Can you see in the dark?
Can you stay in the black?
Are there trees on the ark?
Will we say what we lack?
If the sun fails to shine
And the one comes to light
Then those of the night will dine
On those who are right
Should the moon cease to rise
and the night turn to day
There shall be no more lies
but a truth we can’t say
An echo of silence
Blasts forth from the past
Calling ghosts of compliance
Down from the clouds at last
A principle needs not a prince
anymore than a crime requires prints
Our lives need not reason
as much as our paths require reflection
Love is a trial and love is a dance
Love is not magic, love is a chance
The end is the means are the end in the end
When friend becomes family and foe becomes friend
Dedicated to every writer.
You write what you know
when you can’t prove what you write.
When you know you are right
you write what you know.
A picture paints a thousand words,
making the writer’s brush quite heavy.
An army of stories is all we can levy,
using the sheer force of metaphors.
You write what you know
by day or by night.
The mask of fiction is tight
the light of truth is bold.
Written at Agnanti Restaurant (19th St and Ditmars in Astoria)
I write these lines
to pass the time
open the blinds
and clear my mind
to pass the time
I do my time
and stand in line
and say “Everything’s fine”
open the blinds
to feel the sun’s shine
and pretend that it’s mine
at least for a time
and clear my mind
of the ties that bind
to pass time time
I write these lines
These words are a maze
Setting the world ablaze
keeping us in a haze
but it’s just a phase
Setting the world ablaze
with the turn of a phrase
while the foolish one plays
the pious one prays
Keeping us in a haze
a silent dance craze
as the sheep graze
and the mothers raise
But it’s just a phase
so keep track of the days
and log all the ways
these words are a maze
Then out of the blue
I meet someone like you
now the world is new
and nothing feels true
I meet someone like you
and my days are too few
if you were made to subdue
then I was made for you
Now the world is new
my perception’s askew
what I thought I knew
I now see through
And nothing feels true
since you came into view
Now I seek the taboo
to get close to you
That guy’s coworkers are serious douches. He shows them what may be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, a man who can accurately slingshot hot dogs into windows and apparently lets people buy on credit, and they shrug and say “I’d rather eat at a mediocre chain restaurant.” Why isn’t the guy who ordered them like 200 pounds, considering he must do it all the time?
Finally, what kind of idiot ad team wastes time in an ad to push the house salad? I realize it’s only there for two seconds, but if you work in advertising you know how many billable hours are behind those two seconds. People had fucking debates over whether they should mention the caesar before the house salad or vice versa. They quibbled over what the lettuce should look like and how it should be lit. Why not run a commercial advertising that silverware is provided free of charge?
[UPDATE: Added some photos and video]
So on Friday night my old friend TJ from Pittsburgh came to visit me in New York. I hadn’t seen him in about six years since we worked at the same company in Youngstown, Ohio. My wife was off visiting a friend in Idaho from Friday thru the following Wednesday. A couple of days before she was supposed to leave I had called my buddy TJ somewhat randomly and ended up spontaneously inviting him to come up for the weekend. I was floored that he actually took me up on the offer (which never seems to happen to me anymore) and arrived late on Friday night.
On Saturday, TJ wanted to go into the city and do some sight seeing. We got on the train and rode from my stop in Queens to City Hall. Sitting across from us the whole way was a very cute black girl carrying a tall bag that looked like it housed a musical instrument of some sort. We get off the train (she stays on) around 2pm, and start wandering around Manhattan. At about 6pm we were walking up Broadway approaching 8th Street, when around the corner came the girl from the train. Now I’ve lived in New York for about 3 years and have had my share of coincidences, so I’m used to letting them slide, but TJ isn’t and doesn’t. He turns around as she passes and says “Hi” and waves. She turns around, smiles and walks over to talk to us. Her name is Debbie and It turns out she was carrying a saber and had just come from fencing practice. This immediately intrigued TJ as he’s a weapons enthusiast and we invite her to walk with us.
We asked what she’s up to and she tells us about this little gathering hosted by Alex Grey, who apparently designed album covers for Tool. Debbie says that people just hang out and talk about history, philosophy and spirituality. If you know me then you know this is my kind of fun. We went to a bar and had a few drinks (she didn’t drink, though), and then shared a cab over to the event (it was on 27th btw 10 & 11 ave).
Outside the building is a huge banner that reads COSM, it’s on the fifth floor and it’s huge. I know what NYC rents are like these days, and this must’ve cost tens of thousands per month (at the beginning of the services they mention that they’ll be moving to bigger digs soon). We walk in, and there’s a girl sitting behind a cash box. We’re asked to pay $10, given purple bracelets, and then ushered into this other room. I’m fairly shocked to see that there’s like 80 other people all sitting on the floor, facing a stage in the corner of the room.
On the stage was a statue, which I’ll just describe from the top down. The top of the head was egg-shaped and made of dozens of eyes, this connected to the rest of the head which had three faces. The right face was feminine, the left was masculine with a beard, the middle was normal, all three shared a set of three eyes. The right half of the chest had a boob and the left hand held a flower, while the right had a pectoral muscle and the right hand pointed to the flower. The legs looked like an eagle’s mixed with a bear, and it had giant furry balls below a penis going into a vagina on its belly. Oh yeah, and the whole room is covered in posters reminiscent of Hellraiser.
TJ was already up at the very front of the crowd by the stage and the girl we were with was waving me up. Just as I sat down, the service got started. It was a mash of neo-religious preaching, with some Allah and some Judaism and some biker poetry, but no Jesus stuff really. The whole ceremony was enough to put me off because of the fact that we’d been tricked into paying a church $10, but it wasn’t until I looked around and realized that only a handful of people were wearing purple bracelets and we were surrounded by a sea of others wearing red. This immediately triggered a memory of the story told by the character Joey in the movie “Melvin Goes to Dinner,” about his getting tricked into going to a self-help seminar, specifically how all the new people were singled out by their name tag color. As soon as the service was over, I leaned over to the guy next to me with a purple bracelet and asked him if he’d ever been to this before, to which he responded “No”. I then immediately leaned over and told TJ “It’s a pyramid-scheme cult, we HAVE to leave now”. After we grabbed the leader and took a picture with him, me and TJ booked it outta there and headed to the nearest bar.
We told the story to the bartender and were cracking up combing over the whole story in our mind. We were struck with paranoia wondering if she’d been following us all day. Why did they sit us right up in front? What would have happened if we stayed? Did everyone there realize they’d been scammed into some sort of by the book pyramid scheme religious racket? Are members of Tool part of this cult?
I’ll be writing more about this over the next couple of days as I piece it together and figure out what it means. I highly recommend anyone who’s been in a similar situation to watch the movie “Melvin Goes to Dinner”. This is only one part of the larger story of the movie which is essentially one great conversation between four people.
The nets will shrink
while wise men quibble
The cities will sink
as the ice caps dribble
The fish shall swim
what few there are left
The winners shall win
while the losers cry “Theft!”
We give up our lives
to endure shorter lines
Always too fearful of knives
and too tolerant of fines
One day we’ll look back
on the path that we blazed,
let’s not regret the lack
of an issue not raised
So many worlds so far away,
so many nights before this day.
Our follies many, our memories few
of the types of evil that good men can do
(the types who listen to what I say)
the true songs of Freedom
have yet to be sung
but we dance anyway
and we dance everyday
to the silent beat of hum-drum
the words that I sling
have already been slung
by each Mother and Child
and Beast that is Wild
A song sung by all that can sing
what I fear most is silence
(the kind made of compliance)
where no one will see
that which all can see
and the only crime is defiance
What I cannot accept is to sit and pray
down on my knees, begging for a new day.
what I hope for is truth
(the kind that blows off the roof)
only then will I sit and stay
Sleeping dogs lie
to me
while
Cats kill the curiosity
in me
and
The world hides reality
from me
forever.
Being someone who loves to get into political discussions–especially with those that I consider to be on the extremes of issues, I’ve encountered my share of “it all has to come crashing down” attitudes.
On the left, they seem to see unregulated free-market capitalism as this seven headed hydra that has to come crashing down and usher in a new depression so that a new FDR can rise from the ashes to renew the social contract. Some seem to see the flooding of New York ala “Inconvenient Truth” as the wake up call we need, and that things will all simply work themselves out on global warming.
On the right, I have friends who have truly begun to believe that we are seeing the End Times, who may not believe but do receive emails about Obama being the Anti-Christ, global warming is a hoax perpetrated by Al Gore and super-secret scientists to form a One World Government under the oppressive rule of a ruthless Carbon Tax. They see the degradation of morals on TV and in the news and blame all of society, it’s all bad and only God can sweep it away. To them, if New York floods it isn’t because of global warming, but global whoring.
I’m someone who loves to play devil’s advocate, usually from the center, but sometimes part of being an effective contrarian is to adopt the views of your opponent and help them to fully imagine them. So to the lefty whose fetish is a stock market crash, maybe you ought to ponder more how that would come about and what the true ramifications could be. All my other “friends of Jesus” who think that God is about to give us another spanking, maybe you’d better start playing nice with the greens and helping them remain skeptical of “global warming” becoming as impervious to criticism as religion was in the Dark Ages. The point is that if either of you are remotely correct, the best solution to preserving our way of life is to nurture and foster communities.
Extreme Lefties: An economic collapse and ecological disaster may well bring reforms, but only if we don’t have a sizable portion of the religious community who believe that Obama might be a demon and Al Gore a dictator. You have to talk to them and reassure them that you will always be willing to be critical of your own leaders. You must tell them that you have learned from their mistakes with Bush. Be gentle about how you say that, ask them questions about how they feel about Bush. Most decent people will be elated to have the opportunity to admit to their mistake. Tell them that you don’t ever want to make that mistake, but that you can understand how people can become convinced of anything if enough of their piers feel the same way.
Extreme Righties: A little less fear, a little more love, please. Regardless of what the cause of a natural disaster may be or your likelihood of being wafted up to heaven like an angel fart, isn’t the Christlike path one of comfort for all us poor sinners who will have to rebuild the Earth? If there is an Anti-Christ on the rise, shouldn’t we all open our doors and our hearts and prepare to sacrifice more to offer one another comfort during a dark age? And no matter if Al Gore and the scientists are all dirty liars, the poor saps that they’ve deluded into “going green” are still gonna be interested in planting a garden on their front lawns. Why not bring them some lemonade and talk about flowers?
This is a very optimistic and bright letter for me. When I get on my eschatology kick, it’s not about global conspiracies or biblical prophecies, it’s all about the details. Mechanisms that exist such as the PATRIOT ACT, warrantless wiretapping and data mining, and the unitary executive are the things that make my hair stand up on end. Because while I can’t say for sure that the men in charge have nefarious ends in mind, as long as those mechanisms exist, it seems dangerous to never imagine that they can be abused. Because if we go too long without imagining so, someone will come to power who will imagine it for us.
Barring sprouting horns and a tail on live TV, I’m going to vote for Obama this fall. I’m not saying that I don’t wish I could vote for Nader, but there just aren’t enough other people for that to happen. I can imagine a lot of things, but I don’t see a way of Ralph becoming president in our current system. Since I will be putting my good name behind the O man, I want all my friends and enemies on the right to know that by voting for him I will be holding his feet to the fire and urging every decent American to do the same. We need to write letters, talk to our friends, and rebuild our local communities, no matter who wins.