essay: #055: Mightier than the Sword

Escher's Tower of Babel

The ink, it seems.
Is still mightier, than the sword.
Reaction to satirical depictions.
Of Prophet Muhammad.
Reaches hysterical proportions.

"In Iran, the thirst for revenge has even lead the government-controlled media to announce a gruesome contest to draw the most offensive Holocaust cartoon possible in order to avenge the lampooning of Islam.

"In Gaza, a Muslim cleric has called for the beheading of those European
editors who published the anti-Islamic cartoons, while others are demanding
that the hands of the cartoonists be amputated..."
Cameron Stewart, The Australian Newspaper.

Savage words of indictment.
From the enraged.
And growing, in numbers.

Ideology and fanaticism.
Thirst, that is never quenched.
Drives planes into buildings.
Bombs into backpacks.
Flames to the cloth.

Bloodshed is bloodshed.
Hypocrisy, the same color, in any tongue.
Tower of Babel.
That’s how it looks, right now.
Everyone’s shouting.
But no one’s listening…

# #

essay: #054: Complicit in Fiction

Touched.
By the melancholy beauty, of it all.
Of how the camera lies.
Complicit in the fiction.
Of our own making.

http://www.robertdoisneau.com

Meanwhile.
Ferries sink in sandstorms, in the Red Sea.
1400 people depart.
Only 324 return...

# #

Thinking about.
A body of ocean.
8,000 miles wide.
About, what separates.
And what unites us.

Thinking of United Colors.
Of this Benetton world.
Of Syrians, torching embassies.
Over caricatures, of the Prophet Muhammad.

Of dialogue, burning with hatred.
Across continents.
And throughout history.
Broadcasting, via the newswire.
And beyond.

# transmission ends #

essay: #053: Breakfast on Pluto

 
 
Breakfast on Pluto.
Nirvana of solitude.
Space station.
Somewhere, stateline California.

Skimming the rim.
Of desert.
Of time.
Of space.
Of changing worlds.

"Your words are disjointed, sometimes."
My baby says.
Yes.
Flitting here and there.
Strokes of softness.
Between the harsh.

Diving between the headlines.
Lost in the landslides.
And H5N1 computer-simulations of pandemic.
Only ever, a plane ride away.

Lost, in tasting love.
Intimate and not.
Sharing it all.
With this.
Letter to a future.
Already here.

# transmission ends #

essay: #052 Possibility of an Island

We build our monuments tall.
All masculine.
All erect.
Up, out of the ground.
To the heavens above.
Stairways to a better place.
Some believe.

Love.
Despise.
The arrogance of it all.

#

My baby holds the ashes of a dear friend, in his hands.
"It has bone in it ,,," he says.
I want to hold him close.
So I do.

#

How long does it take a body to burn?
Disintegrate into ashes.
To be scattered on the four winds.
Back from where it came.

Will it seem fleeting, in the end?
Life presented as a car-crash of memory.
Of images.
Of body.
Of words.

Possibility of an Island.
Within each and every one of us.
Potential, to leave our mark.
Potential to check-out, way before our time.
Potential to color all that we touch.
Always.

# transmission ends #

essay: #051: Postscript, 2005.

Sighs and whispers.
Words between pictures.
Tsunami and hurricane.
Bodybags litter our terrain.

Everything's illuminated.
Optimism, amid the turmoil.
Awareness, of a different kind.

Tasted culture, this year.
Traveled many miles.
Across sky.
Across ocean.
To lands, far, far away.

Through forests of wind turbines.
And the click of a million Vegas chips.
Venice Beach, where the palm trees sway.
To the digital fingerprinting.
And biometric eye scans.
Of tomorrow.
Of me.
On file.
Download.
Into Planet Surveillance mainframe.

Felt the heartbeat of my baby.
Curled in tight.
On an endless, Californian night.

Carpe diem!
Live.
Learn.
That's what we're supposed to do.

Sweet and divine.
Every last moment.
Put it into perspective?

2005.
Greatest Story Ever Told.

essay: #050: Kung Fu Hustle

Just in from Sin City.
Satellite outpost.
In the desert sands.

Vegas...
What goes on there, stays there!
Or so I'm told.
Click of a million cameras.
A million chips.
A million paychecks.
A million helicopter blades.
Deep into the sunrise.

Nevada blues never got me.
Windowless alleys where time has no meaning.
To Joshua Trees.
And streets with no name.

Oh so pretty, this City of Angels.
Tagged and sometimes not.
Architectural prism of light.
Canyon oasis.
Statelines and Louisiana diners.
Cheap and nasty.
To fields of wind propellers.
And street parties in Palm Springs.

Losing my heart.
In the excess and golden smiles.
In the knowing.
And the unknowable.

Post 9/11-world.
Retreats into the distance.
For now.
Only this.
Red, White & Blue.
Blood & Beans Tour.

A work in progress....

essay: #049: Sunset Boulevard Tuesday.

Scene One

Clock says: 11.56am.
My body says something different.
From one continent, to the next.
Surfing this international dateline.

Cocktails, pills and Nada Surf ballads.
ipods and eye masks.
Limited alcohol.
And by the way,
"No congregating in groups allowed, folks...."

13 hours later...

Houston lady, seated to my right, new best friend.
Motions to First-Class slumber ahead:
"There's a difference between the have and have-nots in this world, girl..",
God love her.
Keeping me sane, like this.
She, soaking up life in the autumnal fast-lane.
Me, just along for the ride.

* *

Sinking into the fluffy white clouds.
Beneath the wings, now.
Only the sound of the engine.
And a heartbeat.
Gliding through this space, time continuum

* * *

Scene Two:

L.A. Customs.
Border Patrol.
Declarations of Intent.
Not in Kansas anymore, daddy.
Department of Homeland Security Agents.
Some perfunctory, while they digitize your fingerprints.
Others sweet, "Hi, ho...Love the T-shirt, and have a nice day, now..."

Cab drivers happily commentate.
While levitating taxi 3-feet from the ground.
"Sorry for snapping your spine, mam.
But have a great holiday, anyway!"

Love this Freedom.
Love this Liberty.
Love the man who bade me here.
Hiding behind an airport column.
Asleep on his couch...

* * *
Scene Three: Four Days From Now...

I will count.
Eight planes and three helicopters.
As the sun sets over the rooftops.
Here, and in the now.
In this City of Architecture.
And eternal sunshine.
Human and otherwise.

# transmission ends #

essay: #048: Eyes of a Child.

c. AFP.com

There's a quote, that haunts me.
From a time, long before suicide bombers,took over the world.
When we punctured a hole in the sky..
Split the fucking atom and the universe, wide apart.

"I am sure at the end of the world, in the last millisecond of the earth's existence humanity will see what we have just seen..." -
George Kistiakowsky, Head of Implosion Department , Manhattan Project, 1944.

Now, earthquakes, bombs and bitch hurricanes.
Wipe our blood, red meridians clean.
From the bone.
Erasing our footprints from the plasma sands of our own destruction.
Grainy, fleeting, just slips through the tips.

Reading novels, immersing in the surreal.
About suicide bomber cyclists.
About Al-Jazeera, behind the scenes.
Pure & Radiant Hearts, thank you, Lydia!
Heaven in a Chip, barcode for the flesh, for tomorrow.

Godfathers of the A-bomb.
Come see your playground, now.

Too tired to cry, busy watching bodies being excavated.
Again.
From 7.6 magnitude eruptions.
RIP estimated 35,000 dead.
From poverty to the grave, with little in the middle...

Drifting off...
Wondering, can a millisecond truly last a lifetime?

# transmission ends #

essay: #047 Ghost Town

c.AFP/Gett Images

It begins as an ache.
Next, comes the flashback.
Stark and disturbing.
Of the photograph, of the man.
The Corpse.
Jon Doe.
Belongs to no one in particular.
Just floating, really.
Through the toxic aftermath of Ghost Town.
Formerly known as New Orleans.

So sad, these unfolding chapters.
These apocalyptic times.
Brings a lump to my throat.
Makes me raw and fucking sentimental.

Third World poverty reflected in the murky depths.
Of a once hedonistic city.
E-coli bacteria in the water.
And refuse of human remains.
Yesterday vibrant.
Today, a fullstop.

#

People are talking:
"I'm scared right now...What's next?"
"Plague, pestilence and the four goddamn horsemen..."
I offer with a wry grin.

#

I wonder about that man.
And how he ended up as floatsam in the food chain.
Deserted, in his hour of need.
I want to forget I ever made his acquaintance.
Sobering and heartbreaking as it was.
Poor soul.
Decomposing before our very eyes.
Our scrutiny and curiosity ever so human.

RIP

essay: #046 Gliding down Canal Street

I used to dream.
Of bodies.
Floating.
Now.
I only have to open my eyes...


c. cnn.com

Corpses litter.
The streets of New Orleans.
Silent.
Bloated.
Accusatory.

Third world.
In the heart of 'God's country...'
Surely you jest.

Sometimes.
Life.
Trickles.
Like water.
Through fingers.

People howling with despair.
On their knees.
"Life goes on."
Says one banner.

Canoes glide down Canal Street.
While troops.
Prepare to harvest the dead.

Such tragedy.
Death of so many souls.
Population: 485,000.
Not anymore.
67 percent.
African-American.

RIP

essay: #045 Amnesiac Souls

c. usnews.com

A woman says:
"We'll all be underwater in 100 years..."
Her eyes drinking in.
The watery devastation.
Of a New Orleans grave.

Misplaced.
Displaced.
Amnesiac souls.
Us.
Humans.

Asahi and Ok Computer.
Keep me company.
Soothe my mind.
As the hurricane subsides.

# #

My baby says:
"Love is... Travelling...8,000 miles..."
I say:
"Give me the gold, from your smile..."

# #

Damn.
Descending again.
Drifting.
In.
Out.

Just fading, really.
Right now.
Into the devastation.
The river of tears.
The hum of a looters heartbeat.
And those sweet.
But reassuring sounds of.
Icebergs melting...

# transmission ends #

essay : #044 On The Wings of ipods

c.William S.Turchyn II

Breathtaking.
This!

Hovering above
The fringes.
Of a city.
In recovery.

So quiet.
So peaceful.
For now...

* *

They shot.
Hunter's ashes.
Deep.
Into.
The.
Great Beyond.
Stylish fucker.
That he was.

Pulverized.
They say.
Into fine particles.
Shot from a cannon.
A Generation of Swine.
Just ejaculated.
All over the
Goddamn place.

* *

Seems sometimes.
Like we forget.
How to breathe.
Yes.
A World That Forgot How To Breathe.
I like that.
dammit.

* *

My baby says:
"I want you to write
Until your fingers bleed..."
I say:
"Too busy.
Observing humanity, honey..."

Falling in love.
With a sepia autumn.
Don't want to.
Keep filling in.
The blanks.
Joining the dots...

Just want to.
Climb onto.
The Wings of ipods.
And
Dream.
Of
A
Place.
Far.
Far.
Away...

# transmission ends #

essay: #043 Rings Of Steel

"Just like the image of the Luton four, like the frozen frame of Mohamed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, as he strolls through the airport, we are confronted by the impossibility of divining evil intent. There is nothing in the face, the manner, the situation. All are blandly normal.

"The cameras, like our own eyes, may glimpse the moment, but they cannot read the already calculating mind. That's left for us to read from the image after the fact, then ponder at our leisure."- Jonathan Green, The Age Newspaper.

Yes.
Unfathomable.
Tragically.
Fucking.
So.

Uncertain words.
For uncertain times.
Dense.
With polarity.
Resonant.
With what we understand.
What we don't.

Other's actions.
Cracked up.
Fucked up.
But always
Illuminating to the core.

Gridlock.
Bombs exploding everywhere.
Brits show stoicism.
Through shell shock.

"I saw the wire and it hit me: he's a suicide bomber." - Commuter, Shepherds Bush, London.

2.5 million surveillance cameras
Mounted within four outposts.
Of London's
Rings of Steel.
Sweet jesus.
Qur'an's riding the subway.
Evangelicism.
On the spines.
Of bomb-rigged-prophets.

People are stunned.
But not.
Overly surprised.

**

Police.
Meanwhile.
Shoot a man to death
In front of commuters.

Blair apologizes.
After the fact.
Bad luck, buddy.
Wrong place.
Wrong time.

But still.
I dream of.
Asahi for my sweetheart.
Lost.
In London
In Summertime.
Somewhere.

Missing.
And missed.

* *

essay: #042 :: Sunset Strip

rogersadler.com

Sitting drinking cocktails.
In wind chill factor.
'Sub-arctic.'
Clouds moving way fast.
Just like the last time.

Quake in L.A.
4.9 on the Richter scale.
25 aftershocks.
Magnitude 3.5

Sunset's shaking.
And I'd trade a lifetime.
For just one kiss
From a man.
8,000 miles away.

Ironic...

The iceberg's are melting.
Children die in a hail of bullets.
In a Cambodian school.
And.
Well.
Pedophiles are set free.
Every day.

Comforting isn't it?
The thought of crazy people.
Just roaming.
Roaming free...

But, right now.
I'm just keeping my eye on the clouds.
Turned down the sound.
For a little while.
Sensory overload.
This amazing life.

entry: #040 :: Windows On The World

I have this image floating through my mind.
Of a renegade iceberg.
Damn.
Just like the one in Antarctica.
That sexy mother christened, B-15A.
An arctic missile.
Heading for the shelf.
Imagine that!
Dissent in Glacial Headquarters.
Windows On The World.
Not carved from the steel and concrete of human fatality.
But the frozen wasteland of a volatile eco-system.

Mercurial and eerie.
This B-15A.
Mistress of destruction.
Signifier of things to come.
Slam!
Right into the heart of the Drygalski ice tongue
a month ago.

Inconsiderate bitch.
Tearing off two city-sized chunks of ice.
Just like that!
At 71 miles long.
She's the largest free-floating object in the world.
Threatening the longevity of our arrogant ways.
Our hopes and dreams.
Of an inhabitable planet.
Ad-infinitum.
One step from biosphere fucking hell.

* * *

Renegades, all round.
Just ask dear Mr President,
Well.
Someone damn well went and lobbed a hand grenade.
Landed 100 meters from his feet.
Height of bad manners.
Especially whilst he was extolling the virtues of democratic development.

dear Mr President
{Psst... I gush with warmth at the thought of you, Sir}
A figure loved and admired by all.
We so want to wrap you in our embrace.
So...
Smug, sanctimonious and nervous.
Speaking from armored podiums,
Stage shielded by bulletproof glass on either side.
Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Freedom Square, Tbilisi, Soviet Union.
Nice touch.
The promise of liberty.
At a price.
Self-sacrifice of civil-rights
Hell, just take them.
They have no place in this New World Order.

dammit, I always end up back there.
To the bliss of ignorance.
To retrospection.
To the pipe-dream.

I'm thinking
Amnesia.
Global delusion.
The openly naked predatorship
Of our species.
Of our planet.
Of ourselves.

In Utero.
Filled with so much promise.
So much potential...

# transmission ends #

entry: #039 :: Hegemony or Survival

"We live in a culture of hysteria." - Todd Solondz


c.FTAA IMC

Yes.
That's exactly what it is.
The modus operandi.
Happiness!
Dysfunction-Style-Show.

Hegemony or Survival.
"Militarization of space."
Chomsky's doctrine.

Meanwhile...
Ratzinger's just slipped into the hot seat.
He, of the shifty eye.
And theological mind.
Bleak authoritarianism.
From an unenthusiastic former member
Of Hitler's Youth.

How funny is that?
78-year-old enforcer of medieval ideology.
Childhood specimen of the failed Aryan-vision.
dammit.
He gives me the creeps.
Once right hand man,
Now, Pope Benedict XVI.
If you don't mind.

Militarization of Space.
Militarization of Morality.

Endless...

ABORTION.
CONTRACEPTION.
SEXUALITY.
HOMOSEXUALITY.

Militarization of the very air we fucking breathe.

Political.
Papal.
Accursed downfall.
Either way.

A friend says:
"Write about that African parasitical worm that eats away your insides.
Y'know. It's kinda cool, like Ebola...."
I pause.
And think of trains derailing.
Going so goddamn fast.
90+ people have to die.
Got to fill the quota, folks.
Time's money, honey.
You know the drill.

As autumn surrenders to winter,
I remember a man.
And his words.
As he stood on a beach in Thailand when the tsunamis hit.

"It was eerie.
All I remember was the tide receding.
Going further and further out...
Until there was no water left.
Only sand..."


# transmission ends #

entry: #038 :: Planet Quarantine

Vonnegut.
Acrimonious bastard that he is.
Immortalized Dresden.
Through the crack-pipe satire and splatter
Of SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5.
>> 2005 >>
Protest novel for a disposable tomorrow.
Populated by the schizophrenia...
Of murderers, madmen and victims alike.

Billy Pilgrim.
Pathetic fictional specimen in the evolutionary chain.
Heretic.
Time-traveler.
Fuck it.

entry: #037 : : 12 MONKEYS

c.AFP

damn...
It's...
12-Monkeys all over again...
Life imitating art...
All that kinda fucking jazz...

Reactionary papacy...
Sprouted wings and flew into the divine hereafter...
Leaving Corporation Catholika in turmoil...
Vatican-cam....
Press Office 24/7 fucking cam...
Corpse-cam...
Crazy shit...

Angola meanwhile...
Is Haemorrhagic Fever capitol...
Seems nasty little Missy Ebola-virus...
Well, her offshoot cousin anyway...
Marburg...
Has felled 145 already...

Brutal death...
Organs liquefy...
Everyone's running scared...
Democratic Republic of Congo...
Insists on border inspections...
While Angola quarantines...

Airborne...
Humanityborne...
Eco-weapon of Mass Destruction...
Why...
Even old dear Mr President...
Couldn't blast this one into the stratosphere...
Independence Day...
Extinction Day...
What's the difference?

It's all just word-bytes...
24-seconds-ago-is-yesterday's-news...
Cardinals pontificate...
As to the new Pin-up-boy-of-the-Papacy...
While bodies collapse around the Congo...
Bleed...
Back into their original form...
All so biblical...
And ultimately...
Fucking predictable...

# transmission ends #

entry: #036 :: Razor Blade Express

LAST RAYS OF SUMMER...
ON MY SKIN...


c.Reuters

Then...
Suddenly...
Teen-angst of Autumn...
Arrives on cue...
ONE BOY'S OWN PRIVATE IDAHO...
Adolescent hell...
Momma's in a coma...
Daddy's fucking dead...

Shooting spree on the Reservation...
240-miles-north-of-Twin-Cities...
9-killed...
7-wounded...

dead bodies in the hallways...
Smears of blood...
On the Evacuation Trail...

Ghosts of children...
Molten with apathy...
Rage...
Cerebral existence...
Bliss...
@ the end of a .22-caliber...

Gus Vant Sant's Elephant...
All over again...
Columbine: Chapter II...
Red Lake High School, Minnesota...
goddamn massacre...

Cameras...
Security Guards...
'Disaster Plan...'
No way of stopping it...

16-year-old Jeff Weise...
Popped his load...
down the barrel of a gun...

"I should've taken the razor blade express last time around. Well, whatever, man. Maybe they've got another shuttle comin' around soon?"

Social outcast...
Loner...
Survivor, 15-year-old Cody Thunder...
Pre-shootout....

"He looked like a cool guy, and then I talked to him a few times. He talked about guns and shooting people...'

Gun culture...
TRIGGER-HAPPY hormones...
Children with the right...
To bear arms....
How proud we should all be...
As parents...
As a human race...
As a highly-evolved...
Fucking democracy...

# transmission ends #

entry: #035 :: Eyes Wide Open

http://www.afse.org/eyes/

DAMN THIS 21st CENTURY...
And lessons unlearnt...

Sweet Jesus...
A howl of rage...
Surfs Capitol Hill...
Wild and indignant...
We shall be heard...
Goddamit!

Exhibition, Eyes Wide Open:
On The Cost of the Iraq War...

MAKES ME WANNA CRY...

Curl back into my momma's arms...
Escape...
Somewhere warm...
Amniotic...
Pre-9/11...

The silent winds of denial...
Erase memories...
Blowing across a country...
Disembowled by indifference...
By opinion...
By its fallen...

PAINTED WITH THE BLOOD OF OUR EXPENDABLE CHILDREN...
EYES WIDE OPEN...
SO BITTERSWEET...
SO PENETRATING...
So fucking right!

Time to pay the ferryman...
dear Mr President...

Throw in a coin for Brutality...
For...
"To love your country...
Is to die for it..."

Throw in a coin for...
Deception...
And...
Signing their death warrants...

What crazy hell is this?
War...
JFK got it right the first time round...

"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind..."

Is anyone listening, here...
Too busy counting the fucking coffers...
Greed...
Plain and simple as that...

Orwell's Tomorrow...
All Reptilian smile...
And lamb-to-the-slaughter...

Principals of life and liberty...
Of a country in despair...
A world in decline...
Racing into the arms of tomorrow...
And their own epitaph...

# transmission ends #