Monday, October 21, 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Sonnet for an Actress
(reposting one from way back)
You should have seen her yesterday.
She was more beautiful than our
Idea of beauty; and the way
She carried beauty in her hour
Unveiled achievement by a body
Unmatched by art. You should have seen
Her. Yes, our gaze was always ready.
What, though, did her beauty mean?
Did she embody what we thought?
Or did she teach us to desire?
And were we seeing what we sought,
Or held in spell by beauty’s choir?
Confused, nostalgic—what to say?
If you’d just seen her yesterday....
hans ostrom 2007/2013
You should have seen her yesterday.
She was more beautiful than our
Idea of beauty; and the way
She carried beauty in her hour
Unveiled achievement by a body
Unmatched by art. You should have seen
Her. Yes, our gaze was always ready.
What, though, did her beauty mean?
Did she embody what we thought?
Or did she teach us to desire?
And were we seeing what we sought,
Or held in spell by beauty’s choir?
Confused, nostalgic—what to say?
If you’d just seen her yesterday....
hans ostrom 2007/2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Failed Insults
Oh, you Kurdish book!
Don't give me that look, you fascinating nude portrait!
How can you live with yourself, hideous mildly tart apple pie?
Gesture of kindness, get out of town, hit the bricks.
Unpretentious professor, feeder of the hungry, calm presence, loyal friend:
you make me sick.
Working-class White male who isn't racist, I hope you're happy.
hans ostrom 2013
Don't give me that look, you fascinating nude portrait!
How can you live with yourself, hideous mildly tart apple pie?
Gesture of kindness, get out of town, hit the bricks.
Unpretentious professor, feeder of the hungry, calm presence, loyal friend:
you make me sick.
Working-class White male who isn't racist, I hope you're happy.
hans ostrom 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
A Pre-Dating Conversation
She: Are you single?
He: Well, as you can see, I'm more like a double. But I always say I'm a party of one!
She: Are you interested in a commitment?
He: Not if it involves a state-operated institution. Hey, I've paid my debt to society.
She: What are your turn-ons?
He: Uh, women without clothes on and, uh, also women. Without clothes on.
She: Does anything about women threaten you?
He: If they have a gun, a knife, or a stupid ex-husband. Otherwise, no.
She: Where would you go on a first date?
He: Anywhere--any place where combat wasn't occurring.
She: What do you think about vegans?
He: I think they're so cute that I'd like to eat them. Just kidding.
She: Do you have a lot of baggage?
He: No. I have this real cool duffel bag and a really old Samsonite.
She: Do you like to communicate?
He: Yes, especially when I need something.
She: I'm not interested in playing games.
He: Me, neither. Especially board-games. And video-games. Soccer, too. I mean,
I could be talked into a game of ping-pong, but that's about it.
She: Are you romantic?
He: Fuck, yeah, I'm romantic. Roses, dinner, a new dress, jewelry. My thing
is: whatever it takes!
She: I don't think this is going to work out.
He: Yeah, I guess not. It's not you. It's me. How about a drink?
He: Well, as you can see, I'm more like a double. But I always say I'm a party of one!
She: Are you interested in a commitment?
He: Not if it involves a state-operated institution. Hey, I've paid my debt to society.
She: What are your turn-ons?
He: Uh, women without clothes on and, uh, also women. Without clothes on.
She: Does anything about women threaten you?
He: If they have a gun, a knife, or a stupid ex-husband. Otherwise, no.
She: Where would you go on a first date?
He: Anywhere--any place where combat wasn't occurring.
She: What do you think about vegans?
He: I think they're so cute that I'd like to eat them. Just kidding.
She: Do you have a lot of baggage?
He: No. I have this real cool duffel bag and a really old Samsonite.
She: Do you like to communicate?
He: Yes, especially when I need something.
She: I'm not interested in playing games.
He: Me, neither. Especially board-games. And video-games. Soccer, too. I mean,
I could be talked into a game of ping-pong, but that's about it.
She: Are you romantic?
He: Fuck, yeah, I'm romantic. Roses, dinner, a new dress, jewelry. My thing
is: whatever it takes!
She: I don't think this is going to work out.
He: Yeah, I guess not. It's not you. It's me. How about a drink?
Monday, October 14, 2013
Happeningness
The happeningness
of reality never pauses,
"is" being a fiction,
a slice of approximation
imagined to be there
between "was" and "will be."
No wonder wonder
sometimes tires me.
hans ostrom 2013
of reality never pauses,
"is" being a fiction,
a slice of approximation
imagined to be there
between "was" and "will be."
No wonder wonder
sometimes tires me.
hans ostrom 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Hello, Everything
Hey, Hello, Everything, I said,
trying to be polite.
Hi, Everything said, I'm busy.
Hey, Everything, I said,
I've worked in a pickle factory,
I've worked in a gravel plant,
I've pounded nails and washed pots
and taught rich kids and
dug trenches and written articles--
--Who cares? said Everything.
Everybody does something and there's not
much difference between
any of it. Oh, I said. Well,
how are things with you,
Everything? I'm always
changing, and I have to go,
and you're a loser and small,
said Everything. Bye.
hans ostrom 2013
trying to be polite.
Hi, Everything said, I'm busy.
Hey, Everything, I said,
I've worked in a pickle factory,
I've worked in a gravel plant,
I've pounded nails and washed pots
and taught rich kids and
dug trenches and written articles--
--Who cares? said Everything.
Everybody does something and there's not
much difference between
any of it. Oh, I said. Well,
how are things with you,
Everything? I'm always
changing, and I have to go,
and you're a loser and small,
said Everything. Bye.
hans ostrom 2013
Friday, October 11, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
All Right, Now
Having successfully eluded
fame, he took
a long nap
and awoke refreshed.
hans ostrom 2013
fame, he took
a long nap
and awoke refreshed.
hans ostrom 2013
The U.S. Congress, Observed
Have you been watching
these little legislative haters,
these law-mockers and logic-blockers
sent to the Hill (our Golgotha)
with cash stuffed up their pipes?
They've done no reading in history,
economics, philosophy, or science.
Their self-interest is artless, their
corruption as bald as a brass door knob.
It's a little like watching a person
with lousy reflexes drive a stock car
at Darlington or Daytona,
or some drunk college lad
pick a fight with a seasoned
body-guard. It can't end
well. Yes, of course,
after the wreckage, it will be we
who'll have to clean up
as best we can. Politics
now seems to have an endless
supply of punks, and
not the musical kind.
hans ostrom 2013
these little legislative haters,
these law-mockers and logic-blockers
sent to the Hill (our Golgotha)
with cash stuffed up their pipes?
They've done no reading in history,
economics, philosophy, or science.
Their self-interest is artless, their
corruption as bald as a brass door knob.
It's a little like watching a person
with lousy reflexes drive a stock car
at Darlington or Daytona,
or some drunk college lad
pick a fight with a seasoned
body-guard. It can't end
well. Yes, of course,
after the wreckage, it will be we
who'll have to clean up
as best we can. Politics
now seems to have an endless
supply of punks, and
not the musical kind.
hans ostrom 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Fall's Always Good for a Laugh
A large, allegedly evolved primate,
he passed through an exterior door
of his abode, intending to gather
a newspaper on the stoop (this
was in the last days of print-culture),
and he was caught in a spider’s web.
Webbing on his face, he looked
at the fat brown spider as it danced
like a portly Vaudevillian on its
filament, and he laughed.
hans ostrom 2013
he passed through an exterior door
of his abode, intending to gather
a newspaper on the stoop (this
was in the last days of print-culture),
and he was caught in a spider’s web.
Webbing on his face, he looked
at the fat brown spider as it danced
like a portly Vaudevillian on its
filament, and he laughed.
hans ostrom 2013
Positionality
I've misplaced my subject-position. It happens.
According to the post-modernist rulebook, which
is only virtual, my default positionality is therefore
one of befuddlement, which could be a ruse, except
a ruse seems so pre-modern, even atavistic. One
thing's certain: I'm not a mystic. Positionality
is such a tricky business. If you write or speak
the word, "positionality," then you've pretty much
positioned yourself into a pretentious corner, and
the commonly insensitive Anglo-Saxon ax will fall
on your multi-syllabic Deluxe Latinate Impressor,
which comes with its two-speed abstractionator.
Cut to: a meadow. My subject-position transport-
system, a hot-air balloon, lies sideways and un-
inflated, mere fabric amidst flax-stubble. This
is Not A Problem. This is Laugh Out Loud.
[re-posted from 2008]
hans ostrom 2013
According to the post-modernist rulebook, which
is only virtual, my default positionality is therefore
one of befuddlement, which could be a ruse, except
a ruse seems so pre-modern, even atavistic. One
thing's certain: I'm not a mystic. Positionality
is such a tricky business. If you write or speak
the word, "positionality," then you've pretty much
positioned yourself into a pretentious corner, and
the commonly insensitive Anglo-Saxon ax will fall
on your multi-syllabic Deluxe Latinate Impressor,
which comes with its two-speed abstractionator.
Cut to: a meadow. My subject-position transport-
system, a hot-air balloon, lies sideways and un-
inflated, mere fabric amidst flax-stubble. This
is Not A Problem. This is Laugh Out Loud.
[re-posted from 2008]
hans ostrom 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
Quit While You're Ahead
Many times in his life he had heard
the advice, "Know when to quit while
you're ahead." Well, hell, he thought
at last, I never get ahead. Sometimes
I catch up, but that's about it. Otherwise
I'm always behind. So I think I need
to learn to know when to quit
while I'm behind.
hans ostrom
the advice, "Know when to quit while
you're ahead." Well, hell, he thought
at last, I never get ahead. Sometimes
I catch up, but that's about it. Otherwise
I'm always behind. So I think I need
to learn to know when to quit
while I'm behind.
hans ostrom
Of Them and Of Hiram
While the others
majored in pre-law,
Hiram majored in post-law.
While they practiced
their interviewing skills,
he fell in love with women--
in particular and as a
concept. While the others
began good careers,
Hiram drove on dirt roads,
found some employment,
and wrote odd poetry.
While they took over a
political Party and insisted
on hating Black people,
Hiram read Black authors,
listened to blues, soul,
and funk, and was politically
powerless. They sold their
souls. He rented his out, but
never for very long.
They dined on the entrails
of the poor. He grew
his own vegetables.
hans ostrom 2013
majored in pre-law,
Hiram majored in post-law.
While they practiced
their interviewing skills,
he fell in love with women--
in particular and as a
concept. While the others
began good careers,
Hiram drove on dirt roads,
found some employment,
and wrote odd poetry.
While they took over a
political Party and insisted
on hating Black people,
Hiram read Black authors,
listened to blues, soul,
and funk, and was politically
powerless. They sold their
souls. He rented his out, but
never for very long.
They dined on the entrails
of the poor. He grew
his own vegetables.
hans ostrom 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Justice
justice
just ice
just is
in just
in jest
ingest
indigest
indigestion
indigest onion
in dig est
in dig o
o blue o blue o
injustice
in jester
no justice
no jest is
no just is
no peace
know peace
know piece
no peace
no peas
no pleas
no, pleas
no place
no justice no place
just please
just pleas
just peace
just us
justice
hans ostrom 2013
just ice
just is
in just
in jest
ingest
indigest
indigestion
indigest onion
in dig est
in dig o
o blue o blue o
injustice
in jester
no justice
no jest is
no just is
no peace
know peace
know piece
no peace
no peas
no pleas
no, pleas
no place
no justice no place
just please
just pleas
just peace
just us
justice
hans ostrom 2013
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