Brain Dump Redux

Tough week, almost over. Time for a T&T Classic. Take this brother, may it serve you well:

Easy as pie in the face of the facts of the matter with you, anyway? Lock, stock and barrel of monkeys around the clock tower of power plant a garden variety is the spice of life goes on or off with her head for the hills are alive with the sound of silence. Hang in there you go for it could be worse for wear out your welcome with open arms and legs of the table your plans have a way of not working out as planned for this ahead of time is on our side of the road that leads to your door is always open up or else. Kirk out.

Random Sequence

"Mona told me about you," she says.

"Oh really," I say. "Good stuff, I hope."

"I'm Celia," she says. "I teach classics at the university. Barb was one of my students."

"Ahh," I say.

"Mona tells me you're in publishing?"

"Sort of," I say. "I write for a trade magazine. Chemical Dynamics."

"Uh-huh. Is that interesting?"

"No. Is classics interesting?"

She laughs. "That's about all it has going for it," she says. "It's interesting to me. And beautiful: 'In the true mythology, Love is an immortal child, and Beauty leads him as a guide: nor can we express a deeper sense than when we say, Beauty is the pilot of the young soul.'"

I nod.

"Emerson," she says.

"Of course."

--from "Because I Can" (by me), which was originally published by Eyeshot

Word of the Day: obdormition

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

obdormition (noun)

Numbness, or the tingling felt when a limb is "asleep."

"Then my leg fell asleep, so I made ambitious circles with my feet, like a nervous orangutan, to cure my obdormition."

Yeah, I hate limping around when my foot falls asleep; don't we all? Sometimes, late at night, I just wish my head would fall asleep.

~~~

Meanwhile....

Day Jobs of the Poets

Head Rattle

I.I saw The Place Beyond the Pines, and thought it an excellent film. I couldn't figure out the title though, since I didn't see any pines in the movie -- just lots of deciduous trees. Then I later stumbled across the meaning: the film takes place in (and was shot in) Schenectady, New York, and "Schenectady" is a Indian word meaning "place beyond the pines". My brother and nephews live in nearby Scotia, New York, which is also where some of it was filmed. I'll have to ask them how things are in the place beyond the pines and see if they know what I'm talking about.

II.I actually used the word "onerous" in a conversation today, without thinking about it. I was speaking with someone about my familiarity with and ability to use British spelling, so she wouldn't have to worry about it if it was too onerous. "Well, maybe we'll send you some Scottish and see how you do with that," she said, jokingly. At least I hope it was a joke. Ho ye! Whit's fur ye'll no go past ye.

Fish Food for Thought

One fish, two fish, read fish, blue fish....



Agree? More clip-art philosophy by me (and Charles Bukowski). You can catch the BIG fish here. And more Philosofish here.

Random Sequence

She kept combing, first one side of her head, then the other, then the back, then the bangs, then the side again. I wondered how long she could keep it up and began to time her with my watch. I counted five minutes of non-stop combing, and still she didn't stop. Oh yes, that's mental, I thought. Something's not right....

After a while, she paused for a moment and opened her purse. Okay, I thought, she's getting off [the bus] soon. But no. She pulled out a small mirror, stared into it, and resumed her combing. I suppressed a strong desire to giggle. What an obsession, I thought. With all that manipulation, I'm surprised she still has a hair on her head.
--from "The Lady with the Hair" (by me), originally published by Eyeshot

Word of the Day: erinaceous

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

erinaceous (adjective)

Like a hedgehog

"I felt no compunction about sticking a pig, if I could get near one, and all sympathy was for myself. To part company with your saddle, and to fall near these erinaceous brigands, is to be ripped from thigh to chin by their sharp tusks before there is time for rescue."
--Price Collier, The West in the East From an American Point of View (1911)

The one time I grew a little beard, I couldn't stop stroking my erinaceous chin like some evil mastermind plotting a global takeover.

~~~

Meanwhile....

William Shakespeare's Birthday Flowchart. Honoring his day of nativity. His exact birthday is unknown, but he was christened on April 23rd, which means he was born sometime earlier this week.

Much Ado about NOTHING

Magnetic Field

We must have had a windy winter. When I ventured out into my backyard for the first time in (what seems like) months last weekend, I found that it had been invaded by unidentified flying objects. By that, I mean -- not aliens or psy projections or whatever UFOs are -- but mysterious slabs of Styrofoam, anomalous aluminum beams, and large cardboard constructions of indeterminate purpose. It all has to do with the extensive remodeling job going on in the building next door, I assume. But our house is something of a magnet for flotsam and jetsam anyway. On the public sidewalk out front, I regularly find (and trash or recycle) things like other people's bank statements, children's apparel, expired lottery cards, postcards advertising salsa concerts, tiny "airline" liquor bottles, various sorts of food wrappers, and even, recently, a battered old analog TV set. Yes, I live in a city.

Photo of the Week

The local pawn shop certainly has an unique way of displaying its wares. When I asked why they keep this particular collection of costume jewelry on the floor, and in such a peculiar receptacle, the proprietor said he finds it to be an effective conversation starter -- and that he likes to make his female patrons "bend over".

Actually, I just made that up. My wyfe dumped her entire jewelry box of odd earnings and bizarre baubles onto the bedroom floor -- and this seemed the easiest way to gather all her treasured trinkets up.

Click the pic for a closer view. You won't have to bend over.

Random Sequence

They were the darkest eyes that I had ever seen. I don't want to see them again, but I do. I close my eyes and there they are, two black vortices pulling me down to a place I don't want to go.

I woke up that morning with a gruesome headache. My brain felt too big for my skull, and my stomach felt like a small lizard had died in it. The sheets were moist and clammy. I was cold. Yes, I had a hangover.

My eyes rolled around and focused on the bedside clock. It took me several seconds to conclude that, despite the inky sky outside the open window, it was late morning.

Sitting up and watching the dark red curtains puff in and out against the window screen for a minute, I couldn't help thinking of a gigantic mouth -- breathing in, breathing out, in and out....
--from "Dark Eyes" (by me), originally published in Twilight Times

Word of the Day: kelemenopy

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today it's....

kelemenopy (noun)

A straight-line sequence through the middle of everything, leading nowhere

"In ancient sailors' fearful imaginations, ships that sailed in a straight line toward the watery horizon would fall off the edge of the world, in a voyage of kelemenopy."

A straight line to nowhere. Things seem to be going swimmingly sometimes, and then they get suddenly interrupted. Derailed. Cut off. Somebody dies, a job ends unexpectedly, people vanish, your favorite TV show gets cancelled before all the threads unspool. The ship hits an iceberg.

Like the time my old Mustang broke down in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. Like the time I got "laid off" from my magazine editing job. Like the novel I abandoned because I couldn't figure out how to end it: kelemenopy. But sometimes you have to reach nowhere ("now here") in order to figure out how to start over again.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Way I Feel

Ambivalent; I don't have strong feelings one way or the other about iPhone 6 rumors. Ho hum.

Rankled by the continuing presence of a "Johnny on the Spot" in front of the construction site next door. I have never seen anyone use it. Why can't they make the first thing they construct in the building a rest room?

Disconcerted by the heavy police presence at the train station I use. Clearly, it's considered a potential target.

Distrustful of various politicians suddenly taking a pseudo-interest in me. There's a local election looming next month.

Sheepish about tripping and falling in public recently.

Gratified by finally getting a break, late in the game.

~~~

Meanwhile....

Take a sad song: 'Hey Jude' reworked in a minor scale.