Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 30, 2017
Ubiquitous Opacity
In digitized society, we know
people we don't know, and we
don't know people we do know.
Things are made to seem
as if they're happening.
We're distracted from perceiving
much of what is happening.
In high definition we encounter
ubiquitous opacity.
hans ostrom 2017
people we don't know, and we
don't know people we do know.
Things are made to seem
as if they're happening.
We're distracted from perceiving
much of what is happening.
In high definition we encounter
ubiquitous opacity.
hans ostrom 2017
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Borges Before Sleep
A problem or not with reading
Borges in bed before sleep
is that Before Sleep can
go on for decades. If you read
"The Immortal," for instance, you'll
be driven by coach across centuries
into a countryside, where you'll
enter a baroque mansion that becomes a
labyrinthine museum of statues,
and you'll settle finally in a library
designed by Escher. You will ascend,
descend, and circulate. Plots
will spill out of your mind like tiny
spiders just hatched. The plots
grow and make webs, and you
have to go to work tomorrow,
whenever that might be.
hans ostrom 2017
Borges in bed before sleep
is that Before Sleep can
go on for decades. If you read
"The Immortal," for instance, you'll
be driven by coach across centuries
into a countryside, where you'll
enter a baroque mansion that becomes a
labyrinthine museum of statues,
and you'll settle finally in a library
designed by Escher. You will ascend,
descend, and circulate. Plots
will spill out of your mind like tiny
spiders just hatched. The plots
grow and make webs, and you
have to go to work tomorrow,
whenever that might be.
hans ostrom 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Monday, October 23, 2017
You Whispered
You whispered my name.
My name enjoyed it.
You turned breath
into syllables,
and they rented my ear.
I wouldn't say I'm a fool,
per se (others may). I
would say I'm a specialized
fool working exclusively
for you, and that whisper
of yours has a certain
command of the situation.
hans ostrom 2017
My name enjoyed it.
You turned breath
into syllables,
and they rented my ear.
I wouldn't say I'm a fool,
per se (others may). I
would say I'm a specialized
fool working exclusively
for you, and that whisper
of yours has a certain
command of the situation.
hans ostrom 2017
Spare
Spare furnishings. Bare
beams. Spare
has an extra meaning
meaning extra.
How can a spare rib
be a spare
rib when it isn't extra
on any single envoi
of a ribbed species?
Oh, spare me. Spare
me the lecture. Spare
me please, please I
beg you. 8+ billion
of us & no spare Earth.
hans ostrom 2017
beams. Spare
has an extra meaning
meaning extra.
How can a spare rib
be a spare
rib when it isn't extra
on any single envoi
of a ribbed species?
Oh, spare me. Spare
me the lecture. Spare
me please, please I
beg you. 8+ billion
of us & no spare Earth.
hans ostrom 2017
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Rational Dreamer
"By one estimate, . . . people dream through half their waking hours."
--The Atlantic, October 2017
The mind is smarter than us. It knows
living's a strain, at best. So it wants
to dream, flushing the toxins of perception
from receptors of reality. It orders
body to sleep. Even when
body's awake, half the time mind
goes down an alley or into a clearing,
gossips with the past, or drifts
to the edge of the crowd.
Mind is a professional and will
concentrate if necessary. But
the world is dangerous, and many
people in power are insane
and depraved, so mind likes
to keep its distance. It is perhaps
most rational when it's dreaming.
hans ostrom 2017
--The Atlantic, October 2017
The mind is smarter than us. It knows
living's a strain, at best. So it wants
to dream, flushing the toxins of perception
from receptors of reality. It orders
body to sleep. Even when
body's awake, half the time mind
goes down an alley or into a clearing,
gossips with the past, or drifts
to the edge of the crowd.
Mind is a professional and will
concentrate if necessary. But
the world is dangerous, and many
people in power are insane
and depraved, so mind likes
to keep its distance. It is perhaps
most rational when it's dreaming.
hans ostrom 2017
Tuesday, October 17, 2017
Monday, October 16, 2017
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Awful Bog
That the U.S. president's speech
has declined into bits of blather,
a handful of flaccid bigoted prods,
and droplets of rancid smarm
sharply summarizes the state
of the nation's health. He is where
he should not be because our sense
and sensibilities continue sunk
in an awful bog.
hans ostrom 2017
has declined into bits of blather,
a handful of flaccid bigoted prods,
and droplets of rancid smarm
sharply summarizes the state
of the nation's health. He is where
he should not be because our sense
and sensibilities continue sunk
in an awful bog.
hans ostrom 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
Italian Coffee Pot
Caffeine priest in a silver
cassock. Octagonal alchemist.
Silver bird gargling dark steam.
It is in the pantheon of small,
essential pots that lead us
kindly into our daily labors.
It is the beloved mayor of the
stove. It is a three-part harmony
of form and function.
hans ostrom 2017
cassock. Octagonal alchemist.
Silver bird gargling dark steam.
It is in the pantheon of small,
essential pots that lead us
kindly into our daily labors.
It is the beloved mayor of the
stove. It is a three-part harmony
of form and function.
hans ostrom 2017
About Last Week
The old days--last week: hard not
to yearn for them, their billions
of images and messages from robots
that made them so special.
And that's not to mention
all the official depravities
pursued worldwide. And it's a
piquant era in America.
The noxious gas that fills
the nation's balloon president
leaked out and anointed the hate-
filled land. The White people
in power who can stand
between his madness and
catastrophic destruction did
not, do not. What a time it was!
hans ostrom 2017
to yearn for them, their billions
of images and messages from robots
that made them so special.
And that's not to mention
all the official depravities
pursued worldwide. And it's a
piquant era in America.
The noxious gas that fills
the nation's balloon president
leaked out and anointed the hate-
filled land. The White people
in power who can stand
between his madness and
catastrophic destruction did
not, do not. What a time it was!
hans ostrom 2017
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
Centri-Fugue
Mind's centrifuge spins in self-defense.
Attempts to spare the core from engulfment
by noise shocks sales extortions hate;
and drowning by social media. Centrifuge
plays a centrifugue, its own idio-
synchronized music, which insulates,
and which also helps mind evade ego,
culture's target. A not-you seems
to glide in the fugue. Glowing
multi-colored rain falls. "Starwater,"
it's called by locals, although
there is no locality. The fogged
not-you folds itself into an unbounded
flow of other disengaged personas.
Soon sadly your non-self hears a noise,
recognizes it as name, and everything's
recalled, ego re-established. The
spinning and its spun music cease.
Your tense sense of the world resumes.
Out of digital Hades comes the flood again.
hans ostrom 2017
Attempts to spare the core from engulfment
by noise shocks sales extortions hate;
and drowning by social media. Centrifuge
plays a centrifugue, its own idio-
synchronized music, which insulates,
and which also helps mind evade ego,
culture's target. A not-you seems
to glide in the fugue. Glowing
multi-colored rain falls. "Starwater,"
it's called by locals, although
there is no locality. The fogged
not-you folds itself into an unbounded
flow of other disengaged personas.
Soon sadly your non-self hears a noise,
recognizes it as name, and everything's
recalled, ego re-established. The
spinning and its spun music cease.
Your tense sense of the world resumes.
Out of digital Hades comes the flood again.
hans ostrom 2017
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Creature Brains
Creature brains feature
lanes nature grooved
as species moved into
spaces over time with
their accidental
adaptations.
Hans Ostrom 2017
lanes nature grooved
as species moved into
spaces over time with
their accidental
adaptations.
Hans Ostrom 2017
Phantom Blues
I have the phantom blues.
I'm too tired to be blue.
This is what phantoms do.
They only almost have the blues.
Maybe I'll get some rest
so I can get depressed.
Yes, that's it. I need to
feel better to feel worse.
Maybe I am a phantom.
I hadn't thought of that.
Just an old weary ghost
with an invisible hat.
Hans Ostrom 2017
I'm too tired to be blue.
This is what phantoms do.
They only almost have the blues.
Maybe I'll get some rest
so I can get depressed.
Yes, that's it. I need to
feel better to feel worse.
Maybe I am a phantom.
I hadn't thought of that.
Just an old weary ghost
with an invisible hat.
Hans Ostrom 2017
Let the Maul Fall
In Fall always
use a splitting maul or an ax,
never a hatchet,
to split cut wood into kindling.
As you split and sweat, don't forget
to find the smell of sap in air.
Find a rhythm to body plus wood
plus chop; and air.
Let the maul fall,
no need to swing it. It's splitting
not chopping, after all.
Would anybody find you
if you walked back into
woods to apologize to trees?
Thoughts like this come from air
as your mind moves away
from the fall of the maul's
heavy head and blade.
Hitting a knot calls your mind back.
Find yourself done with splitting
wood, two boxes of kindling,
let's say. Wood stoves are disappearing,
they must. Culture always
chops away old days, splits
custom, finds other ways to warm itself,
finds other work to get that done.
Hans Ostrom 2017
use a splitting maul or an ax,
never a hatchet,
to split cut wood into kindling.
As you split and sweat, don't forget
to find the smell of sap in air.
Find a rhythm to body plus wood
plus chop; and air.
Let the maul fall,
no need to swing it. It's splitting
not chopping, after all.
Would anybody find you
if you walked back into
woods to apologize to trees?
Thoughts like this come from air
as your mind moves away
from the fall of the maul's
heavy head and blade.
Hitting a knot calls your mind back.
Find yourself done with splitting
wood, two boxes of kindling,
let's say. Wood stoves are disappearing,
they must. Culture always
chops away old days, splits
custom, finds other ways to warm itself,
finds other work to get that done.
Hans Ostrom 2017
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Monday, October 2, 2017
Jambing Jam Jive
Jam of the berries, plums,
and sums of water, sweetness,
concoction. Jamb of a door,
a line, or a vine propelling
itself gradually toward
a window sill: vegetative
will. Jamb of the saying
when English meets French,
leaving you singing
the time-and-place blues
on a bench. Jam of aggression,
reckless and crude, forcing
parts to fit into
what's falsely trued.
hans ostrom 2017
and sums of water, sweetness,
concoction. Jamb of a door,
a line, or a vine propelling
itself gradually toward
a window sill: vegetative
will. Jamb of the saying
when English meets French,
leaving you singing
the time-and-place blues
on a bench. Jam of aggression,
reckless and crude, forcing
parts to fit into
what's falsely trued.
hans ostrom 2017
The Vast Hall
Another group has rented
the vast hall here. We must leave.
We didn't know this day would come.
We knew a day would.
Yes, of course I'm confused
and afraid, as if I'd been hollowed
out and panic had been poured in.
I'm also greedy for more time
in this grand space. That's so small
of me. A door will open,
and a door will close. The simplicity
of it is appalling.
hans ostrom2017
the vast hall here. We must leave.
We didn't know this day would come.
We knew a day would.
Yes, of course I'm confused
and afraid, as if I'd been hollowed
out and panic had been poured in.
I'm also greedy for more time
in this grand space. That's so small
of me. A door will open,
and a door will close. The simplicity
of it is appalling.
hans ostrom2017
Sunday, October 1, 2017
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