Now for the beautifully written piece by Meaghan Novi. Comment if you agree…or disagree, let’s get a debate going #SubSat
Conversation stater
Ask me anything
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September 7, 2012
Submission Saturday: Africa
June 27, 2012
Client
this is what i hate,
my supervisor tells me -
she
the client
wakes up and needs everything
yesterday
ugh, i said to my super-
ior. what an existence!
can you imagine
being late all. the. time?
and then i realized
my supervisor usually
comes in late everyday
her excuse - no
watch. God doesn’t wear a watch,
she tells me -
wow, i think, if that were a
real reason
for anything
i would be the
queen of sheba
or Dido - she is my favorite -
or another heroine of epic
proportion/poetry
maybe Andromache,
Hector’s wife,
who taught me about grief
and love and
catharsis.
so when my supervisor tells me
again
that her client makes
her life miserable (?)
i just smile - kind
of, and think about
what ‘trite lives
some people choose
for themselves.
i of course, should be silent
but perhaps - i am just
biding my time.
for lovers and fools and flowers
that have wilted, time is but a
fleet of ships, clipping waves and breaking
hearts know only the rising of the moon,
the falling of a breath or flake of snow
whereas, others, catch the hour as
if it were a fire-
fly in a jar, round and round and round
lighting up
entertainment to be held,
the truest delight is
nature, thousands of twinkling
abdomens
against an inky
inky
inky black curtain on a stage
with dark brown wood -
lands and fresh
air.
these are my gifts
what i know and hope
to know
simply, for i am a simple-
ton.
my supervisor tells me -
she
the client
wakes up and needs everything
yesterday
ugh, i said to my super-
ior. what an existence!
can you imagine
being late all. the. time?
and then i realized
my supervisor usually
comes in late everyday
her excuse - no
watch. God doesn’t wear a watch,
she tells me -
wow, i think, if that were a
real reason
for anything
i would be the
queen of sheba
or Dido - she is my favorite -
or another heroine of epic
proportion/poetry
maybe Andromache,
Hector’s wife,
who taught me about grief
and love and
catharsis.
so when my supervisor tells me
again
that her client makes
her life miserable (?)
i just smile - kind
of, and think about
what ‘trite lives
some people choose
for themselves.
i of course, should be silent
but perhaps - i am just
biding my time.
for lovers and fools and flowers
that have wilted, time is but a
fleet of ships, clipping waves and breaking
hearts know only the rising of the moon,
the falling of a breath or flake of snow
whereas, others, catch the hour as
if it were a fire-
fly in a jar, round and round and round
lighting up
entertainment to be held,
the truest delight is
nature, thousands of twinkling
abdomens
against an inky
inky
inky black curtain on a stage
with dark brown wood -
lands and fresh
air.
these are my gifts
what i know and hope
to know
simply, for i am a simple-
ton.
June 27, 2012
Tao Te Ching: A Modern Interpretation
Verse 1: Everything in moderation: a tree has roots but it’s leaves are in the clouds.
Verse 2: There is no interpretation, only observation: life would be simple if we didn’t judge.
Verse 3: eat until you are full, be only who you are, know yourself.
Verse 4: you can never know anything, but that shouldn’t prevent you from learning everything you can.
Verse 5: —
Verse 6: sex, in all meanings, is powerful
Verse 7: live a sustainable life - by not bothering anyone or anything, no one will bother you
Verse 8: it is harder to know self control, but this is the highest form of intelligence
June 27, 2012
June 27, 2012
vivienne leigh once said
that she - depended-
on the “kindness of
strangers”
i
have always -
depended on the kindness
and profundity
of
silence.
silence, like a stranger
is both
a best
friend and (un)willing
participant
in the drama
of your daily
life. it is, or can be
the greatest gift Fate
has bestowed
upon
the trajectory of a moment
or mood
similarly, it can
be
a curse, a lesson in
the uncanny.
i like strangers
for the most part
and silence, better -
because
silence is soothing
and mine,
entirely.
i think
silence is the essence
the womb
of thought
June 27, 2012
what is time
if not an
organization of space
?
——-
time existed before space, right?
okay
and before life there was space
fine
so after life there came
language, niiicee.
or art
let’s go with art,
fine. Art.
then language - yes,
time, space, life, art, language
culture?
i think that happened simultaneously,
okay that makes sense i don’t know how to order that on paper
however
we’re at language/art/culture/music
then - oh wait! -
INVENTION.
cool
maybe.. motion? hmmm…
time, space, life, art, language, invention, motion
hang on
when did we start being curious?
oh
interesting.
indeed.
time, space, life, curiosity, art, language, invention, motion
what are you trying to get at
i’m trying to find
the evolution
of
philosophy, darling.
ah
i see.
right. So we have everything up to motion
but i wonder
if i should just say
time, space, mimesis
then philosophy
and just be done with it.
that’s reasonable.
ha.
niicee.
if not an
organization of space
?
——-
time existed before space, right?
okay
and before life there was space
fine
so after life there came
language, niiicee.
or art
let’s go with art,
fine. Art.
then language - yes,
time, space, life, art, language
culture?
i think that happened simultaneously,
okay that makes sense i don’t know how to order that on paper
however
we’re at language/art/culture/music
then - oh wait! -
INVENTION.
cool
maybe.. motion? hmmm…
time, space, life, art, language, invention, motion
hang on
when did we start being curious?
oh
interesting.
indeed.
time, space, life, curiosity, art, language, invention, motion
what are you trying to get at
i’m trying to find
the evolution
of
philosophy, darling.
ah
i see.
right. So we have everything up to motion
but i wonder
if i should just say
time, space, mimesis
then philosophy
and just be done with it.
that’s reasonable.
ha.
niicee.
June 27, 2012
when money is a worry
when i sit at my desk
all day and curse
the things that brought me -
here,
and wish and wish
and wish
i could quit. i can’t
because of money.
it makes me sad
to use a little word
so often overused it’s now
a banality
to know that i can be upset
by taking someone
else
out for lunch
all the while in the
back of my -
mind, i calculate
the bill
and end up concentrating
on how many hours
of work
it equals
how many hours
of copying papers
and fixing jams and replacing toner
in the copier
will i have to work now
to make up for not only
the expensive
meal i ate,
but yours too.
i could have just not
eaten
and been fine and
more
financially secure.
it makes me sick, honestly
and mad
that there are some people
who have it all
and haven’t worked a single
8-hr workday or 40-hr
workweek
who know nothing
about living on a dime -
the one you let fall today
at Starbucks
that you didn’t pick up because
after all it’s
just a dime, right?
just pocket change.
i guess i have you
to thank
for the 99 cent
eggs on a bun
sandwich
i was able to buy for breakfast
after collecting
pocket change when
no one was looking, or at least
judging
now i have enough
to feed myself, after
i’ve given everything to
others. it’s nice to
sit down and have a meal
and not worry
about money.
it makes sense that
Satan should have
been a
snake
and the dollar sign
is an S with a line
through it.
June 27, 2012
this wedge
is neither sweet nor
salty
and tastes like pumpernickel,
actually.
i think
Joyce
would be Whole Grain Irish Soda Bread
with currants
if he was a baked good
this wedge
catches your taste buds off
guard and leaves you
wanting more, footnotes
of flavor and a name
that means something
much, much
greater
than the object, or bread,
it is
describing
(i think)
this wedge
was worth the
$3.25
i spent on it
June 27, 2012
Community Food and Drink
“Uptown Rye”
What should we toast to?
you asked me, last night.
(we had been discussing -
philosophy -
and poetry, among
other little things
such as Truth and
truth.
the difference between Truth and truth is time
i thought
but to myself, so as not
to confuse
the already intricate
art of (our) conversation
so what, i said, should
we drink to?
(i left the preposition dangling
.
Here’s to the relative truths that make daily life
worth living and to the
Absolute
Truths which make
a lifetime worth
living; here’s to the philosophers
who’ve been ruined by art, or in
its pursuit - perhaps -
here’s to the poets, the writers, the painters, the chefs, the mothers, the baristas, the singers
the Artist(s)
who have faith
that your life
and mine are lived in
three dimensions, at
least.
here is to you and to me and to us
because we
are.
June 27, 2012
hashtags and coffee rings
what’s new
in the office today?
i just spent ten minutes wondering
why microsoft word
wouldn’t let me type
in lowercase letters -
the caps lock was on -
go figure.
at least that’s what
she
told me. she is the woman
who works in the green
cubicle. Mine is
orange which, according to
confucius means
smart, generous, deserving, hardworking,
responsible, cheerful,
woman.
don’t quote me though.
OH
this is great
guess what?
our C.E.O. just walked
in the door, when i say
hello mr. watson,
i mean
hey there chief ergonomic officer -
that’s right, you go ahead
and look up that word -
(it is the study of people at work,
incidentally, in case you didn’t believe
i graduated with a college
degree)
hey there,
we have approximately
1 hour
and 18 minutes
until the weekend
*asshole*
it’s not like i’ve been
watching the minutes
tick by on the clock
in the right hand corner
of my desktop screen
or anything
dear, dear mr. watson
how little you are
aware of
the world
*asshole*
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