“Time, Red Wine and Heroin”

 

We sit by the stream in the sun, a picnic, she seems fine and I am just happy to be here enjoying the warmth of the sun, the sound of the water.

Not a stream though, not really, some white water on the edges.

She said, “it’s so loud and it won’t stop”.  I agreed, it was loud and the water was intense, never slowing but hurrying past, more coming, billions of molecules to replace the last.  So I could understand why she was made uneasy, but, but, it seemed overreaction in a way, a past I suppose I can only know about talking now in this present. 

This future which keeps becoming present, then past.

We didn’t leave.

I lay back with sun on my face and someone in a mask stuck a needle in her arm.

She relaxed, the river no longer bothering her, time, water, me, unimportant. 

But when she woke she was even more agitated, looking around for the masked one, I tried to comfort her and even I could feel  that the stream was even more violent, her shoulders shaking as she listened to it, cried.

A kinder masked one offered me a red liquid, tasting of grapes and decay, but slowing everything.  We drank more of it, the masked one and me, and the river softened, seemingly relaxed all of a sudden, I asked  her to try some, but she didn’t feel the slackening and screamed at the water moving and laughing with me.  She was desperate.  We finished the red liquid and I lay back enjoying the quiet sound of the river sleepily going on its way, not stopping, not giving up its relentless journey but seemingly kind and gentle.

But she screamed for her masked friend who found her and the river stole her from me.

So it goes I think.  Maybe a cruel end to her time.  But as it went too fast for her, I feel the slow movement of the earth turning and it is comforting.

American Pie

 

 

One of those long North Canada summer evenings.   Goes on forever and you find things to do.

Like driving your Chevy II around and watching people. 

Listening to the radio and watching people, 1971 and the long version of American Pie.  They would do that on the radio back then.

We lived at Royal Road that year, sounds like something but it wasn’t. The car was. Where is it now?

The hot soft air on your face through the window, the feeling that it would never end, this youth, this life, this music, like a drug slipping into your veins.

Drove your Chevy.

But the music ended.  The music died.

I miss Don and Buddy.

The News

Rumours of crop circles circulated 

Witches huddled in their apartments whispering about fire 

The boys wrote songs predicting the end of the world 

And chartered accountants reported seeing unidentified flying objects

I read the news today oh boy

I pored myself another drink while the large black bird behind me flapped her wings and made a sound from her throat that was comforting

I read the news today

Pored myself another drink and looked to the stars, they were there, real, at least it seemed to me that they burned their terrible light in through my eyes to my brain and scarred it forever

Rumours of crop circles, witches, the end of the world, UFO's,

I read the news today oh boy.

Stephen Harper is in favour of Murder

I know I have written a lot about abortion lately, but it seems to be a big issue in the American election, so it is hard to avoid thinking about it.  Just so there is no misunderstanding I have no conception of how anyone, especially men, but anyone, thinks they have the right to tell another person (in this case women in general) what to do with their bodies.  I can conceive of people having differing beliefs about many things and good on 'em, if we all thought the same it would be very boring, but more importantly, we need to have these discussions so that we can consider positions, arguments, religious dogma, philosophy, science and all of our own pre and mis conceptions so that after we have thought about all of these matters, we have some idea of what the right thing to do is in any situation.  "Do the right thing" (Spike Lee) has been the one and only important lesson I have tried to give to my children and they are, all six of them, people who do try to do that.

This post was inspired directly by the brilliant Rachel Maddow on her cable TV program this week.

So let me get this straight.  The so called pro-lifers are mostly alright with abortion in certain extreme cases. At least that is what I understand them to be saying. The foetus is a person from the moment of conception, but it is alright to "murder" (that is by necessity their characterization of the act) these persons if the mother was raped, it was incest, or the mother might be in danger of losing her life. Conclusion: anti-abortionists of this type are pro-murder.

This is nothing new and many people have pointed out the inconsistency in the pro-life argument. But as I have said before, this position requires conservatives to advocate controlling other peoples' lives and decisions, which is also a very inconsistent position, as they generally are supposedly opposed to government involvement in your life.  As in opposing universal health care on the grounds that it forces us to use certain providers of care, or as in the case of Obama-care, to buy insurance.  They rave about the death of freedom, blah, blah, blah.

But not many people have given much thought or consideration to the Soviet style system that will be needed to monitor and decide who will be entitled to an abortion.  We will have to have fucking commisars running around saying yes or no based on very little information or evidence.  This is because convictions for rape or incest will never happen until after the babies are already born and even though the pro-lifers are admitted murderers, I doubt if they will agree to offing live babies in their cribs.

And in the case of the mother's life, again they cannot wait until she is dead to agree to kill the "baby."

It is a ridiculous position to hold in the first place, but to actually consider legislating this kind of thing is only something the Canadian and American Taliban could come up with.  They are terrorists who should be feared.  Their religions give them carte blanche to advocate anything including genocide, murder, and totalitarianism.  Be afraid.  If you are, you will do everything possible to exclude them from positions of power.  Stephen Harper is the Canadian prime minister.  Be very afraid.

Catholic Conundrums

In the vice presidential debate last week the moderator asked Vice President Biden and Congressman Ryan, who are both Catholics to state their views on abortion rights.


Ryan predictably said he agreed with his church's view that life begins at conception and that he supported the Romney position (at least his position as expressed this week) that if elected they would support legislation to outlaw abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother. They would also like to see Roe v Wade overturned. (It should be pointed out that Ryan has previously stated his support of “personhood” legislation that would outlaw abortion in any circumstance.) 

Biden, as a Catholic, was also predictable in stating that he accepts the church's teaching that life begins at conception. He didn't say be believed that, he just said he accepts it. But then he went on to say that he did not have any intention, nor did he feel he had the right, to tell other people what to believe or how to act. He is happy with the status quo and supports Choice for women.


My intention here is not to be lengthy but to point out a couple of things that really irk me about these arguments.


First is the irony of the conservative position on abortion. The parties of the right who purport to be in favour of individual rights, the right to bear arms for instance, in both the US and in Canada, think that it is fair and reasonable to impose their views on abortion on women of all faiths or no particular faith. This position reinforces my argument in a previous post that they are the ultimate hypocrites when it comes to freedom.


Second, believing life begins at conception does not make it so. None of us, including scientists, know the secret of life. It remains to this day one of the mysteries of the universe. As Biden pointed out on several other issues, facts matter, but on this one issue there are no facts. Beliefs are leaps of faith, not facts. If I said that I believe life begins at birth that would not be a fact either. These are really irrelevant arguments and should not be taken into account in making public policy.


We should always side with the politician who is in favour of providing the greatest amount of freedom as well as preventing the greatest amount of suffering. At times these will conflict but not on the issue of abortion rights. Taking Choice away will clearly cause suffering both for women who do not want to be pregnant and for all of the unwanted children who will be brought into the world. And it will clearly take away the freedom of women to choose what to do with their own bodies.


Let's hope that the forces of freedom win out over the forces of fascism.

Red, a poem, or some not so serious prose?

Look at those red roses, don't you just love them?

 

That was her and me being me, I wasn't sure if that was a question mark or an exclamation point, replied in my customary way,. "I suppose they are quite nice," which of course was not the correct response and she looked disappointed or disgusted as if I had dissed the red Ferrari we had seen drive by us while entering the park.  I assure you she hadn't noticed it though so it couldn't be "as if" that, but I had, and of course there wasn't much point mentioning it.

 

Now you are just thinking that he likes cars and she flowers, pretty typical.  But you have to look deeper, bobo.  What about the redness?  That was what made us notice the thing.  A black car or black flowers would not have made us even notice.  Red stands out and is always, I think, something to comment on.  But, but...

 

What is red?  That is what bothers me.  Tell me about red I have said to her.  It is an unfair thing to ask as there is not a way to describe red.  The colour of blood I say, which makes her feel faint, just the thought, but is it the red?  I might comment on a beautiful fight I saw on television, where the winner, my favourite, with an elegant feint to the left and a gentle jab with his right then suddenly exploded with an unexpected left uppercut that jolted his poor opponent so violently that his head snapped back and blood flew from his nostrils and the sides of his mouth as he lay on the canvas and was counted out, a loser.  Beautifully done I would think, but not something to tell someone who likes flowers.  

 

But it was because of the red too somehow.  

 

Maybe when I see something described as red, it is what she sees as grey and visa versa.  Could be, you can't prove that wrong, bobo.   That could be the problem of men and women.  Colours, that's it bobo, colours.  What a discovery, eh?  

 

(question mark or exclamation point?)

 

Too simple, yes it is too simple, but I don't care that much for flowers and German or Italian cars, especially if they are red appeal to me.

 

I could feign excitement, pretend redness in all cases was orgasmic.  But then there would be some bright blue plant of some name which I would never be able to remember that would remind me of a mixture of the juxtaposition of a certain sea with a specific sky, and I would be just as annoying to her with some stupid response about the flowers.  Or maybe I wasn't reminded of anything, maybe I dislike blue, or maybe, just maybe, I dislike flowers.

 

 

A Poem (something different)

The men who like to dress like women  

The women who are somehow masculine 

The ones with burns or scars, the ugly, the too beautiful, the hairy and the hairless 

The old  

Why are we not seen? 

Why are we not heard? 

Or are we and it is just me and my unadjusted errors? 

Natural selection or over selectivity? 

We pick the young shapeless ones only

 

Their perfect salon hair, whitened teeth and gym sculpted bodies

Problem is that none of this is hereditary

 

They will have children as empty and full of nothingness as them 

Aren't I as worthy? 

Aren't you? 

Stupid question

 

I guess as we all will fuck anyway and our progeny will continue. Hopefully into a more tolerant world where beauty is real and the real is appreciated.