Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Volcanic Ashes

How shall we then remain composed? When even Ginsberg's Howl would get no play were it written today? Now that those 15 minutes of fame are moving in the direction of equal distribution in some kind of bizarre lockstep against the flow of money magma, which concentrates, ever concentrates at some pinnacle of vertical marketing miracles of patented mono-cultural seed creations, meant to feed the world, cross linked with particular pesticides and fertilizers, it looks a lot like evil.

How render good from ill events? Will the weather be changed by the eruptions? Will there be perpetual winter now to mock our enthusiasms for global warming? Will the jet engines condense the ash to glass on their internal workings and fall to earth? Will all of China run amok in school now, seeking treatment for psychological ills not even recognized in a culture which could use some Prozac nationalism?

My news is so fragmented. There are brilliant YouTubes to have just missed in their true season, which is about a mayfly's lifespan. There are longish emails against the tide of children now, who only twitter and might respond to a composed email months beyond its ripeness. Days seem like months. A moment is eternity.

There is lust conveyed between bored bodies getting off, and only in the mind of some viewer. There are authors abundant, published and republished because they are read because they are published. But the fragmentation is positively tectonic. As though the earth were moving beneath our feet. As though the overheated core was about to spew forever, slick upon our surfaces, waging some kind of war against our presumption of innocence.

Which accidents will we count? Which discount? Which give away for free? There surely can be no meaning when the plates shift, which would have nothing at all to do with our preparation to be disturbed by them. But that we could, remember, wink out in a nod, which is something less than an instant. Because within it there remains an I. Which accident do you prefer? There are so many on offer.

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