Saturday, May 9, 2015

Saturday commute cvii: And weren't we all, somehow, mistaken






   Those skeptics among us,
   that is, who doubted our
   mass transit systems' a-
   bility to generate pres-
   tige, for lack of a hood
   ornament.

   We haven't spoken enough
   about an egalitarian re-
   ality in nature. If any-
   one were to ask, why one
   is so blasé about equal-
   might be cited?



















E.M. Forster
Maurice
op. posth.
1971

Joe Collier





Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Head count





    Heading into another
    American election cy-
    cle, we prepare to
    count the innocents
    who still take their
    place at the polls.

    Like rodeo riders,
    or wildlife restored
    to its habitat, we
    should think of as-
    signing them numbers
    or banding them. A
    fairer way of track-
    ing what becomes of
    their participation
    in this democracy,
    than looking at the
    people they empower.
























Tuesday, May 5, 2015

A cup on the run















    The high pool is
    always steaming.
    What witch will
    rise up on the
    white sunset?
    What purple fo-
    liage will des-
    cend?






















Jean-François-Arthur Rimbaud
Les illuminations
  Fragments of Folio 12
  [fragment]
John Ashbery
  translation
op. cit.