ah... Pynchon

Lo these past five months I have been on a quest albeit a personal one but no doubt as noble as any I have attended. Sobriety brings a certain clarity to the room as I have discovered. Back in November I gave myself a birthday present. I felt like I deserved to be rewarded for my keen sense of humor and sense of the absurd. Besides I was bored with military techno-thrillers, spy games and sea stories. I had not read serious literary work since college and that was some time ago, tried to read "Gravity's Rainbow" in the 70's but dozed off somewhere over London and never finished it.

So the years went by and I forgot about the guy, this Thomas Pynchon weird writer guy. An alert friend noted in an email to me that his new novel "Against the Day" was just released in case I was, you know, interested. BOING!

The next morning I called the local retail outlet and reserved a copy. "Yes, I'll pick it up today during lunch break" I promised breathlessly feeling like a kid at Christmas. It was November 30th. I finished that delicious novel by New Year's and found myself wanting more. From there I read every one of his books ("Slow Learner" is still waiting) and haunted websites and wiki's trying to read all I could find like I was dying of thirst here. I finished "Crying of Lot 49" just a week ago.

In between deliveries from Amazon I also perused some of the others (Delillo, McCarthy, Amis, Wallace, Barth etc.) while waiting. I still gravitate back to Pynchon. I can't explain it or his writing or my utter marvel at his chops.

When I get through with these others on my pile, it's getting shorter, I intend to reread "Against the Day" with more otium cum dignitate. It will be a scholarly appeasement of the muse and I'll be in a slow soak mode. I smell a Nobel Prize lingering somewhere.

D. F. Wallace almost turned me against post-modern fiction but I prevailed and deep-sixed his smart-ass. He will never be as much fun I don't care what they say.

When I read I don't like to multi-task and work several books at a time. So first things first. One more Delillo and half an Amis to go. Then I will single up all lines and get the hell outa here...

white hot wire

Today was one of those days. Ya know, one of those days. One of those days when you wake up in the morning ears ringing, numb at the prospects of sharing pale watery sunrise with the traffic crawling like seekers to the mountain and it's wizened old guy at the top that tells you every time "go back and start over, you don't know yet" and sadly we trudge and trudge into the din doing what we have to do so we can eat and drink and play and laugh and cry and yell at the sky and pretend we have some semblance of a life away from the wizened old man on the mountain telling us every time what we don't want to hear again like a voice in our heads.

The day was a relief however as is the night and every night and every day and every solution proffered is a relief because like pain it reminds you that you're still alive with nerve endings spreading like tendrils gathering the bombardments of relentless provocation, shaping into projectiles to launch back and splash like protoplasmic calculations to make the muses cry and curse and agree it's all an endless parade stretching in time from one mist to the next.

...static discharge running up and down pegging meters fluxing singing the currents and always crisping the contrasts sharper in cold bare light...

hot iron and dust

Here we go again. Sunday on the Shores of Anticipation. Time away from the grinding stone is slipping by like the proverbial hourglass. A week off is never long enough to re-acclimate. At least the rain stopped long enough to mow and talk with the creatures that inhabit the grounds. Just the usual tip o' the hat in a jovial sort of way. The copperheads stayed hidden as well they should. Colonel Colt was riding shotgun with me on patrol today and was positively vibrating at the possibility of shredding reptiles. No such luck today Colonel, maybe next time.

The clouds are diving in again like Stutkas dropping pellets of rain and banking away to refuel. Another day in the bunker... The Evil One is lurking in Kansas far to the north.

some bread and a circus

May Day.

All good oppressed workers unite! That time of year again for the teeming millions to march demanding better pay, health care, etc. WE WANT MORE STUFF! (hint: Stop having so many babies.)

Do they think that the leaders really give a shit? Do they really think the Power Elite is going to share? Ah but everybody loves a parade right? Make their voices heard! Let's roll people. Yo!

Sadly the working class is always going to be in the hapless position of neediness. Law of the jungle my dear. Of course if free education was a reality then we'd all be rich and no menial tasks would get done because there wouldn't be any undereducated around to do the work. Ever mowed the grass in Gucci's? I didn't think so. Of course a pair of Gucci's does not an education indicate. More of a status totem that says "I got more than you." More what? Money? Hope you choke on it.

Human culture has always been a pecking order. Just like (gasp) the animal kingdom except we're just a bunch of stink-footed bi-pedals in the minority that fuck for fun while other people pay money to watch.

Why are these immigrants coming into this country? Don't they know there aint no money in America? Nasty rumor I heard. Oh sure there's minimum wages for those of you who are called to a life of servitude to the Junior League with a swarm of brats at lunch time. A lot of roofs in that new subdivision you can't afford to live in to build. Whose going to dig all those sewer lines anyway? More power to you people. Lemme get outa your way.

Mandatory community service at age 18 for all citizens. Combat arms? No problem. The Marines are always looking for a Few Good Men. Be an Army of One. Accelerate Your Life. Aim High. GI Bill for continuing education. No? No military service because of moral issues? Well then, step right up. Darfur needs you. The starving refugees need you. New Orleans needs you. Get off your fat collective asses you selfish bastards and help somebody instead of whining for more tit.