I have no signs of humour or strife
I can’t do septic crosswords.
I can’t understand cars’ tunes.
I never meet anybodies lies when walking.
I can’t empathise with brothers.
I once laughed at a croak.
They say I’m odd tempered mostly.
My best end is a psycopath.
Psychopaths should have their own state,Psychoriel.
I am afraid of regression to the mean and stingy.
I hate frigidity in the kitchen
I like to weep all hours of the day
I have boundary value challenges.
I found an hymn tost her last night
Do you have a sealed self?
Where is the depredation?
What does it all scheme?
Author: Katherine
Unrow the boat
It’s as flawed as it’s wrong.
That lady’s not stopped burning.
Bloody queen in the dairy!
I may be a woman but I am the tart of a man.
King Alfred burned his mistakes.
William The Bonker,erh!
Ethel fed the unsteady readily.
Daniel ate the spiles in the paws of a lion.
Ariel is the lion of whodunnits.
Judas was the nigger in the wood pile.in a very real non -pc sense
St Joan was killed by the jingles.
Queen Victoria gave worth to many hairs.
King George enjoyed spouts of madness
King Edward like a whore to study Greek and Hebrew and recite the ten Amens before rowing the bed out of the Windows 8.1 configurated laptop
Jesus likes my behaviour.
St Paul wrote with a pistol
St John was a man of one Word.
James and John love the Magic round about
Then choose one
She used to shop in Harrod’s,right from the shelf
She stole China tea as it’s good for the health
Mother had a most peculiar sense of self.
She liked to study the stars and moon
So many dark nights were spent in gloom
Yet for her husband it was a boon
As her presence spread a feeling of deepest doom.
She ran away one day with cunning stealth
Society blamed her unsense of self
She’d met a young man whom she called Ralph.
Who gave her many children of whom I’m the twelfth.
So, remember, the moral of my tale is none.
Love the neighbours,then choose one.
He’ll give you some daughters and a son
Now my verse is almost …….. gone.
What is desirelessness?
I used to wonder why desire was regarded as a bad thing in Buddhism.After all to be without any desire might be a symptom of deep depression..
But later I came to realise that if we are too focussed on our desire for one person or one object or one feeling that this sharp focus would prevent one from perceiving many other things.So perhaps it’s a change of focus that is intended.I can imagine that if you desire one person who may not be interested then you miss seeing all the other people near you.
Sometimes we have to use a narrow focus to do a task.In mathematics you’d expect a narrow focus but the reason why stopping and going for a walk works is that it widens your focus; that’s my point of view.
The missing manual:A short story
Mary sat by the window ,which she had meant to clean, reading Windows 8.1.The Missing Manual.The one great advantage of this new Windows system was that it seemed one no longer needed to instal anti-virus programmes.So much time is taken up by looking after older versions that Mary was not surprised that Chromebooks were now very popular.Yet even so,she enjoyed learning new skills and it’s not as if they are like the theory of quantum physics or even nonlinear algebra or baking cakes.
Stan had taken Emile ,their naughty cat for a spin on his old sports bike which he still used when wild ,crazy feelings came over him and as they were only a mile from the edge of the mysterious town of Knittingham they were soon cycling through a deep green, quiet forest where Kings once hunted deer and no doubt chased women… or was it chaste women?
Mary had decided to stay at home as she was expecting a new vacuum cleaner to arrive.She kept one eye on her book and the other on her neighbour Rick who was very handsome despite being 113 years old.He was hanging his washing on his large front hedge which was unusual in winter.Most of the people in the road had tumble dryers or heated rails.Some even hung their washing outside on lines to let the blustery winter air dry it and kill the germs which might survive in a low temperature machine wash
Maybe I should do some washing ,Mary thought.How about I do my annual sheet changing.I made a big mistake deciding it was to be in the winter,but,alas it is hard to change a routine.Am I a cyborg,she thought nervously,licking her lips till they were damp and red.
Maybe I should clean the kitchen floor too,she thought as she drew an elongated ellipse with some mud that had fallen of Stan’s shoes as he passed by.She looked down pensively at the pattern the mud had made on the lino.I wonder if I can predict our fortune by studying this pattern deeply,she wondered.Some people do it from the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup,so why not from mud.There seemed no logical reason why mud splatters should be worse than tea leaves.It is simply a pattern through which the Unconscious can send a message to us.
Why it could not speak in ordinary language nobody knew and nobody ever will.Not all questions have answers.How strangely dull life would be if that were so.Don’t you agree?I don’t.
.Mary had just seen a short story relating a dream a woman had that she had fallen in love with a strong healthy hippopotamus and taken it home.Unfortunately when they went to bed the weight of the animal had made the solid oak bed collapse onto the purple and orange carpet.Unable to give up her love,she had spent the rest of her life trying to build a new bed out of sawdust.It seemed not unlike the labours of Hercules in a new form
Mary was sceptical.I can’t believe a woman could love a hippopotamus,even in a dream,she murmured.But even if it was not a dream but a conscious invention,what did that say about the person writing it?That she always fell in love with men who were too heavy for her and who pulled her down onto the carpet to make love whenever they felt the urge regardless of whether she was as flat as a pancake or even dead
A lion,yes, Mary mused,but never a hippopotamus.I mean,they have no expressions on their faces and could they drink tea in bed and chat?Unlikely.Still, other people’s dreams are a mystery.Even our own are but we can sometimes take the hint.
Suddenly she heard the doorbell ring.Who could it be now?
Alas it was only a Mormon trying to convert her which was no good as Catholics can’t be Mormons as well.They are what one might call mutually exclusive groups.As I have no wish to teach algebra I shall stop here.However if that disappoints you,why not read
“A survey of modern algebra ” by Birkhoff and MacLane.I did and see what has happened to me!
Birthday Bash Part Two: Thomas Becket, Eastbridge Hospital, and Pilgrimage
An interesting post with superb photos of Canterbury.. take a look
Canterbury Cathedral (c) Jane Risdon 2015
Part Two of my belated birthday bash as promised.
As you may or may not be aware, in addition to my love of writing, reading, archaeology, astronomy, and the sciences, I have a passion for history which I share with my siblings, and one in particular, my youngest brother.
My youngest brother and his partner spoiled me rotten during a fantastic weekend spent with them celebrating my belated birthday.
Part One of my birthday bash found me having a look around Canterbury Cathedral with a special treat;
seeing the tomb of a family ancestor, William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (1503-1532).
I wrote about our visit to Canterbury Cathedral last time, and I posted photos I took.
William Warham Archbishop of Canterbury 1503-1532 (c) Jane Risdon 2015
We had a fab time wandering around Canterbury, especially the pubs which my brother made a point of taking me in to.
Those buildings with history and…
View original post 689 more words
Hyperbole of the day
Her brain is the size of a pea.
Her legs are like the trunks of oak trees.
Her eyes are like the oceans
Her tears make skin lotions;
I mix them with the stings from a bee.
Her smile is like daybreak at night.
She has phenomenalogical sight.
She’s an author de haute
I love toute ses mots
Existentially, this is all very trite
His head is as big as the sun
He has four eyes and they can all run.
His feet are like lead
And so is his bed.
Yet he’s quite as chaste as an old hot cross bun.
My cat is as big as lion
I call her Ms Ariel from Zion.
She bites foxes and sheep
And made a dog weep.
I am unsure if she ought to stop tryin’
Learning:
Phenomenology (from Greek phainómenon “that which appears” and lógos “study”) is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness.
Phenomenology (philosophy) – Wikipedia, the free …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)
An iota
I felt quite depressed after birth
As I didn’t like the look of the earth
But mother was kind
And kept me in mind
Without showing an iota of mirth.
I liked to sit outside in my pram
Whilst eating her strawberry jam.
Our cat sat by me
Till she swallowed a bee.
Then she shrieked,I don’t think yet I am.
Interesting thoughts on the problem of using metaphors
St George
St George was born in Syria and his mother was a Palestinian Christian according to Wikipedia.I think he must hve joined the Roman army and come to England but why do we have an incurser as our patron saint?
Motto
“When things are urgent, go slower.”
The ranks of food wasters
I must confess that I have now entered the ranks of those people mocked in some newspapers for thowing away food.
His Majesty has become very hard to feed lately and has been demanding trifle and cake… despite me giving him a lecture on protein and other such interesting topics.So since he never actually ate the trifls [just a pack of 4 little ones] 1 see it is well beyond its date so it is now going to feed the worms.And His Majesty also is looking for the cat which will be hard to find as it is dead. …..[2002]
Perhaps I can get hold of a new one… or maybe a stuffed one.
We used to visit a museum as children where there was a stuffed wild cat with a bird in its mouth,from Scotland.
I doubt if he’d like that lying on his leg tonight!Or with its head by his.Why it might kill him to see…imagine a snarling cat’s face lying by you.Why he might think it was me:
Have you had your hair done,dear? an interesting striped effect but do take your dentures out,they are positively grotesque.I don’t think we should kiss,let’s just get down to brass tacks.Do take off the fur dressing gown.you are hot enough already.I can’t wait for your hugsi
OMG I must be in the wrong house.If I am going to commit adultery I don’t want to do it with a dead wild cat.Still it won’t keep asking me if I love it…now,there’s a thought
Venite verbum
Im ‘nuntiavit vulva est valde rudis verbum
Tamen nos omnes onto unum emergere.
Vagina est commune et inmundum.
Vulva crassius est.
Sic vestri ‘egone, nisi turbetur.
Credo dick iuge est quod verbum
Ut opponitur iusto verbum.
Verba fecimus in Graeco
At ego non possum loqui
In casu aliquo organo gets excitentur.
Dum habeat, uti
Si quis hunc tuum fuse
.Venit enim atrophia
Et putat tua posuisti.
Et si diu vivere non possint amittere,
Legam aliquam mollis ante porn vado
Ubi ostendam hospitali
Ego sum non omnino siccum
Habeo decem in lacrimis oculi mei:
.Si ergo sum, humani sanguinis, salve!
A window of opportunity
I have seen a great many things through windows that appeal to me but usually I can’t get in…..especially if they are on the upper floor.Sometimes sitting on the top deck of a bus I’ve seen handsome men getting undressed but as I don’t generally carry a ladder around it’s not proved of any use to me except for writing short stories.Do you feel I am obsessed with windows?If you are a mature man email me to give me your view [!] on this subject.My email addresses are:
maryalright@yoohoo.com
mary.me@soho.organbach,net.co.uk
mayoui@suckatoe.conduit.
marystone@gorgons.co.uk
They have felled
Who had double joints in his thumbs.
They looked rather weird.
As did his beard.
Especially when filled with old crumbs.
Lumb wrote his lyrical poems
which left the young ladies all glowing.
He married a Rose
And as everyone knows
Her love is not deep ,it’s overflowing.

She has so many lovers as well
I am unsure whether I ought to tell.
I am not one for spying
On women who are lying
In the arms of the men they have felled
My ethnic group… pc
They ask me to tick a box
To specify my ethnic group,
Some call me English,but my feet are Celtic
Some call me British,but my eyes are Nordic
I am a white mixed race woman,with Saxon hair
And Irish bones and eyes like those of Danes
The people,not the Dogs,ha ha!
Perhaps I’ll say they’re Scandinavian!
But that’s not good for rhyming,so
I shall have to find a category
That suits a poet,maybe Swedish
Or Tasmanian
As that rhymes with Scandinavian
And poetry matters more
Than collecting flora
To give to Statisticians
Or fauna for the visions
Of multiple mathematicians.
I don’t belong in any box
With my Celtic feet and my golden locks,
And eyes like Finns
[So useful in the winter
For a discontented hinter]
So,no more hints
I tell you to
Please refrain
From asking me again
I’m a lady from the human race
With just a hint of a tiger’s face,
Eyes of angel;snake a trace,
Just enough to make me hiss
When people ask me this
Again. I am a mixed race human being and
I shall fly away now.I do have my own transport
.I can fly.
I’m an angel…sorry an angle.
so this is it.
I’m a descendant of the invaders
and the locals,maybe the Romans too
Photo1180
Note[1]
When St Augustine of Canterbury
was sent by the Pope to convert
the English ,or Anglo-Saxons
as they were then ,to Christianity he was,so struck
by their golden hair, blue eyes
and fair complexions,he said
“They are not Angles but Angels”
Note[2]I am descended like most white British people ,not only from illegal immigrants,
invaders and marauders ie the Anglo-Saxons .the Vikings etc.That’s what makes me English or British.I may have Jewish blood too as prior to King John’s murderous regime there was a big Jewish community in York.I have a great niece who is 25% Jewish.We’re all mixed up here
We may look like angels but…….we don’t behave like angels.comquering other countries and building an empire.
Going mazy
1 Waken the dead
2 Drink my own sea.
3 Get thrashed.
4 Get messed.
5 Make more wee.
6 Flake some hot muttered oaths
7 Find the orange mars brigade.
8 Roam mein herr.
8 Get my boat on
9 Get my snag and my bus harass.
10 Open the floor and fall out.
11 Stalk to the bus drop
12 Put out my band
13 Fret on the bus
14 Flow into the coffee hop
15 Order a mop of fluffy.
16 Shrink the toffee.
17 Buy a nook in Data phones.
18 Buy some dude.
19 Grow to the bus hop.
20 Get onto the mess
21 Shower my brass
23 Sit doom
24 Fling the bell
25 Get orff.
26 Find my flea.
27 Center the mouse
28 Pant and rant
29 Sitz frown
30 Get anne’s diner.
31 Have a pest
32 Sing 999
33 Open the boa
34 Sit and balk
35 Snow through bed
36 Still not fled.
37 Fall and weep.
38 Sod ’em tomorrow.
39 Say my dares.
40 Dream of feeling.
41 Shaken up again.
42 Shrink the tea.
43 Strike my medication
44 Open the roast and flay the bills.
45 Call the proctor and bask him for anti-neurotics.
46 Be committed
Facts which are hard to believe
http://www.tickld.com/x/30-facts-that-sound-like-bs
When I was at the grammar school we did cookery lessons in te first two years.One day we were being taught how to boil potatoes.I had been cooking dinners and making cakes from age nine.We were the top stream of girls so obvioulsy quite intelligent.
When she had peeled the potatoes the teacher said
I am going to cut them up into equal sized chunks.Why?
None of us answered… so she said,So they will all be ready at once.Why did none of us answer?
I think that having been taught that at Mass the bread and wine were turned into Jesus’s body we assumed that potatoes had some mysterious religious significance.I was somewhat disappointed by the explanation.
My gloves and coffee cup
My religion
We had to learn in school what our religion was about so I’ll try to put down the main ideas.
It’s good to take thorns out of lions’ paws.
Men should never cut their hair.
Sausages are rude because they look like penises.That’s why some folk can’t eat pork,I think.
When we receive Communion and bite the bread,Jesus can feel it.
Candles can help the sole in purgatory as they can see better.
If you have no sins to confess,you should be ashamed of yourself as you are too proud,
Jesus was God’s son but God’s name was not on his birth certificate so Mary was on child benefit and housing benefit too.And it was not wrong because God told us to help each other and the poor.And it was a test.Which we have failed.
God can sew because Jesus liked needles with small eyes.
God didn’t want Jesus to die but human beings are cruel and tend to attack the good… like God’s own chosen people who were given the ten commandments to pass on.There were more than ten but they lost a few in the desert when their tablets’ batteries went flat.
God likes to hear us sing but not rock music as it makes his head ache.
God has his own Spirit to fortify him but he doesn’t smoke every day.He’s like a dragon,you see.
After we die we can be improved by being roasted in a hot fire and eaten by cannibals.It’s called the Inferno and Dante wrote the script before God made the film which seems hard to find but we kept looking.
When we are in heaven we will never have sex again.Or in some cases leave out the “again” but we won’t know as our minds will be blank
The Unconscious…….quote from Jung

” The unconscious is not a demoniacal monster, but a natural entity which, as far as moral sense, aesthetic taste, and intellectual judgment go, is completely neutral. it only becomes dangerous when our conscious attitude to it is hopelessly wrong. To the degree that we repress it, its danger increases. But the moment the patient begins to assimilate contents that were previously unconscious, its danger diminishes. The dissociation of the personality, the anxious division of the day-time and night-time sides of the psyche, cease with progressive assimilation.” (CW16, § 329)
I relieved myself
When I was at school we learned spammer and witticisms in the English lesson.And I loved it to spits.Especially those phrases like: je ne sais pas.
In history we spent a year on canals,roads and railways and we never saw the teacher again which was lucky as she was about to begin the study of Revolutions and I have always had whizzy hells and dirt to go.
In geography we learned how to colour in maps of the world and how to go up the pole or poles
In gym lessons some of us found sliding down the ropes rather intriguing.That was before they introduced us to text in special blessings.
We also learned English Country Prancing and how to make cart wheels.
I disliked doing those erratic equations in Maths for an hour a day but it passed the rhyme faster.
I loved languages especially Rattin’ and Squeak which apparently were used by human beings when we were civilised and before proper English was spoke here.Imagine the peasants labouring over Virgins and Hyppocratese and so forth.Did they learn economically?
We did learn some science like how to play with mercury balls and others’ balls such as crickets and bats and so on.We also did Monotony which I liked as I could fall into a light slumber.
I once set my hair on fire in the lab and then I was extinguished by my friend Ally.
After I left school I relieved myself at the university where the staff were very virtuous to ladies.
From a tree
The mind makes healing medicine of a leaf
I lie back in the weather-proofed chair
To gaze up at the flowering maple tree.
Now, touched by sun,lungs full of scented air
I embrace with joy the beauty I now see.
Old celandine show brightly by my feet;
Neglected currant bushes straggle side the path
There is no birdsong ,yet a silence sweet
Soothes my heart and quietens my wrath.
My heart’s sore and anguished is this mind
Yet in our little wood I feel deep calm.
My eyes are shadowed and my face is lined.
May this green spring bring me a gentle balm.
For even in depression and deep grief,
The mind makes healing medicine of a leaf.
The force that makes the green shoots grow is also inside us.
Do you ever feel you have fallen apart?Do you feel like a broken china cup?Well,most of us do now and then… but how can you feel whole again?
Strangely,the best answer seems to be that you don’t need to do anything except perhaps to take it easy.
Because,call it what you like the force that makes the green shoots grow is also inside us.
And it is this which will mend us.
In our societ being hyperactive ,using will power, is overvalued.We heal by submitting to nature and by doing nothing
achieving our goals is highly valued.And being “passive” is not.But we need both these capacities…
You can’t mend yourself by will power but by submitting to the unkown force which grew you from a single cell and which is still there.
Life’s a mystery.Quietness helps us to partake in it
You are yourself so be yourself,please.
Five tweets since my last Confession
Pray Father,give me a Dressing.It is five Tweets since my last Depression
So what have you done now?
Well,as I’ve done nothing wrong today ,I am suffering from Pride.
You seem to think about yourself too much
How much is too much,Dad?
Well,when we are happy and doing something we enjoy,we forget ourselves entirely. and that is the best way to be.
But first we need some security.
How can I get that?
You need a spam guard for your mind!At the moment you are on automatic which is the default setting of your brain to act like a reptile…
Thanks very much,Father,I never knew I was a reptile.Did they have scruples..
It was kill or be killed.Don’t you see the scruples are an attack on yourself?The reptile is attacking you… as you have frightening thoughts it’s annoyed.
So how do I rebutt these bad thoughts
Say,Alright if I’m the most wicked man in the city,smite me and do your worst.I am not afraid any more..I have done my best and if it’s not good enough strike me dead now or forever give me peace,
And what will happen after that?
Well,we shall see.But you have to face this thing head on.Bring it to a head.Lance the boil.
So if God does smite me dead?
Well, do you really think you are so wicked because you stole a half penny from the charity box fifty years ago?
I see it’s a sort of pride… a theatrical display of guilt.
Yes, quite right.Anyway, if you survive your ordeal let me know and I’ll give it a try.
Why,don’t say you have scruples too?
Yes,I have scruples about giving advice to people.If they follow it and it’s no good… it worries me….
Why don’t we do or die together,Father?
I’ll give you a buzz.
Meanwhile am I absolved?
Yes, dear boy.Sometimes I wish I could be dissolved..
Why is that?
I’d like to lose myself.
Why not try reading a good book…I recommend Nicholas Freeling.
But I feel guilty reading.
Now look here,Father,God helps those who help themselves….give yourself a break…
A good novel, a cup of tea and a little pussy cat on your knee,you’ll be transformed.
Thank you,my child.
Don’t mention it,Father.
Don’t mention what?
They never say.
It’s just a phrase or is it a phase?
It’s all Greek to me.
I know some very sweet Greeks or are they geeks?
Just one letter can make such a difference..
My husband is naughty, a very naughty man
My husband is naughty a very naughty man
He throws down the newspaper on top of his beer can
He buys himself a sandwich in a cardboard box
And puts it in the laundry with his woollen socks.
He takes off his pyjamas and chucks them on the floor
He uses hankies frequently, so I have to buy some more.
He wants to have thick sauces on top of all his food.
And when he has a hypo his speech is very rude.
I gave him such a shock when I learned to curse and swear
But we really need to,as “eff off “is everywhere.
Why, even in the Bible there are some wicked words
I’ve not read it all yet, except Psalm 23rd.
I mean to finish reading it and then when I must die,
I’ll come onto a cloud and shout,Oh pi is in the sky.
For transcendental numbers give a hint divine.
Although you can get it better with a glass of dry, white wine.
My husband drinks draught guinness and then he fall asleep
He hollers and curses when the oven timer bleeps.
He eats a piece of kipper and cried out,Oh,dear God!
Nobody caught this b*gger with a fishing rod
He wants to move to Whitby and walk upon the sands
Sit in the audience and hear the big brass bands.
He wants to see the sun rise and to see it set…
So please send God some gelatine in case the air’s too wet!
Stan meets Satan part1
This is like a monsoon,he murmured to Emile who was also wringing wet.-=or ringing wet,as we Northeners say]
A head appeared over the fence…..with a body close behind
I’m awfully sorry,old boy.A pipe has burst in Annie’s loft.I was just coming in as I am giving a talk to her women’s group later.
I don’t believe.You are Stan Brown.It must be 50 years since I saw you sitting your Finals in the old School.
Stan was hiding his surprise at seeing Rudolf Hairnet,his former logic tutor at an ancient foundation of learning, in the garden of Annie,Stan’s beloved once more [now he has swept out his sacred space and put a bolt on the door.]
Why not pop in,Rudolf,he said.I’ll leave the door open and go upstairs to change my clothes.Be with you in a moment.
Stan went upstairs and removed his clothes.His body was now as thin as when he reached his full height of 6 ft 6 inches but alas it had less muscle and more fat..He gazed into his wife’s mirror.
To his surprise he saw Satan looking out.Although he knew this was possible for Catholics he had never met Satan before.
How do you get behind the mirror,he asked gently.
God only knows,said Satan morosely.
Why not ask him?
I’m too proud,the poor devil replied in a bleak voice.
Well,we all have our pride,Stan told him,though no doubt yours is the biggest in the universe.
Yes,indeed,Satan answered.
Are you here for any purpose,Stan enquired.
Yes,your home seems more intriguing than most and I like to watch you in bed with that flame haired woman.
I see,said Stan,You are a voyeur.
That’s one way of describing me,Satan said,no woman will come to bed with me so I am trapped here behind every mirror in the world.I can see it all but never take part.
You must be very lonely,said Stan
Yes,the dark spirit muttered boastfully yet sadly.
Are there no she-devils about who might oblige you?
I don’t seem to fancy them so much.They are all as bad as me or worse.I want kindness and tenderness not just lust.After all,one might satisfy that with a vibrator… we have them in hell you know!And they are free at the point of contact.
Why,you are beginning to sound almost human,Stan told him.That’s what we want too.If only you would apologise to God I am sure he would forgive you and let you come into the real world of others instead of being trapped in there behind the mercury and glass
Stan heard a noise.He turned round displaying his bony frame and his organs to Rudolf his erstwhile tutor and sometime friend of youth and glory
Are you ok? the old man asked in a tremulous voice.
I was worried that the drenching had knocked you off balance.I have out your kettle on the fire to make you a hot drink and phoned 999 for aid.
But we don’t have a fire,Stan responded.
Well,you do now said Rudolf,so let’s enjoy the flames while we can.Old flames are better than new sometimes.
To whom were you talking in there? Rudolf asked curiously
I was on my mobile,said Stan defensively.
But where was it?You had nothing on ? On second thoughts,please don’t tell me.I’ve heard some strange stories but messing about with a phone is not one I wish to dwell on lest it obsess me at 3 am with strange fancies lurking in the black of my mnind
That’s logicians for you.No interest in the wilder shores of life. a dull crowd Stan told himself as he went downstairs and joined Rudolf in a good cup of tea with the best Willow patterned china on display.
And that is what I need to recover from writing down this very odd tail…
And so does Dave the poor young paramedic from heaven who is just arriving as we leave these two dear old men and their strange meeting,
All donations gracefull received via Payme.
Stan wants a chamber pot
I fell into a deep snooze that lasted for year.
This is an extract from “Humboldt’s Gift” in a book review on GoodReads Saul Bellow
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/637022168
Humboldt’s Gift
by Saul Bellow, Jeffrey Eugenides (Introduction)
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/637022168
“Some think that sloth, one of the capital sins, means ordinary laziness,” I began. “Sticking in the mud. Sleeping at the switch. But sloth has to cover a great deal of despair. Sloth is really a busy condition, hyperactive. This activity drives off the wonderful rest or balance without which there can be no poetry or art or thought — none of the highest human functions. These slothful sinners are not able to acquiesce in their own being, as some philosophers say. They labor because rest terrifies them. The old philosophy distinguished between knowledge achieved by effort (ratio) and knowledge received (intellectus) by the listening soul that can hear the essence of things and comes to understand the marvelous. But this calls for unusual strength of soul. The more so since society claims more and more of your inner self and infects you with its restlessness. It trains you in distraction, colonizes consciousness as fast as consciousness advances.The true poise of contemplation or imagination, sits right on the border of sleep and dreaming. Now, Naomi, as I was lying stretched out in America, determineThe true poise, that of contempd to resist its material interests and hoping for redemption by art, I fell into a deep snooze that lasted for year.
















