessence,
277. quote
while contemplating quagmire, ramble around the rapture range.
279.
Rape, though rare ravages, revenge. Scripture skillfully sere,
single
280. side, single source will simulate temple, throne,
trappings
of trade twine.
281. Transpose whatever trouble tale vestige is left
to
valentine
282. verve, vaccinate each ventricle, ascribe this strange
poem to age.
283. Jejune jalousies will joggle, jangle, fall for want
of justice.
284. Jaundice opinion will jostle jute in the jungle
jubilee.
285. Uterine darkness, while urbane utterance use, untie,
upstage
286. urbanize, untangles ursine, unwise upgrades for fake
usage.
287. We were where wired and everywhere. Woe wore elaborate
wreckage.
288. Wreathe, wiggle, wrinkle, wobble, wipe, write up your
life woven in white.
289. Xenophobe with a xylophone, X-chromosome
rare
xerophyte,
290. Yankee ever so yare at Yule yippee, yokemate of yore,
yoke
291. zoophyte or zorille, zygote, zombie through an Internet
zone.
292. Artichoke-like, fuzzily butte, ascribe this strange poem to age.
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