Bands of rhyme will be crossing the UK tomorrow.. streams of poetry will bring rain in the eyes.
Season’s Tweetings to Sinners
Shadow of the whole silence is folding over like an envelope.Post it now
The spice is rife..pepper.
Hop around the roses
It’s best to saunter nowadays.~
When inside out, a cat can still scratch.. with its reversible cat-claws.Try one tonight.Just unzip the cat and it will spring into the heir…to the throne or is it the air all round
Until the end of all rhymes I’ll be loving you
Time feels all wounds…and holes
Maps of the iceberg have melted..
Two hearts that beat as none ever did.
I wait for the lime to be ripe then it will be a lemon.
If you have a man,wash him weekly in a tin bath…don’t blame me if you get drawn in…..mate in the bath …  it saves washing the sheets.

A bleeding wound on my leg ; image created  using Artweaver software

Beware:invisible black holes ahead.
Beware of men with no heads.
Beware:fat,drunken men are cross and crossing.
Sign:Respect fat women.I live here.
Beware:termagents will be persecuted.
Beware:minds crossing
Beware:secret deadly weapon of crass destruction  in this building.
Warning:Frozen police ahead.Warm carefully
Warning: the lights are going out all over Europe.
Notice:Sadiq Khan is not a foreigner.
Notice:Boris was not born in Britain.
Notice:Jesus has 10 Nobel prizes  to give out  when we die.Make sure you get there first.
Beware:God is not dead .And he is looking at you.
Request:Do not aske me what to do.

 

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue104/darkage.html

 

Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead

by Don Webb

I. Why this review, and why here?

Most readers of Bewildering Stories are science fiction fans, who are by nature interested in views of the future. This latest work of Jane Jacobs’ gives us that; at the same time it offers as much to readers who may be more interested in the past and present. In any event, Dark Age Ahead, like Jane Jacobs herself, commands respect and attention.

I’ve read newspaper reviews; they have all been unsatisfactory. You can try the readers’ comments on, say, Amazon.com, if you’re a glutton for punishment. There are hundreds of them, and you’ll have to wade through a mass of ignorance, stupidity and outright falsehoods before finding any useful information.

And yet how can any review do this book justice? Any discussion that ventures beyond the superficial practically begs for a summary. But the book is, like all Jane Jacobs’ works, so concisely and clearly written — even though it summarizes major points in her earlier works — that the easiest and most practical advice is just to say “read it.” I’ll do what I can to give an idea of Jane Jacobs’ general thesis and manner of thinking, but I can only touch on a few of the book’s many vital points and examples.

II. A Prophet Not Without Honor

For more than forty years, Jane Jacobs has analyzed American cities and their economies. Her work has resonated powerfully in both academic circles and among the general public. The Nobel prize for literature has been awarded for lesser achievements. But what would be her category? Urban studies? Sociology? Even if there were prizes in those categories, they would somehow fall short of the mark. Economics? That would be an embarrassing admission that all economic doctrines have been shortsighted in theory and practice. Since we don’t have a formal classification, I’ll invent one: Jane Jacobs is a social philosopher.

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1916, Jane Jacobs has — for all practical purposes — lived through the entire “short 20th century” (1914-1989), as historians will call it. Jane Jacobs has drawn upon her experience and knowledge of it to show how societies and economies, like nature itself, function integrally.

Jane Jacobs has no academic degrees, and yet three books of hers alone would have crowned the careers of as many professors: The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), The Economy of Cities (1969), Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984), none of which has gone out of print. In recent years she has described her philosophy in Systems of Survival (1993) and The Nature of Economies (2000). A lesser-known work, The Question of Separation (1980), would seem to be of interest mainly to Canadians, but its content is of a piece with all the rest.

III. What is a “dark age”?

A dark age is a culture’s dead end. It occurs not when a people loses something vital, but when a people no longer remembers that it has been lost. Sometimes a dark age comes from without, as when invasion and conquest all but obliterated the cultures of the Western Hemisphere. Sometimes it occurs from within, as with the Roman empire’s spectacular, centuries-long disintegration.

What causes a dark age?

Jared Diamond, in Guns, Germs and Steel, basically asks what makes cultures successful. He concludes that the basic factors are size and density of population, technology, and specialized institutions. While giving Diamond ample credit, Jane Jacobs turns his question around: Why do even successful cultures fail? She sums it up at the beginning: “Losers are confronted with such radical jolts in circumstances that their institutions cannot adapt adequately, become irrelevant, and are dropped” (p. 20).

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

A “radical jolt” may not be perceived as one when it happens. A striking example of that is borrowed from Jared Diamond. In the early 15th century, China was foremost in the world in oceangoing trade and exploration. In 1433, the outcome of a political power struggle — the causes of which now seem utterly trivial and only historians know of — caused China’s great fleets to be recalled and its shipyards dismantled. The country turned inward, away from the world. The retreat led to a cascading economic, intellectual and technological stagnation from which China began top recover in the late 20th century. China’s many achievements thus became a historical footnote, and the world was left open to the Europeans.

Randomly selected classic rejection notice: Agnes: The movie dragged me through a muddy pit of bad dialogue. The action scenes were long and boring. I fell asleep twenty minutes in and didn’t wake up until the guy who sweeps up bashed my knee with a broom.
Trout: And you gave it five stars?
Agnes: It was the most relaxed I’d been in months. — Tony Cochran, Agnes, Oct. 6, 2011

A definition proposed by the eminent scholars Martin Marty and R. Scott Appleby

: “[Fundamentalisms] are embattled forms of spirituality, which have emerged as a response to a perceived crisis. They are engaged in a conflict with enemies whose secularist policies and beliefs seem inimical to religion itself”

The TV screen is a window into another world.Unlike the window in the front room here,it does not show real people going about their affairs.No.it shows a world which has been carefully constructed.Some programs are beautiful.Some nowadays are live shows where people meet various challenges.Sometimes these can be very damaging,as can live interviews.It;s strange to see one’s PM wearing makeup.And that’s the least of it!

You can watch violence,murder or pornography if you wish or hear orchestras playing your favorite music.Extend your choice with DVD’s.Spend all your life glued to the screen….which glue is best?I’ll let you know soon.

Then there are the political aspects..I did not watch much of the grand funeral of our ex PM Maggie Thatcher but I saw enough to show it’s been used by the current government to raise their own esteem in the public eye.A politician should never have a funeral with military honors with the coffin on a gun carriage pulled by horses and the same week poor families had their welfare cut back.Ten million pounds on this event which also was very provocative to the worst off members of society.

St Francis SOS

They can construct this kind of event and by means of it manipulate our feelings.State and ceremonial funerals are for the Royal Family who are above party politics or for someone like Churchill who led us through the fight against Nazi Germany.

Windows…. like dreams…. think about whether someone is presenting you with a view for their own ulterior motives and not to enlarge your view of the world… ask yourself who you are alowing into your inner sanctum

Humour

.April 2013 – Margaret Thatcher dies.

May 2013 – Hell privatised.

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The universal soldier sung by Donovan

OCTOBER 26, 2014 / 1 COMMENT / EDIT

http://youtu.be/A50lVLtSQik

I remembered this and it seems we have not changed.. we are getting worse

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Human self deception

I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means – except by getting off his back.

Leo Tolstoy  [not checked]

Read more athttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/leotolstoy153953.html#p5FqFhPMic2aBUvI.99

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Cook now,whine later.
Look now-divine pater.
Cook cow,combine later
Cook bow bow,dine Asiator
Cook,how ? Swine  vacator.
Freeze now,fine potato.
Ease now.dine tomato.
Freeze now,cubes with water
Breeze now,fine later
Cook now.knees up later.
Book vows to be read later.

 

 

Is there a nutmeg in the house,the caterpillar cried.

I’ve been upstairs and locked the door,what else might I try?

 

According to E.L. Doctorow in a 2009 interview: “The first lines of a book are very crucial. They give you the voice. They imply the kind of texture the text will have. And, in effect, they are the acorn from which the oak grows. They Predict. You can find the entire book in that first line.”

 

What  to wear in bed’s  a mystery.
The cat has died and will not keep me warm
Where  is my love who wrote my history?
Where the comforts which like  bees did swarm?

When  with a lover, skin is quite enough
But  now alone I feel the need for gowns
My little  skin is tender and less tough
And on my face I wear  ambiguous frowns

Still this  small problem should not worry me
As on my bed I  dream indignantly
For who will be and who is not to be?
I answer God with polite yet piercing plea

Still clothing  helps to comfort   my  dark pain
But no-one knows, as all they see is vain

No,despair,I shall not let you win
I’l fight you with my being and disdain
No,despair, you are a deadly sin
I’ll write you out  on paper with my pen

Oh,despair, be not my constant friend.
I look for others  brighter and more gay
To you no card or present will I send
You must not  seek my company today.

Oh,despair,I cannot  hide from you
I fly into your blackness  like a bird
Yet now it is a golden light I see,
Consoling and so warm  it clothes my words

Despair,my friend I’ll fear no more your deeps.
You open up a door while I still weep

Happiness is compulsory at this time
Xmas parties,alcohol and drugs
Inebriated,I can never rhyme
I sit and watch the mating of the slugs

But surely nothing mates in winter  cold
For slugs don’t have a coat like humans do
Perhaps ,despite appearance, they are bold
Need no injections to prevent the deadly flu.

On balance would you rather be a slug
That lives a  life of freedom in the grass
Or do you live  because you write and blog
And  in the evening play a double bass.?

A slug can’t   sing a song nor speak  kind words
This comparison is  foolish and absurd

 

 

FormForAll – Poetic Devices: Image, Symbol, Metaphor, Allegory

 

“The tenor is the idea being expressed or the subject of the comparison; the vehicle is the image by which the idea is conveyed or the subject communicated. When Shakespeare writes in Sonnet LXXIII –

              That time of year thou mayst in me behold
              When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
              Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
              Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

the tenor is old age, the vehicle is the season of late fall or early winter, understood through a group of images unusually complex in their implications.”

 

http://www.dwildepress.net/critica/mystic5.html

 

“Life is not simple. Dante depicts himself realizing, in the year 1300 at the age of 35, that his life has become so complicated he is lost. The Divine Comedy begins with these famous words:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
Che la diritta via era smarrita.

In H.R. Huse’s translation:

In the middle of the journey of our life
I came to my senses in a dark forest
For I had lost the straight path.

The metaphors in this sentence are easy for us here on the confusing Earth to grasp. Life is like a journey, path or way that we travel, and it can become so uncertain that at times we may actually feel lost – the “dark forest” clearly represents that feeling of lostness, the sense that you don’t know where you are, and you’re not sure how to get back to familiar or appropriate places. In Dante’s image, the path itself is uncertain. Who am I, where am I, and what am I doing?”

The shops now closed, we see  bright Xmas lights
Joy to children and adults alike
For many are the savage ,evil sights
We’ve seen upon our screens in these dark nights

Yet  France and Britain warred a hundred years
Our soldiers ravished  women left alone.
A hundred years of terror laid out bare
Joan’s sister raped and klled  despite her groans

Even Joan was not safe from  such men
She did no wrong ,defending  bitter France
But churchmen got her tried by word and pen.
And burned  through her Christ’s body in their trance.

God needs not more  human sacrifice
Humans kill ;it is our “virtuous ” vice.

My husband sleeps in the bath
Why?
Someone said he was a drip.

My husband sleeps on the floor
Why?
He doesn’t like wakening up by  my boyfriend.

my husband wears a cap in bed
Do you mean a sheath?
Don’t be ridiculous.His head is much too wide.

My husband never goes to bed.
How do you feel
I can’t.

My wife likes tea in bed
And do you?
No,it’s too wet.

My wife is  very cold
Do you mean frigid?
No, she likes to cuddle me
So why complain?
Her under-active thyroid means she always 3 degrees under.
Wow, she must be clever.
She passed  for normal at school.
I say!
Did you know her?
Not biblically
I meant  sectually
What sect was she in?
Jehova’s Wits.
That is  too  boastful
She used ro be very modest when  she was a God botherer
What went wrong
She bothered him too much

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/22/comedy

A Catholic and a Methodist were walking though the town looking for a coffee shop/
We can get   cheap coffee in the church hall,the Methodist said.
I don’t like cheap coffee, the Catholic said.
How about salvation?,his friend asked
Free?
Yea,bring your partner and a friend, it’s three for two  in Advent.
But we’ve already been saved by faith and good works.
Forget the good works.We are saved by Faith alone.It’s now Daylight Saving Time too.
I wish you had told me that  last week, the Carholic remarked.I just agreed my mother in law could move in with us
From where
Holloway.
What’s the address.
It’s the prison
Why is she there?
She  stole some  horse whips
I thought you said,whores ‘ whips.
It was a Freudian slip.
She stole that as well?
Yes and got 5 years in jail
What a heavy sentence.
Well, she  wore the slip with no dress  as well after killing the hoese
Have you  any animals in your home?
We have six cats.
Buy them some flak jackets.
She could strangle them.
Is that a crime?
We’ll soon find out!
Can’t you hide them?
In a 2 bedroom flat?
Is there a loft?
Yes,but there are two horses  up there.
Why keep horses in a flat?
It seemed a good idea at the time.
What   time was that?
Window box planting time.
You must be mad.
Yes , it is seassonally effective disorder
Does it work for you?
No,but it pulls the horses.
What an ass.
Where?
That man  over there?
I didn’t know you were gay.
I;m not but my therapist reckons I will be soon.
That’s very queer.
What is?
The fact  that we never had the coffee.
We’ll have to change to Colombian Bean Time.
And so they prayed for us

 

 

http://www.openculture.com/2016/12/how-to-understand-a-picasso-a-video-primer.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

 

http://www.funeralplan.com/griefsupport/spouse.html

The way I experienced you
If that is the aptest word,if not it will do.
It felt as if you pushed me violently
through the window
Then blamed me for the broken glass.
Which cut your toe,alas
Those open sandals are dangerous BTW
Today and yesterday
You didn’t look out at me bleeding on the ground
Nor looked round
Well.why would you?
Who?
The action is inconsistent with looking at the harm you caused
When you should have paused
Because you had done nothing at all
You were off the wall
In your own mind
Blind
And it was cruel of me to mention it
Draw attention to it
That was why I have this scar on my face…
No more embraced
Why are women fooled by holy men?
Again and again.
Well,it’s still the best disguise
To surprise
The unwily, the naive, the dumb.
And the numb.
Even God might be evil in some way
Some days.
Though he’s not a man.
Nor a courtesan
Just a fierce light in the mind
Burning yet kind
Designed
To be free.

Click to access SZTAJER.pdf

Excerpt:

For example, in the metaphor “Time is money” we deal with abstract notion of the time concept using more specific concept from the field of finance and the practice of everyday life. As a rule, target domains are more abstract in comparison to source domains. Thanks to that, abstract conceptual domains are anchored in empirical experience, becoming more comprehensible and understandable. In other words, a metaphor can have a cognitive function as well: “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”.
However, the process of creating metaphors is not limited to understanding or explaining some fields of experience. Metaphor can transform experience, totally changing the nature of its character. It is a tool used for creating some aspects of the reality, especially those which are dependant on language and thoughts, as it takes place in the social and cultural world.
The ubiquity of metaphors is due to the fact that they are unavoidable. Some very abstract domains may be described only metaphorically.

The fundamental role of metaphor in religious discourse is visible when we realize that religious language function is not only description of reality that is the subject of religion. Religious language has a range of psychological and social functions.
Using religious language is an important medium of religious commitment. Furthermore, religious man acts with a language. The linguistic action is not limited to communication only but comprises “creating” certain things – social phenomena – and regulating human behavior, maintaining a reality of religious world view, construction of some definitions of situations, induction of emotional states, the sense of community, etc.
We have to admit that religious language basically does not function separately from the context of religious life, especially the ritual, but it is a form of religious action itself. It can be seen clearly in the case of symbol, metaphor, and myth that are interrelated with a system of ritual actions, and only in this context can be fully understandable.
Not all metaphors occurring in religious discourse can be described using the wellknown term of “live metaphors”. This is because metaphors are subjected to conventionalization, which often happens through reduction of ambiguity to one of meanings. As a result of this process, a metaphorical character of religious expressions is partially erased, and this can be changed only with renewal of religious language, which introduces new metaphors or enables us to understand the old ones in a different way. Without the renewal, religious language may become a relict that ceases to mean anything at all. Metaphors are not understood beyond a social and cultural context – in fact it is quite the opposite – their meaning is shaped in relation to cultural models; thus it is limited to some community sharing similar experience.13
The Christian metaphor “God is our Father” would not be comprehensible in a matriarchal society.