A Work Progressing

In Poetry’s Embrace

In poetry’s embrace, I find delight,

In the spaces it weaves, imagination takes flight.

Beyond vivid scenes with wild descriptions,

Lie subtext messages, subtle revelations.

Yet, equally enchanting are the gaps in the tale,

Where the reader’s mind wanders, setting sail.

A joint endeavor, poet and reader entwine,

As context meets interpretation, in harmony they align.

The poet offers phrases, like seeds to sow,

While the reader nurtures the unsaid words to grow.

In this union of art, a true gestalt appears,

The poem transcends its parts, amid emotions it steers.

Yesterday in 1890, an artist ceased work, and his death has been grieved for more than a hundred years. I’ve been doing combination of scans and color pencil images, in my attempt to make “connection”

From the work showing at the MET in NYC

I recently watch a video about the Webb telescope looking back in time to the very beginning.

I’m trying to define existence with terms that are generally agreed upon, with my own additions.

At first there were two kingdoms, the plant kingdom, and the animal kingdom. Carl Linnaeus in 1735 created the non-living kingdom of minerals.

In 1866, Ernst Haeckel created a third living kingdom called Protista, or primitive forms.

In 1938, Herbert Copeland created a fourth living kingdom called Monera, basically bacteria.

In 1969, Robert Whitaker proposed a fifth living kingdom of fungi.

Since then the Kingdom of Monera has been split creating six living kingdoms, and another kingdom created called Chromista. Then everything changed again.

Because biology is only interested in living things the kingdom of minerals has disappeared.

Now the top classification is Domain, where there are three categories, 1) Archaea, 2) Bacteria, and 3) Eukarya. Archaea domain has one living kingdom (archaea), Bacteria has one living kingdom (bacteria), but Eukarya has four living kingdoms (plant, animal, fungi, protista)

Except for the virus, which is neither living or dead. It could be the fourth domain of Zombi, with the seventh kingdom of Zombi. They have some characteristics of living, and some characteristics of the dead.

I’m adding back the kingdom of minerals, which probably should be the fifth domain with a kingdom of earth minerals, then a kingdom on non-earth minerals (dark matter, plasma?, black holes). Possibly a domain of Vacuum? Kingdom of Nothing?

I think that covers it. Six domains, ten kingdoms.

Not sure where alien, “non-human biologics” fits in.

“I know you, everybody knows you, mostly the cops. That’s my table, and I’m going to have it!”

It was a dimly lit room, filled with the noise of clattering dishes, and shuffling busboys. Tables filled with leftover pasta and garlic bread crumbs. The only table available had just been taken by two men in grey slouch hats and rumpled trenchcoats, but it was now in dispute.

The man pointed a gloved finger at the table, and continued, “I know you, everybody knows you. You take what is not yours. But I’m going to stop you. The table is mine, and you can go down the block to Smokey Joe’s, and eat his chili beans, cause there is nothing for you to eat at my table.”

There was a brief moment, when hands went to pockets, something hard was gripped, but then let go. The men in the trenchcoats slid out of their chairs, their hats never left their heads, and they headed to the door. The gloved finger balled into a fist as they passed him by.

He had done it, his table was ready to receive him, if only in his thoughts. The room was still full of busy diners and the sound of clattering dishes. His table still had a couple pondering the menus. He was still standing, waiting for someone to finish, but his mind was still caught up in a 1930s dialogue.

Later that day, while riding BART home, he spotted a corpulent man in a double breasted striped suit, taking up two seats on the crowded train.

The gloved finger pointed, “I know you, Everybody knows you, even the judges know you. Everywhere you go you spread yourself like peanut butter. That’s my seat, and I’m going to take it.”

Just then the car slowed and the platform came into view. The man in the striped suit got up and moved to the exit. The gloved finger balled into a fist as he passed him. His seat was his, and he had it.

I sometimes imagine myself in a bad film noir, filled with bad actors who confront me in tedious actions. They never win. It is possibly because I wear gloves.

Sometimes in a body of work, their are multiple pieces of the same composition. I have tried to blend them into one piece.

One of my favorite actives is to enjoy art made by favorites. I often find sketches that I foolishly try to complete, in the style of…

Here are three current pieces

There will be disagreements between people, because we are separate entities, each with free will. We all intellectually know this, yet we still seem surprised when confronted with the “disagreement”.

Perhaps it is because, sometimes, the disagreement is in areas where none should exist. It is one thing to have an “opinion” about something, but quite impossible when it is about something factual. “Factual” uses time honored tradition, and science, to form the basis of truth.

The problem is that truth tends to be “one-sided” and we have learned that many individuals, and cultures, have twisted “truth” to fulfill their own narratives. Unfortunately, even logic has not always been the “truth-teller”.

It is the primary goal of the philosopher to examine truth, by asking the question “What is truth?” The explanation can be simple and complex, but largely based upon what is observable, measured, and tested, with repeated consistent results.

Example: what goes up, must come down. This has been completely true until recently. With rockets that are made to escape Earth’s gravity, it is no longer true, with that exception.

In someways, stating the earth is mostly flat was also true for hundreds of thousands of observable years. It is also no longer true, by scientific calculations, but also by recent photographs from space, showing the somewhat spherical shape of the Earth.

The list of previous “truths” being changed because of logic should be encouraging. The problem is that logic doesn’t always allow thinking to be altered.

One of my favorite words is “shibboleth”. It’s one of those archaic words that is in danger of being eliminated. It describes an idea, or custom, of a long held belief in something that is no longer important.

The problem only arises if it is also “true.” In general, we tend to believe in our “progressive” nature. Given time, our sense of logic, and our science, tends to point out “shibboleths”, and erase them. But what if the shibboleth is gravity?

Sometimes we call these things the “inconvenient” truth. It may be true, but the baggage it comes with is uncomfortable.

So why did we hold on to our belief in “flat earth” for so long? In part, because the science was too complicated, but mostly because our natural observation was too compelling. “Just use your eyes, you can see that the Earth is flat, and if you walk far enough, you will fall off the edge!”

It does challenge our ability to observe correctly, but there may be another more compelling challenge. It is embarrassing to be wrong. Even more embarrassing to be wrong for a lifetime, incredibly embarrassing to be wrong for generations.

The wall that is almost impossible to tear down, is structurally supported by “it has always been that way”. Each age of “renaissance” is encouraged by the rapid acceptance of newly discovered “truth”. Although Copernicus and Galileo did have their problems. Maybe that’s why a Renaissance is so rare.

So where does that leave us today? It is obvious that opinions matter. What is not obvious is that opinions are mostly based upon words, and in recent years words have been credited with creating reality.

I’m old enough to remember when world hunger was a worthy problem to solve. One influencer from the 1970s attempted to solve world hunger, not by improved farming, but by reframing the problem with words. Werner Erhard, founder of est Training, also founded The Hunger Project in 1971. His founding statement, “The End of Starvation: Creating an Idea Whose Time Has Come”. The goal was to end world hunger in 25 years.

This may have been the big start of creating a reality with words. Erhard mentioned that our drive to put a man on the moon started with a statement by President John Kennedy. Erhard believed that his document would be the basis of action to solve world hunger. The world is still hungry after 50 years from 1971.

Solutions do come from ideas, and ideas can be framed in words, but it takes more than words to develop sustainable action. And, point of fact, we did get to the moon, but we have not been back.

The most pressing concern today is dealing with equity. The solution so far is based in linguistics. One important lynchpin is in accepting that male humans can be self-created into female humans. This is complicated by our cultural desire to be compassionate and accepting.

Being male, but seeing oneself (feeling oneself) as female is a cultural problem. In the attempt to solve that problem, the use of words was applied. The problem is that science determines male vs. female. Perception does not change facts. Words can be used for a compassionate solution, but that must be negotiated with good will, and good logic.

Establishing protocols and policies that force definitions does not help. Although it may create a shibboleth that some future age must deal with.

How are we to address issues? Is it rational to make every effort in matters that concern vast majorities, yet ignore minority issues? Is it numbers that control our actions?

If we are faced with an imminent attack by a foreign nation, is it reasonably to become a jingoistic nationalist for the duration? Small choices in our national ethos determine the kind of country worth defending.

All this is true, and yet often distracting from major important goals. Can we multitask?

Waiting, not a gift of mine. I confess that as a child, if my parent’s wrapped Christmas presents early, well… let’s just say that I knew every thing under the tree. Not the first day, I would approach it in stages. The first thing is weight versus size ratio. Larger but lighter packages would most likely be clothes. I would put them aside for possible further examination. Medium size with weight was my target present.

Rattling the package slowly, versus shaking vigorously could tell a lot. a gentle squeeze could reveal the classic bag of marbles. If the packages were out two weeks early, then a serious forensic unwrap, peak, and restore would take place. When the family was more financially stable we could afford the more expensive wrapping paper. That was great because it was easy to gently remove the tape. Wrapping in cheap paper was so much harder to leave no trace of a wrapper peak.

Patience was not learned through wrapped Christmas gifts. I was never officially caught, but I believe my mother knew, and one Christmas she wrapped some common kitchen items to place under the tree with my name on them. I was totally confused why I was getting a flour sifter and a half pound of coffee grounds. We never bought beans, we bought Folgers or MJB grounds.

I wrote last week about having COVID. I had symptoms for a least a day before testing positive. The load of COVID being produced by my body rising pretty quickly. In most of the mild cases it seemed the timing was about seven days before a negative result from a home test. A home test apparently is a better test for the level of contagion. A PCR test is better for a certain COVID positive test.

When I woke up this morning I felt good enough to consider that all my symptoms were gone, or they haven’t gotten up at the same time as my body. So, I got the home test out and I’ve tested negative once more. It feels… a little unreal. It’s true it seems like a “mild” case, but the sense of not being well is pervasive. You almost forget what it is like to be normal.

Two years ago COVID seemed almost like a death sentence for my co-morbidities. And now it came and went with a snarky whisper. “I’ll get you and your little dog too!” Well, maybe… but not this time.

Ha! I’ve finally tested positive for COVID, not that this was a long desired outcome. It’s just that I’ve been dodging this bullet for years, and I thought that I might actually get through this life without a positive test.

And, of course, in my pea-brain, I had conceived that this would be the end for me. I would cash my chips in while on a respirator in some dimly lit hospital hallway. A couple steps above being trapped on the bathroom floor.

Things have changed since the early days. I am fully vaxed, so maybe that makes a difference, or not. What I love about this whole thing is that nobody knows. Just guesses.

I suppose I’m continuing because it’s possible this is it. And for now, I still have a desire to write something cogent. Whew! I don’t use that word often.

I’ve shied away from using the term “bucket list”, it seems crass somehow, but it is descriptive, so long as you understand the term “kick the bucket”. I’m not sure that everyone agrees. Maybe it’s like a bucket filled with slips of paper, detailing future plans? Nope, I’m pretty sure there is a darker subtext, “do this before you die!”.

The trouble is, there are too many things to do!

I’ve written before about waiting to hear about medical tests. Generally you are in the waiting room, so it is apply named. You wait to find out if you live or die. I suggested renaming all medical waiting rooms “living rooms”. You are still living! Stop waiting, live your fullest until you can’t. The likihood is that you will stop wanting to do stuff long before you can’t do stuff. It’s a simplistic notion but important. We get tied up in linear thought when most of life is not linear.

It’s possible that COVID could be the end of me, but things have certainly changed. Not that we understand everything, but our guesses have gotten better. Besides if this is the end, then I feel that I’ve done my part, the rest is up to the Creator.

I have been remiss in calling to attention an interest website of authors. For some unknown reason I have submitted stories for publication, and they have indeed published, along with more than a hundred other authors. Some are just okay, more are interesting, and a few are simply great!

http: http://www.terrorhousemag.com

Terror House Magazine does specialize in the odd little story, but not exclusively. Have fun. I’m listed under the authors menu alphabetically.