Sunday, February 27, 2005
The Guppy
or
A Safer Kind of Story
One day there was a guppy. This guppy was a young adult and things were finally going his way. He had escaped from his father’s predatory eye and gone on to find great work in a button factory; soon thereafter, love. At the button factory things went superbly, and he was recognized by his superiors as a guppy of great potential. He was quickly promoted to assistant coordinator of internal affairs and was revered by all. Soon after his promotion, his fellow guppies became upset about wages and working conditions, and unionized. The guppy – whose skill and cunning were now widely spoken of – was asked to lead the union, but he declined in favor of a position as head treasurer; he had never been one for politicking. In the end, the union got most of what they wanted and a strike was averted. Thus the guppy went home happily, where he ate his newborn children, as guppies often do.
or
A Safer Kind of Story
One day there was a guppy. This guppy was a young adult and things were finally going his way. He had escaped from his father’s predatory eye and gone on to find great work in a button factory; soon thereafter, love. At the button factory things went superbly, and he was recognized by his superiors as a guppy of great potential. He was quickly promoted to assistant coordinator of internal affairs and was revered by all. Soon after his promotion, his fellow guppies became upset about wages and working conditions, and unionized. The guppy – whose skill and cunning were now widely spoken of – was asked to lead the union, but he declined in favor of a position as head treasurer; he had never been one for politicking. In the end, the union got most of what they wanted and a strike was averted. Thus the guppy went home happily, where he ate his newborn children, as guppies often do.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The Rejection
by Franz Kafka
***
When I meet a pretty girl and beg her: 'Please be so kind and come along with me,' and she goes by without saying a word, what she means is:
<>'Yes, we are both quite right; and to keep us from being irrefutably aware if it we'd better, don't you think, go our separate ways home.'
by Franz Kafka
***
When I meet a pretty girl and beg her: 'Please be so kind and come along with me,' and she goes by without saying a word, what she means is:
'You are no duke with extravagent name; no broad American, built like a Red Indian, with level imperturbable gaze, whose skin has been massaged by the winds of the prairies and the waters of the rivers flowing through them; you have made no journeys to the great lakes and voyaged there, wherever these exactly may be found. So why, I ask you, should a pretty girl like me go along with you?'
'You forget that no lomusine carries you in long thrusts swaying through the street; nor can I see your escort of gentlemen, pressed into their suitings, following behind you in a strict semi-circle and murmuring their blessings on your head; your breasts are indeed neatly ordered in your bodice, but your thighs and your hips make up for that restraint; you're wearing a taffeta dress with pleats, like those which delighted every one of us last autumn, and yet - with this mortal danger upon you - you smile from time to time.'
Monday, February 07, 2005
Today i walked the balcony with open laces.
A stumble stagger trip and woo
I would've flow down 30 feet
to my marble hard final stand.
The porter, waiting below
never liked me
but i get the impression
that moment would have jarred
even him.
But after he recovered from that
life-altering moment
when he realized that mortality
flashes
like a wide-man's pocketbook,
what's standard procedure?
Of course,
the first step would be telling
my brother
my father
my mother
then my friends
my lover
and lastly my acquaintances
After the school cancelled all tests (too much of a distraction)
the more complicated questions would arise:
How do we proceed?
I'd always told my friends
I'd wanted a VIKING
funeral
but in the face of such tragedy
I think few would dare remember.
So, on we would go
to the high school diaries,
poorly written cronicles of
first blowjobs
etc
etc
My brother would get my socks and
after some black clothing
and a teary grounding
I think it would be only appropriate
to check the computer for
my writings, see what I came up with.
Unfortunately
my novel is completely unfinished
most poems unedited
and that which I did complete
could hardly do much more
than put in prominent display
my utter lack of refinement.
"Oh, what a tragedy!
He was so young!
So unfinished
A stumble stagger trip and woo
I would've flow down 30 feet
to my marble hard final stand.
The porter, waiting below
never liked me
but i get the impression
that moment would have jarred
even him.
But after he recovered from that
life-altering moment
when he realized that mortality
flashes
like a wide-man's pocketbook,
what's standard procedure?
Of course,
the first step would be telling
my brother
my father
my mother
then my friends
my lover
and lastly my acquaintances
After the school cancelled all tests (too much of a distraction)
the more complicated questions would arise:
How do we proceed?
I'd always told my friends
I'd wanted a VIKING
funeral
but in the face of such tragedy
I think few would dare remember.
So, on we would go
to the high school diaries,
poorly written cronicles of
first blowjobs
etc
etc
My brother would get my socks and
after some black clothing
and a teary grounding
I think it would be only appropriate
to check the computer for
my writings, see what I came up with.
Unfortunately
my novel is completely unfinished
most poems unedited
and that which I did complete
could hardly do much more
than put in prominent display
my utter lack of refinement.
"Oh, what a tragedy!
He was so young!
So unfinished
