Won't Let You Down

 

Symbols of symbols (1988)

 

in spring i go out into the garden

with a wheelbarrow of fresh words:

texture, nurture, tread, harvest

my car has broken down so i tow it

over to a mechanic using a chain of words:

together, eat, melt, martyr

going out into the harsh sun of the equator

i insist my children wear a bonnet of

words: pool, freckle, yang, augment

i write a poem intending it to work

on playing: shuffle, gaia, smile, rot

beware the symbols of symbols 

forgotten, beware

the brain, hour sun

1989 Lawrence, Ks.

Ain't No Nero

 

Hi forest! Hi forest! I look and see nobody. Hi! They're on 

The roof peering down 

With lopers. Warn them, she shouts. What? No, I'm here to play music. There's a small branch on the awning over the sidewalk, and the shopping cart transient who holds his sign with his legs over half the sidewalk out from our co-op wall of windows. 

I set up and start playing. It's a sunny winter day. I sound good. I need to earn a living. The man in exercise clothes walks walks with his lopers down the way to where the branches are falling onto the sidewalk. Doesn't take long for the street gargoyle to leap up fuck you! Fuck you to the fellow trying to warn or move him. 

Now I'm amused. Until well dressed gym clothes says, you didn't Warn him. I'm here to play music. 

I want the branches to fall on him. I start telling gym about the Short Fuse' history. 

Ok, he cuts me off, Warn People. No, I'm here to play music. Well if you want to talk, warn people. I hold up my Forest Service patch and ignore gym. 

He gathers up his cuttings into a bulging armload. Every branch except a couple. I smile as he proceeds with the twigs of his enterprise. Almost all of them I quip. 

Shopping cart man rattles his home away, then closer. I'm sounding good. People tip and smile and thank me. The dislodged returns to his stretch of cigarette butt scattered acreage of ten feet. 

Quit making people feel shitty. I'm here to make people feel happy. What else can I say? Quit smoking. It's a suggestion not an attack. It's nice and silent for the garbage truck sonata of commerce. 

Boss gym has worked up a healthy perspiration from limbing around the defunct community owned former store. It looks ready, for market. It looks like a fire sale of not quite apathy. 

I'm doing the Warning about the cold marshmallow equity going up in non smoke. I clean up the garbage, the bags of racoon chow, the half burned papers people use for blankets, their ashes that cover half the entryway. Watch out, it's ugly and unhygienic. I siren in and on and over to the coda on my fiddle. 

I'm no Nero, just an ordinary guy. Ok, everyone, shower. 

 

NW pdx

Busking

Let the beauty we love be done

"Let the beauty we love

Be what we do" ----rumi 

____ 

"we may be seeing a shift in Earth’s response to 250 years of escalated human pressures 

 … to a situation of ‘payback’ 

 where Earth starts sending invoices  

back to the thin layer on Earth where humans live, 

 in the form of off the charts extremes.” 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/29/world-will-look-back-at-2023-as-year-humanity-exposed-its-inability-to-tackle-climate-crisis

 

"Surely, this is the best of all possible worlds....." ---- Voltaire 

rowing down the chamber of commerce building in Portland

  

rowing down the chamber of commerce building in Portland

" I was the first Portland harbor pilot appointed by the state board of pilot commissioners. They appointed me at the request of the marine insurance interests of Portland."

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jtenlen/ORBios/jtgray.html

""'The next spring I returned to Dawson as port captain for the Seattle Yukon Transportation Company. I certainly earned my salary that season. The discovery of gold at Cape Nome in 1899 caused a stampede from Dawson to Nome in the spring of 1900. I fitted up two steamers and two cargoes and sold over eleven hundred tickets at one hundred dollars each for the trip down the Yukon to St. Michaels, which, as you know, is not far from Nome.

 The fare included meals.

 I decided to feed the passengers all they could eat, but I figured that beef at seventy-five cents a pound would be too expensive, so I bought caribou meat from the Indians at eight cents a pound and fitted up the hold of one of the barges with a refrigerator plant, using natural ice from the Yukon.

I rigged up a butcher shop in the icehouse, where the caribou meat was cut in readiness for the, galley stove. My receipts from passenger fare alone on that one trip were over one hundred and ten thousand dollars."

___________________

""'Yes, I have had some rather unusual experiences as a pilot and steamboat captain 

 and I have also seen some rather unusual sights.  

One year during the big flood on the Columbia and Willamette I took Mrs. Gray for a ride in a small boat to see the sights in Portland.

 "At that time the Ladd & Tilton Bank was located at the corner of Stark and Front streets.  

I rowed through the main entrance of the bank and as I traversed the room my oar touched the counter. 

 From there I proceeded further uptown and rowed through the main entrance 

 and down the long hall 

 of the Chamber of Commerce building."

Vegan pizza, vegetarian pizza

  

Page view audience today

 United States 142

Germany 32

United Kingdom 8

Finland 6 

Canada 3

Russia 2

Switzerland 1

France 1

South Korea 1

Sweden 1

Other 7 

___ 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/moscow-court-hands-long-jail-terms-to-two-men-for-reciting-poetry

"Kamardin has claimed that during his detention  

he was raped by police officers  

and forced to film an apology video as officers threatened his partner.  

Kamardin was taken to a separate room, where – as he told his lawyer –  

he was beaten and raped with a barbell.  

Kamardin was also forced to film an apology video. 

In an interview with AFP in late 2022, she had recounted her then boyfriend’s arrest, 

 saying officers threatened her with “gang-rape”, 

 hit her and sprayed superglue on her cheeks and mouth."

1674 teeth revisited (2017)

  

how were Jon le Bon's teeth? 

 How about Count Egmont's teeth?

the teeth of the D'lannoys

the teeth of the Schermerhorns?

the teeth of the west indies boat captains named Bludgud?

or their viking forbearers, the blotgodi?

how were the teeth of the Palatine germans

        adopted by Queen Anne or whoever owned them?

how were the teeth of the Margraves and Schepens and Schouts?

much much worse than mine,\

and they married Queens, Consorts, and daughters of Amazons.

my tooth has nothing to do with sweets, more to do

with acetic acid and a nasty bump from

cutting firewood in swale canyon in 1997 making the root go half

bad and turning it grey colored, and dentists have

begged to pull it for years but i still USE it

to keep away the fake folks

to screen the yuppies and facade riven fools

to chew pizza, too

fire herd the hovel (2017

  

fire herd the hovel

my fire she sleeps in shells and seasons

kindling all reason, pearling our treasons

   my ear to her bell a fucked up noel

   no river no hydrant can soothe our spell

her angel faced flames make quick ghosts of groves

even the redwood and hermit crab know

   leaping sleeps flicker from transient bracken

   uprooting, returning, man what he's packin'

garages of garbage yet humans on sidewalks

ware house and where house and city hose talk

   put out inferno tamp down the response

   my fire he woke dilatory grey poupons

  go muster, you must heard, all bread knife& shovel

  her fire's afield, california the hovel

12-25-17

portland

Herd Mentality Meat Sophistry

" They help keep disease from spreading in elk and deer herds 

 because they target the weak and sick members 

 of the herd,” 

 said Bethany Cotton, conservation director with the Eugene-based nonprofit Cascadia Wildlands. 

 “And they help keep other animals on the move, which helps riparian habitat.”  

____ 

"Herd mentality (also mob or pack mentality)  

describes how people can be influenced by the majority.

Social psychologists study the related topics of  

group intelligence, 

 crowd wisdom,  

groupthink, 

             and 

deindividuation." 

*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$*$* 

"The idea of a "group mind" or "mob behavior" was first put forward by 19th-century social psychologists  

Gabriel Tarde and Gustave Le Bon.  

Herd behavior in human societies has also been studied by Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter, whose book Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is a classic in the field of social psychology. 

 Sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen's  

The Theory of the Leisure Class 

 illustrates how individuals imitate other group members of higher social status in their consumer behavior.  

More recently, Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, examines how cultural, social, and economic factors converge to create  

trends in consumer behavior

https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2023/12/to-some-oregonians-moving-wolves-to-colorado-just-shifts-the-problem-and-the-pain.html 

The Faerie Queen (Spencer)

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Faerie_Queene

" Book I is centred on the virtue of Holiness as embodied in the Redcrosse Knight. Largely self-contained, Book I can be understood to be its own miniature epic. The Redcrosse Knight and his lady Una travel together as he fights the monster Errour, then travel separately after the wizard Archimago tricks the Redcrosse Knight into thinking that Una is unchaste using a false dream. After he leaves, the Redcrosse Knight meets Duessa, who feigns distress in order to entrap him. Duessa leads the Redcrosse Knight to captivity by the giant Orgoglio. Meanwhile, Una overcomes peril, meets Arthur, and finally finds the Redcrosse Knight and rescues him from his capture, from Duessa, and from Despair. Una and Arthur help the Redcrosse Knight recover in the House of Holiness, with the House's ruler Caelia and her three daughters joining them; there the Redcrosse Knight sees a vision of his future. He then returns Una to her parents' castle and rescues them from a dragon, and the two are betrothed after resisting Archimago one last time.

Book II is centred on the virtue of Temperance as embodied in Sir Guyon, who is tempted by the fleeing Archimago into nearly attacking the Redcrosse Knight. Guyon discovers a woman killing herself out of grief for having her lover tempted and bewitched by the witch Acrasia and killed. Guyon swears a vow to avenge them and protect their child. Guyon on his quest starts and stops fighting several evil, rash, or tricked knights and meets Arthur. Finally, they come to Acrasia's Island and the Bower of Bliss, where Guyon resists temptations to violence, idleness, and lust. Guyon captures Acrasia in a net, destroys the Bower, and rescues those imprisoned there.

Book III is centred on the virtue of Chastity as embodied in Britomart, a lady knight. Resting after the events of Book II, Guyon and Arthur meet Britomart, who wins a joust with Guyon. They separate as Arthur and Guyon leave to rescue Florimell, while Britomart rescues the Redcrosse Knight. Britomart reveals to the Redcrosse Knight that she is pursuing Sir Artegall because she is destined to marry him. The Redcrosse Knight defends Artegall and they meet Merlin, who explains more carefully Britomart's destiny to found the English monarchy. Britomart leaves and fights Sir Marinell. Arthur looks for Florimell, joined later by Sir Satyrane and Britomart, and they witness and resist sexual temptation. Britomart separates from them and meets Sir Scudamore, looking for his captured lady Amoret. Britomart alone is able to rescue Amoret from the wizard Busirane. Unfortunately, when they emerge from the castle Scudamore is gone. (The 1590 version with Books I–III depicts the lovers' happy reunion, but this was changed in the 1596 version which contained all six books.)

Book IV, despite its title "The Legend of Cambell and Telamond or Of Friendship", Cambell's companion in Book IV is actually named Triamond, and the plot does not center on their friendship; the two men appear only briefly in the story. The book is largely a continuation of events begun in Book III. First, Scudamore is convinced by the hag Ate (discord) that Britomart has run off with Amoret and becomes jealous. A three-day tournament is then held by Satyrane, where Britomart beats Arthegal (both in disguise). Scudamore and Arthegal unite against Britomart, but when her helmet comes off in battle Arthegal falls in love with her. He surrenders, removes his helmet, and Britomart recognizes him as the man in the enchanted mirror. Arthegal pledges his love to her but must first leave and complete his quest. Scudamore, upon discovering Britomart's sex, realizes his mistake and asks after his lady, but by this time Britomart has lost Amoret, and she and Scudamore embark together on a search for her. The reader discovers that Amoret was abducted by a savage man and is imprisoned in his cave. One day Amoret darts out past the savage and is rescued from him by the squire Timias and Belphoebe. Arthur then appears, offering his service as a knight to the lost woman. She accepts, and after a couple of trials on the way, Arthur and Amoret finally happen across Scudamore and Britomart. The two lovers are reunited. Wrapping up a different plotline from Book III, the recently recovered Marinell discovers Florimell suffering in Proteus' dungeon. He returns home and becomes sick with love and pity. Eventually he confesses his feelings to his mother, and she pleads with Neptune to have the girl released, which the god grants.

Book V is centred on the virtue of Justice as embodied in Sir Artegall.

Book VI is centred on the virtue of Courtesy as embodied in "

 Storm winds drowned only by sin, a wall of sounds infernally creative, ripping out the dendriform past and all his dander, a clearinghouse stomp, a randy drouth respite, sated satyr salaciousness 

Too hot for hades glade, gliding pterodactyl florida sinks, stinking of evangelical incest and bigoted bombast, cremations reassemble to scold the spines of stewards golfing on graves yet filled but soliciting dissonant referrals to lethe, a quagmire sopping flesh's fragile flower 

A raft or dugout log, a yacht, canoe or paper cup with a spork sail, get me leeward to sea, where 101 makes the starfish poach, the crabs cook, the alice inflate, the offshore platforms flimsy in siesta of regulation, billowing toxins to drown the clang of gavels resounding destruction 

A tempest in deliverance of confederated dimness, await await, hold fast this future for a rowing past, tamp down the cyclone synergy run amok, dicing nature for garnish, this garish grifting greed fueled coliseum of unheartedness will be undone.

 

Crowmantic

 

and with thee fade away 

 Into the forest dim, Verdurous glooms, 

 winding Mossy ways....May's eldest Child,  

white Hawthorne,  

Path thru the heart Of Ruth 

 amid alien corn,  

           Adieu... 

John Keats

.(john Keats)

 

 

 

Sol

" December 25 was commonly indicated as the date of the winter solstice,[e] with the first detectable lengthening of daylight hours. 

 The Philocalian calendar of AD 354, part VI, gives a festival of natalis invicti on 25 December. There is limited evidence that this festival was celebrated before the mid-4th century. 

 The same Philocalian calendar, part VIII, also mentions the birth of Jesus Christ, stating that the "Lord Jesus Christ was born eight days before the calends of January" (that is, on December 25). 

 Since the 12th century, there have been speculations that the near-solstice date of 25 December for Christmas was selected because it was the date of the festival of dies natalis solis invicti, but historians of late antiquity make no mention of this, and others speculate" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_(Roman_mythology) 

"Sol is the personification of the Sun and a god in ancient Roman religion. " 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot

 "Korinna Moon Bloodgood (born September 20, 1975) is an American actress and model, known for her role as Lt. Blair Williams in the 2009 film Terminator Salvation and as Anne Glass in the TNT television series Falling Skies." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Bloodgood 

At age 17, Bloodgood became one of the Laker Girls.

In 2005, she was ranked No. 99 on Maxim's magazine's Hot 100 list. 

She subsequently ranked No. 53 in 2006, 

No. 40 in 2007 

and No. 20 in 2009."  

___ 

"Pathfinder 

 (also known by the alternate title Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior) 

 is a 2007 American epic action film directed by Marcus Nispel and written by Laeta Kalogridis. 

 Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it stars Karl Urban, Clancy Brown, Ralf Moeller, 

 Moon Bloodgood, 

 Russell Means, Jay Tavare, and Nathaniel Arcand." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_(2007_film)

he tied an NFL record (with Paddy Driscoll) of 4 drop-kicked field goals in a single game."

  

"Bloodgood made his professional debut in the NFL playing two years with the Kansas City Cowboys in 1925–1926.  

He was listed as a back with jersey number 23. 

On December 12, 1926, against the Duluth Eskimos 

 he tied an NFL record  

(with Paddy Driscoll) of 4 drop-kicked field goals in a single game." 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Bloodgood

 "The order enumerates eight topics the media are forbidden from reporting on without prior approval from the Israeli Military Censor. Some of the topics touch on hot-button political issues in Israel" 

Fascist America.

 The Republican Party.

Shithead Democrats. 

Fix the world, not mutilate children and girls

 'She was only six when she was subjected to type III FGM in a small town in Somalia. 

 Otherwise known as infibulation, the cutting removed both her labia and clitoris and the remaining skin was then stitched together.  

For years, Araweelo thought that what she was subjected to as a child  

was an act of purification..." 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/dec/21/how-the-nhs-is-failing-fgm-survivors

___ 

Native Hawaiians make up 50% of the unhoused population."

" Despite accounting for only 20% of the state’s overall population,  

Native Hawaiians make up 50% of the unhoused population." 

"The Native Hawaiian population plunged from hundreds of thousands in the late 18th century, before western contact, to fewer than 24,000 by 1920.  

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, a territorial delegate to the US Congress, proposed a homesteads program to rehabilitate the Native Hawaiian population through land ownership.  

In 1921, Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which placed 200,000 acres of land that belonged to  

the Hawaiian Kingdom into a trust. 

 Anyone 18 years or older with at least 50% Native Hawaiian lineage would be eligible to obtain a 99-year land lease for $1 a year. 

 (The leases, which are still available, can be extended by another 100 years.) 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/22/native-hawaiians-wait-decades-return-colonized-land-state-failure

"Vast portions of homestead lands also have been developed for purposes other than homesteading. 

 For decades, public agencies have leased thousands of acres of trust lands, 

 for little or even no compensation,  

to develop schools, parks, airports, military bases and other facilities." 

Bigoted Capitalism 

Read the full article at 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/22/native-hawaiians-wait-decades-return-colonized-land-state-failure

Nazi Trump and bigot GOP

  

"Mr. Trump’s mention of the racehorse theory — the idea adapted from horse breeding that good bloodlines produce superior offspring — reflected a focus on bloodlines and genetics that Mr. Trump has had for decades " 

"Mr. Trump has also been accused by historians of echoing the language of fascist dictators,  

including Hitler. 

 Last month, he described his political opponents as “vermin” that needed to be rooted out." 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/us/politics/trump-blood-comments.html 

___ 

Joe Biden

"Dukes of Hazzard actor John Schneider called for public hanging of Joe Biden" 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution

"The fictional car itself was also named after Robert E Lee, the Confederate general 

 who inherited the ownership of enslaved people upon the death of his mother.

Schneider – whose character’s full first name, Beauregard, is identical to the surname of a famous general in the Confederate army – " 

" The Columbia is the largest river on earth  

that bisects a volcanic arc,” 

 which is a line of volcanoes associated with a subduction zone, such as the Cascades." 

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8va3ZhbC5jb20vbmV3cy9sb2NhbC91LW9mLW8tcmVzZWFyY2hlcnMtZXhwbGFpbi1ob3ctbWFnbWEtYW5kLXdhdGVyLXNoYXBlZC10aGUtY29sdW1iaWEtcml2ZXItZ29yZ2XSAW5odHRwczovL2t2YWwuY29tL2FtcC9uZXdzL2xvY2FsL3Utb2Ytby1yZXNlYXJjaGVycy1leHBsYWluLWhvdy1tYWdtYS1hbmQtd2F0ZXItc2hhcGVkLXRoZS1jb2x1bWJpYS1yaXZlci1nb3JnZQ?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen 

https://kval.com/news/local/u-of-o-researchers-explain-how-magma-and-water-shaped-the-columbia-river-gorge 

___ 

"Drilling technology once limited geothermal energy only to places where there was enough volcanic activity, seismic vents or shallow enough crust to reach the tap of the Earth’s heat for making steam. 

 Borrowing the “fracking” technologies that transformed the U.S. into the world’s No. 1 producer of oil and gas, 

 Fervo can drill down to heat virtually anywhere in the world, using the financing models, workforces and technologies that worked well in fossil fuels, vastly expanding  

the potential for geothermal energy.  

Its first power plants are expected to come online by 2028, the same year the rules for the tax credits propose to take full effect. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-democrats-45v-hydrogen-tax-credit_n_6584ae63e4b03e698a12951c 

___ 

Refulgence black hole

 

Black hole, converging but not fused; connivent. 

Stub lacework disconcert. 

Titanism fungus way, means. 

Incidence hokum, 

Talky 

Refulgence. 

We articulate without friction, liquid. 

Draw psilocybin 

Come up to the surface. 

Fall armyworm, 

Fall away. 

Garibaldi hallelujah.  

Dada poem 

SE PDX. 

 

Happy Birthday Freeman (1832)

  

To rest in comfort

 

"Oliver takes up the shovel and hoe and tells me privately 

He's glad enough to lay down the fiddle and bow. 

He has hated the tedious waiting on rich men and all the Talk." 

Angle of Repose   

re·pose1 

/rəˈpōz/

noun

a state of rest, sleep, or tranquility.

"in repose her face looked relaxed"

Similar:

rest

relaxation

inactivity

restfulness

stillness

idleness

sleep

slumber

peace

peace and quiet

peacefulness

quiet

quietness

quietude

calm

calmness

tranquillity

leisure

ease

respite

time off

breathing space

Opposite:

work

activity

stress

strain 

verb 

be lying, situated, or kept in a particular place.

"the diamond now reposes in the Louvre"

**** 

From Middle English reposen (“to be at rest”), 

 from Middle French reposer from Old French repauser from Late Latin repausō (“to lay to rest, quiet; comfort, soothe; lie down, be at rest, rest”), 

 from re- (“again, back”) +‎ pausō (“to halt, cease, pause, rest”), 

 from Latin pausa (“pause, halt, stop, rest”) 

 from Koine Greek παῦσις (paûsis, “stopping, ceasing; pause”)  

from Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “to make to rest; cease, stop, hinder, halt”). 

___  

To rest in comfort as potatoes and gravy in an eager belly that salivates toward a universal digestion, there in the chain of all once living constellations, content. 

Finished enough to begin. 

Circuitous, beyond grammar and pretensions, indifferent to which fork on which side and related illusions. 

Through the poppy etched wine glasses your light blazes trackless. In unflown saucers you pilot our search for humanity among a world eating itself. 

Now, courage bangs it's lunchbox on the caverns as huck and becky fool around in one candle glamour. 

Don't leave without saying hello to sarcasm, regretlessly dressed for theater.   

Horizon in hiking boots, your map bursts the itinerary toward enlightenment. Not to say staying oblivious to certain cues isn't a proper tonic. 

And sleep on the field of battle watching worms escape mud for higher ground, using rain as a escalator toward epiphany. Dissolve, there is no solution but union. 

The deadline is gateless and soft among the peerless retinue of cloud animals born to amuse. 

Just desserts bathe the eyes clear and we see contented harmonious escape from games and monotonous contests.  

Your transcendental drift fills the sails of granddaughters as sycamore seeds, dried, merge with breeze  

___ 

"The steepest angle at which granular material can be piled without material sliding off of the pile." 

 

Leper Con

  

Censorship Fascism

  

In the paragraph the HBS draws attention to, Gessen wrote that “ghetto” would be “the more appropriate term” to describe Gaza, 

 but the word “would have drawn fire for comparing the predicament of besieged Gazans to that of ghettoized Jews.  

It also would have given us the language to describe what is happening in Gaza now. 

 The ghetto is being liquidated.” 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/14/award-ceremony-suspended-after-writer-masha-gessen-compares-gaza-to-nazi-era-jewish-ghettos 

"Supporters of Gessen, who is Jewish, and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were among family members murdered by the Nazis, 

 have been quick to point out the irony of suspending a prize awarded in memory of Arendt, 

 the German-born Jewish-American historian, philosopher and antitotalitarian political theorist who coined the phrase  

“the banality of evil”" 

___ 

Samantha Rose Hill, author of the profile Hannah Arendt and editor of Arendt’s collected poems, called it 

 “an affront to Hannah Arendt’s memory. 

 By their own logic, the Heinrich Böll Foundation needs to cancel the Hannah Arendt prize altogether.” 

Rose Hill 

  https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2023/11/more-than-100-cities-have-banned-gas-leaf-blowers-will-portland-be-next.html

"Operating a leaf blower for an hour  

emits the same amount of smog-forming pollutants 

 as driving a Toyota Camry about 1,100 miles 

 or the distance from Portland to San Diego" 

Melanie (1943-2023)

            

Melanie M. Bloodgood (1943-2023)

Dr. Melanie Ruth May was born April 23, 1943, to Ralph James May and Dorothy Champlin May, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She and her older brother and sister, Ralph James Jr., and Janice were raised in Oklahoma City, where Melanie graduated from high school in 1961. Her father was an attorney and her mother was a teacher.  

Melanie attended Oklahoma State University and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. She earned a Bachelor's degree in English, and soon thereafter married Dean Bloodgood, who taught in the Art Department.  In 1965, Melanie and Dean bought a home east of Stillwater, planting several hundred pine seedlings on the 3 three acre property. In 1967, they had a son, Forest Lee Bloodgood, born in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Grant Freeman Bloodgood was born in 1970. 

Melanie raised her sons while earning her Master's Degree in English in 1975, as well as a Minor in Religion/Philosophy. Melanie had a close-knit circle of friends that were fellow teachers, and students at OSU. She and Dean bought an 80 acre unimproved parcel that was heavily wooded and had a large pond, on which they swam, fished, cut firewood, and hosted gatherings for friends. In winter, it served as an ice rink as Melanie wore her mother's passed down skates. 

Melanie was an excellent cook, inspired by exotic foods which reflected the diverse community around the university. While President of the NOW chapter, working toward her Doctorate, she cooked for Caravan Bookstore, as her sons attended public school in Stillwater. Following her divorce, Melanie moved to Louisiana with Grant, teaching at LSU. 

She took a job back in Oklahoma teaching at OSSM, a high school for gifted students. She loved teaching throughout her life and fostered liberal arts and humanities to countless young people.  

In 1996, Melanie moved to Portland, Oregon where she had a Grand-daughter, Surreal, from her son, Forest. In her dozen years in Portland, she gained two more granddaughters, Isis and Mesa. They frequently went on family adventures to the coast, the aquarium, museums, and had perpetual feasts from the ever enthusiast Melanie. Her bread making venture, Flour Power, was the result of decades of experience, delivering her organic whole grain bread to grocery stores. 

Melanie's interest in books, philosophy, conspiracy theory, music, film and art, never abated. She moved to Houston, Texas, to be near her brother and sister, all living in The Woodlands community. Grant visited her often from Florida. After a decline in health, Melanie lived in assisted living, and hospice, until she passed away on August 14, 2023. She is survived by her sister, Jan, her sons Forest and Grant, and her granddaughters.  

----FLB, 

Dec. 2023 

Teepee peepee on appamottox wood (2015)

  

jesus on appammatox wood

going down deliverance liver

to a federal penury  of pigs

wearing crowns of barbie twigs

fire gas sun open all nite

for gut soon all things pass

legal kidney stones, our kin

all must get stoned

stomp yer leadbelly foot, unheards

un herd yer slough, snake

un rapt the campus rape or priestly silence

unless you do, will who?

time eats its children

treaty trick on blanket pox

truces hold by nail, denial.

eagles eternally chew

fire giver liver

gizzard wizard lightning

crowd sourced halo fine

welcome, theatre of pratfallen heroics

good deeds gone sour in injun land

scalp the tickets while you can

what can be canned of duh

it comes out the peepee hole

march 13, 2015

Portland, Oregon

7 Sonnets (2018)

the wild hunt   

fohn wind hard licks the wild hunt erupting

vultures drop, motionless, shadows disrupting

   moonlit groves, armies of faries

   thrashing acorns as tornadoes carry us

down stark roads over homes wrongful built,

for hearth-fires wodan keeps, unwise wood split

   undoing the road and what's come before

   and that which was known, once before sworn

dandy dogs hunting, stay on your steed

to touch ground when godan hunts; ashes guaranteed,

   our tender feet march not that fohn wind,

   rises hot focus up mountains sharp grin

   cutting god's ice beard, the spray off blood hooves;

   red roaming ghost kings, all sensible move

____________

          selene        

Selene drives her moon chariot wanton wise

pulling men-hearts out to later feed mice

   above green earth her palace so pale

   from craters her whims all mortals regale

moonstruck by proxy, the wine in our glasses

moondrunk the chipmunk, evading owl passes,

   Selene never parks her orb spinning high

   without clouds for hitch-posts cloistered nigh

formed of Phoebe, or maybe old Theia

fished in by gravity, mystery, the moon sees us;

   silhouette of substances similar, serene

   man is kind love until shown his own spleen

shining her trademark, all night she delivers

rolling foul heavens, arming cupid's deft quivers

_________________

              norn       

Swans from swain broods emerge to the Norns

who thread twine, riverine, alluvial born;

   fates tend to puddle, well-tree over-ridden;

  the Norns sort us out, trophy in the midden

a root runs true or turns false no less,

carries our water, the ash of success

   the limbs roost above our imperiled crowns

   widow-maker swooping, silently browned

no fish to swan stalking, mirror calm lake,

no leaf left untasted, the hart there to take

   no dirt clod molested, the serpent true hiss

   there in Norn's weaving wand's illustriousness

   noblest of trees, tried on all sides

   ribs back, arm mind, heart soul& mind

______________

          nemesis spake      

Finally Nemesis spake, her truth a rake,

clawing man's crime piles he takes/takes

   for granted, till spark make bonfire;

   good, party ----get a marshmallow, dear

said Nemesis, whittling weeping willow

switches, laying castor&pollux egg on a pillow;

   mother of helen, cause of collection,

   armies assembled to die, perfection;

ceo, senator,  jocular newsguy, trump:

Watch for a chariot of griffins Clumped

   Yer frivolous Insolence and heads i remove

   Shrieked Nemesis      (her army approved)

daughter of  Ocean, her dagger primeval,

dim man-blood meet Nemesis, measured arch rival

____________________

       semele          

bathing in the river, Semele took note yon eagle

bloody from blots to zeus, his attentions "regal"

   Semele demanded the god in full glory,

   thus reduced by thunderbolt, an immortal story;

from fires sprung son dio, wine god of frenzy

born to soothe  time and man, needing ectasy

   a phoenix not ready, zeus sewed in his thigh:

   dionysus, with river nymphs, and mystis, resides

raised in sheer mountains, with panthers, his wine,

wand tipped with spine-bone,             honey of pine

   mead's golden warm fuel        fires the dance

   epiphany blooms               in orgy perchance

  twice born, the grape low:

  wine risen, man knows:

______________

         ixion       

The centaur bow aflame in absolute fire,

breath cloud via spectograph no liar,

  primordial booze of all make and kind

  ethanol, vinyl,...no wonder centaur's blind

a black hole of methane, tongueless profane,

formaldehyde crib has all life to gain

  loaning out a cosmos to spare

  a rib boomerrang returns for its share

half man-horse,  his core brighter by far,

hera dumbly his target, zeus fixed Ix with tar,

   spinning eternal from fucking that cloud

   (in hearts distillation, purely not allowed)

  big bang banished, moby dick subsumed,

  punished with powers all self-consumed

_______________

         cebele     

Say you know them sibyls of the sistine chapel;

you know the core, seed,        and bite of apple

   do you know that great Magna Mater,

   great mother, mountain planter,

Cybele seven thousand year worshipped,

iron from stars, her magnet, perfect

   cured incorrigible dionysus, raving

   grounded the grove and hearthstone, paving

altars blood worshiped, don't sneer now you mortal;

your fridge full of prophecy, awaiting, a portal;

   styrofoam chapel, all lined with the saints,

   st. bacon, st. whipped cream, st. plastic and paint

   moshing foot grinding the feet grapes undressing

   came first mothers music, mystery, sense blessings

Mt Tabor, Portland, Oregon

Jan 2, 2018

 

Feminism and Philosophy (1988)

  

Feminism and Philosophy, Journal 1

     In understanding the "whole" of a particular problem or theory, one must look at all the threads that form the rope. Marilyn Frye presents this concept in her essay "Oppression." She notes how a single oppressive, or restrictive, barrier may not appear to indeed by much of a hindrance,but as many of these oppressive "wires" are perceived, one notices a cage of sorts. Frye argues that men are responsible for the building of our society which is oppressive to women, reasoning that it is men who receive the benefits of this structuring. In failing to adequately study the nature of the responsibility, I believe Frye limits the scope of her essay. As she notes, perception of the whole is dependent on recognizing all the wires, one of which must be the question: who creates and forms society?" If men are to bear the negative aspects of what our daily life entails, doesn't that mean they are entitled to claim responsibility for the positive aspects as well?

     Frye frequently uses the pronouns "we" and "them" in speaking of males and females.  I also see the danger of grouping peoples together only by identification of their genitals.This only maintains the gulf of misunderstanding between the sexes. Oppression itself is usually built of fear resulting from misunderstanding.

     I agreed with most of Frye's assertions concerning the oppression women suffer; sexual harassment, unequal opportunities in work and education, and downright degradation are all facets of every woman's life. But I think the notion of oppression is much more complicated than even Frye admits. It is easy enough to perceive and identify the wires that form the cage, but it is another matter to question who is supporting the oppressive norms.

                                                             ***

    In "The Problem that has No Name,"from Betty Friedman's The Feminine Mystique, the reader is told of a phenomena that American women are experiencing more and more; a vague notion of dissatisfaction, boredom, emptiness. Friedan seems to think that this is a new experience, that it has been growing in the minds of women, especially housewives, over the past few decades. The sources of this unidentified state of mind are multiple and various. Technology, education, economics, and media are all aspects of society that have been rapidly changing and may be partially responsible for a change in the consciousness of all people. As men and women are used to living in different spheres of daily life, changes in societal norms come quickly and without much notice. Women are finding their inner selves out of context with a society which has long oppressed them because of their sex.

     Of course, the essay does not finger anything certain other than "there is a problem." I found it very interesting, or revelatory maybe, that housewives have a sense of living fragmented lives; only spending a small portion of the day doing each task necessary. The daily routine of this would create an illusion of regularity, stability, while in actuality, the housewife's day may seem hectic and incomplete. The housewife's identity would likewise be fragmented and incomplete.

     One of the most important aspects of this problem is the sense of dependence many women feel. This is perceived as a weakness, as men are supposedly "independent." Whether the dependence is one of economics or a loving bond, all humans must be linked to one another in some ways, or else not be a part of society. As long as a certain class of humans, in this case women, feel dependent, the more isolated each of us feels and the colder the summer shall be.

                                                        ***

     In the introduction to Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, we are told that it is "doubtless impossible to approach any human problem with a mind free from bias." Every effort is driven by motives, many subconscious as well as realized, and it is impossible to completely remove "self" from "other." This is an essential aspect of human existence. There are women that assert it is impossible for men to be feminists because they benefit from the oppressive aspects of society, or really just want to appear as one who treats all humans equally. Accordingly, a book written by a woman about women has inherent motives, for better and for worse.

     From the introduction, Beauvoir seems to be a person writing from genuine interest.Her essential question is "what is a woman?" She illustrates how men have imposed standards of femininity through religion which is used as a dogmatic tool of oppression. Male-centered religions create absolute laws and further notions of basic, innate inequality of the sexes. Their myths of creation support the oppression of women as impure, devious, irrational beings that exist to prop up their mate's needs.

     As Beauvoir says, women need an identity based on their selves, not on males' ideals of femininity and morality. Since women and men must coexist to further the species, there can never be identity free of outside influence. Rather, we should strive to balance the perceptions of one another, resulting in just treatment of each human as the individual he or she is.

                                                       ***

     In dealing with the question presented in Nancy Holstrom's essay, "Do Woman Have a Distinct Nature," the author immediately questions the concept of what a "nature" is in our vocabulary. She notes that it usually refers to an immutable essence that is primarily biological. In searching for distinct, innate characteristics of men and women, one must realize there is a feedback principle involved in the interaction of biological and social dictums. As Holstrom notes, society could change child-raising practices to balance the maternal burden. Psychic trauma produces biological reactions, and it is evident that women suffer greatly from unfair moral and economic practices in our society.

"Nature" itself is not wholly influenced by biology; thus, it is mutable to accommodate rapid social change.

     Holstrom does believe that there are distinct differences in some traits found in men and women. While many existing beliefs are false, some studies cited in the essay conclude that gender frequently determines such things such as perception of fear, competitiveness, and compliance. The reasons behind these statistical findings are unclear at best. The influence of society and biology could only be determined in a vacuum atmosphere free of human influence. Holstrom notes vast differences between members of the same sex.. She also theorizes that female and male natures are blended within each of us. The symbolism of yin and and yang may apply to Holstrom's theory, showing that dichotomy does exist within each of us to varying degrees.

                                                      ***

     In studying the idea of women being associated with Nature and men with Culture, Sherry Ortner examines the differences between human universals and cultural particulars. Humans are equally affected by universals of existence, while cultural habits explain how members of our species think of themselves and others. Ortner identifies the physiology of women, with their social roles, and their particular psyche traits as reasons why women have been long identified with Nature. Men claim the role of cultural developers because they identify women with the Earth, which plays an paradoxical role in our survival. Life itself is deemed inferior to creative and religious constructs of men who usually identify life with imperfection; imperfect because mortality is a human universal. So Culture, guided by men, values the aesthetic creation over the natural, physical reproduction of life. As our relationship with Nature changes so does our view of women. The public sphere is slowly opening to allow women the opportunity to alter society in ways which will balance the roles of the sexes in cultural valuation.

     Sarah Hoagland argues that in society's portrayal of women as victims, women are accordingly mistreated and abused. Roles and imposed definitions of femininity are largely responsible for the continuing degradation of women. Similar traits found in men and women, such as aggression and confidence, are seen as being masculine or feminine and are viewed differently when manifested in actions. Hoagland theorizes that our perception of female resistance to unfair practices is muted by males who explain female actions as irrational or "air-headed." In reality, such action may represent discontent, not carelessness or lack of intelligence. Women must reject the values of femininity and live as their own entities before society at large can allow them full expression as individuals, and men must abandon the false notion of masculinity for this to occur.

                                               ***

The first two chapters from Angela Davis's Women Race and Class points out the lack of research into the study of female slaves and goes on to show the relationship between the anti-slavery movement and the suffragists of the time. Black women were oppressed both as women and as Africans, though their power as workers was recognized and manipulated by white male slaveholders. The black mistress was often unable to alter her relationship with her "owner," making her the victim of unrecognized rape. White women began to see that they are the slaves or property, of their husbands, by first sympathizing with the plight of black slaves.

     The abolitionist movement was the first opportunity for women to become involved in public political debate. They saw the subordinate role of women more clearly as they were bared from discussion or even attendance in many abolitionist meetings. Women became skilled at many aspects of political activism, including fund-raising, public speaking, and literary propaganda. The involvement of white women in the abolitionist movement lent sympathy to the cause, but their roles as consciousness raisers and prime movers in the Underground Railroad stand first and foremost as examples of women's potential strength.

                                               ***

The women's rights movement grew from the abolitionist and labor movements which were so dependent on women for support. The role of "servant" was close to synonymous with "slave" and "housewife" as society changed to accommodate the industrial revolution and emancipation of black Americans. Davis notes the changing perception of economics as being partially responsible for women's growing dissatisfaction with marriage. Many women working in factories never saw any wages, as their husbands considered all financial matters "above" the heads of their wives. Women were recruited out of farming communities to work in factories under the pretense of their being conditioned for the role of housewife-servant. With such obvious economic oppression, it is hardly surprising that women were responsible for the first governmental investigation of labor conditions.

     The most interesting information out of this reading selection was the rise of subdued racism in the women's rights movement. Women such as Stanton and Mott identified themselves with the abolitionist movement early on, hoping to win suffrage for women as slaves, as black men attained their right to vote. When they saw this wouldn't happen, their rhetoric revealed supremacist beliefs that had been subdued before for political unity. Not being able to win identification of woman as equal to man may have forced their racial egotisms to assert superficial precedence over any true notion of "equality."

Forest Bloodgood

University of Kansas

Journal 1

Prof. Ann Cudd

Ossuary Earth Day

  

nest on the sidewalk from earth

day, undamaged other than unperched, and no broken

eggs or treaty tape parade

as perfect as nature's components,

the ash sprig  in an ossuary cradle of willow

matted with dog hair and moss

radagast pauses,

a cheap china made umbrella in the hand

to replace the habitat in

his everlasting beard

4-22-20

portland 

Maryhill Stonehenge monument

  

"Hill thought that the original monument had been used as a sacrificial site.  

He was a Quaker and commissioned the replica as a reminder that 

 humanity is still capable of being sacrificed to the god of war. " 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryhill_Stonehenge 

The dedication plaque on this Washington Stonehenge is inscribed:

'In memory of the soldiers and sailors of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country.  

This monument is erected in the hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death can alone quench." 

Deliberate

  Of course I'm religious. See?

"Deliberately depriving the civilian population of food, water and fuel and willfully impeding relief supplies is 

 using starvation as a method of warfare 

, which inevitably has a deadly impact on children,” it said." 

"almost half the households in northern Gaza and one-third in the south reported high levels of severe hunger. 

 The program’s deputy executive director, Carl Skau, said  

nine out of 10 families in some areas spent a full day and night without any food."  

Look it up, kitten (pt. 2)

  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Boykin 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Boykin 

 

William Gerald "Jerry" Boykin (born April 19, 1948) is a retired American lieutenant general who was the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence under President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2007. During his 36-year career in the military he spent 13 years in the Delta Force and was involved in numerous high-profile missions, including  

the 1980 Iran hostage rescue attempt,  

the 1992 hunt for Pablo Escobar in Colombia, 

 and the Black Hawk Down incident in Mogadishu, Somalia.  

 He is currently executive vice president at the Family Research Council.  

____ 

an October 2003 speech to a community church in Oregon, Boykin was recorded stating that Islamic extremists hate the United States "because we're a Christian nation,  

because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christians. ... And the enemy is a guy named Satan. "   

President George W. Bush distanced himself from the statements, 

 saying that Boykin didn't "reflect my point of view or the point of view of this administration." 

"As a Christian,  

I believe that there is a spiritual war that is continuous as articulated in the Bible.  

It is not confined to the war of terrorism." 

"Boykin then requested an investigation by an inspector general into the allegations. 

 A ten-month investigation carried out by the Department of Defense concluded in August 2004 that Boykin had broken three rules in giving the speeches." 

 

_____ 

 Alluding to a biblical passage in which Jesus says, "I came not to bring peace but to bring a sword", Boykin said, 

 "I believe now that the sword he'll be carrying when he comes back is an AR-15."  

___ 

Jews are the "cause of all the problems in the world", which the Southern Poverty Law Center characterized as "an awkward attempt at humor".  

During that speech, he also asserted President Barack Obama had sent "subliminal messages" to Muslims during his 2009 A New Beginning speech in Cairo.

During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Boykin first advised Sen. Ted Cruz. 

Then, on September 6, 2016, he endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. 

The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. 

It opposes and lobbies against:  

access to pornography, 

 embryonic stem-cell research, 

 abortion,  

divorce,  

and LGBT rights—such as anti-discrimination laws, 

 same-sex marriage, 

 same-sex civil unions, 

 and LGBT adoption 

 The FRC has been criticized by media sources and professional organizations such as the American Sociological Association for using "anti-gay pseudoscience" to falsely conflate homosexuality and pedophilia, and falsely to claim that the children of same-sex parents suffer from more mental health problems. 

_______ 

Some odd coincidence; "Boykins."