One of the tenors remarked yesterday that I still looked like I was ill. I told him that it was kicking my butt. Indeed it is.
I sailed through the service yesterday basically hitting all the right notes and leading the congregation and the choir as well as I usually do.
But on the inside I was sort of floating. It’s too early to tell today whether this silly thing is abating or not.
I finally found a poem on page 19 in Michael Robbins’ Alient Vs. Predator that helped me understand him more as a poet.
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My New Asshole
By Michael Robbins
My new asshole’s official candy
is cola-flavored, fish-shaped.
I sexually harass it.
It puckers with distaste.
My new asshole could be your friend,
if you had any friends. My new asshole
is making a name for itself.
It is a way of looking at the world.
It tilts at megabucks.
It tithes its chocolate tenth.
It moons over my hammy.
It sings a song of sapience.
Now it wants a puppy.
It wants to open a Red Lobster.
Where did it get that strawberry?
My new asshole has discovered boys.
My new asshole says so much.
My new asshole is being bullied.
It occurs to me I am my new asshole.
I am talking about myself again.
********
I liked this so much it made me want to hurry up and finish reading the volume and then re-read it.
The wind is blowing in western Michigan. The snow and ice has not quite melted and they are predicting more snow and lower temps for today.
I have two days to get well.
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Eileen and I listen to online audio books at night to lull us to sleep. Last night I put on Orwell’s Keep The Aspidista Flying. It begins with this lovely inscription:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not
money, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And
though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,
and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not money, I am nothing. And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, and have not money, it profiteth me nothing. Money
suffereth long, and is kind; money envieth not; money vaunteth not
itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave unseemly, seeketh not her
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. . . . And now
abideth faith, hope, money, these three; but the greatest of these
is money.
I Corinthians xiii (adapted)
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Why Would You Ever Give Money Through Kickstarter? – NYTimes.com
I gave money for my niece’s husband’s worthy project. But then he and I seemed to disagree about Amanda Palmer’s use of Kickstarter. I understand that she used it to finance an extravagant and fancy venture that I quite liked. But to my way of thinking someone as connected and personality driven as she is doesn’t really need a kickstart.
I still feel that way. But what the heck.
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Rick Perry Visits California, and Incurs Jerry Brown’s Wrath – NYTimes.com
Perry seems to have out danced Brown by utilizing the news amplification of his original small investment in an ad.
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German Education Chief Quits in Scandal Reflecting Fascination With Titles – NYTimes.com
This hilarious little story has the lovely phrase, “title arousal,” in it.
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Dutch Put Electric Cars to the Test – NYTimes.com
I bookmarked this one for my wife who is very interested in this kind of thing. We would probably own a Prius if she thought she could afford it. I still think the Mini is nice for her.
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Original Sin by Sam Tanenhaus| New Republic
How the Republicans went from the party of abolition to racism.
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Bella Bathurst – Sound advice
Insightful essay on listening in general and hearing loss in particular.
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A giant radio telescope, a small school and a Wi-Fi problem – Network World
Unlike airplanes, radio telescopes are actually befuddled by wifi.
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Farmer’s use of genetically modified soybeans grows into Supreme Court case – The Washington Post
So this farmer used feed as seed. Put the fucker in jail.
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Thang Dinh Tran loves maps and Vietnam. That may put him in the eye of a storm. – CSMonitor.com
I love stories of obsessions that turn into sources of information and activism. Very cool.
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U.S. Use of Mexican Battery Recyclers Is Faulted – NYTimes.com