Saturday, November 3, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Economy Needs the Poor
“The economy needs the poor,” says
a wee lad on the precipice of a bachelor
of arts in economics to me. He’s the son
of some remote dickhead CEO in France
One of the brightest students I’ve ever taught,
a Black and Latina woman from
Oakland (she likes the 49ers, I like the
Raiders, we riff on that) says, “The
political science students on campus
are the least culturally competent—
they’re not equipped for this society.”
Today, this month, November 2012,
I think, well, Whiteness will have its
way: cocaine-speed-meth
capitalism, fuck-you-
we’re going
to fucking war, if you’re a
thinking
person, then go fuck yourself,
we will
dominate you, we always have,
so suck our illiterate radioactive dicks.
Old, I wish to God it would be different
for the thinking young I know. You don’t
know how much I wish that this were so.
I wish God would empower them.
And then I look at the mainstream shit
they all must countenance, and I think,
“God damn it, the demons have won.
The motherfucking super-rich have won.”
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Elections
In this our word-meat phase,
we control-alt-delete
soothing Constitutional lullabies.
Technicians drive translucent
needles into our representatives'
brains to lubricate the legislative
mastication. From under sheets
of plastic ice, we can't see Government.
It is a rumored air-ship high above.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
we control-alt-delete
soothing Constitutional lullabies.
Technicians drive translucent
needles into our representatives'
brains to lubricate the legislative
mastication. From under sheets
of plastic ice, we can't see Government.
It is a rumored air-ship high above.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
The Homosexual Agenda and Weather
The Homosexual Agenda and Weather
"Defend and Proclaim the Faith Ministries' Founder and Pastor John McTernan has blamed Hurricane Sandy on homosexuals and President Obama, reports Gay Star News [October 29, 2012]"
I see where a pastor opined
that a big tropical storm
arose because of the homosexual
agenda, which I gather
goes as follows:
1. Call to Order
2. Approve minutes from the previous homosexual meeting.
3. Old Business: continuing to be who we are.
4. New Business: affecting the weather.
5. Adjournment.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
"Defend and Proclaim the Faith Ministries' Founder and Pastor John McTernan has blamed Hurricane Sandy on homosexuals and President Obama, reports Gay Star News [October 29, 2012]"
I see where a pastor opined
that a big tropical storm
arose because of the homosexual
agenda, which I gather
goes as follows:
1. Call to Order
2. Approve minutes from the previous homosexual meeting.
3. Old Business: continuing to be who we are.
4. New Business: affecting the weather.
5. Adjournment.
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
Monday, October 29, 2012
Bless Meaninglessness
God bless meaningless noise people
make, such as, "I knew I shouldn't have
trusted February" or "the piece that I'm
not seeing is some kind of evaluative
framework" or "How can people not
get that?" The froth of not-meaning's
whipped up into magnificent meringue
sculptures. I walk among them all day--
the fantastic shapes! I say little in response
Maybe "interesting" or "wow,
really?" or a well placed, "Good grief,
let's hope it turns out all right."
I can pretend to understand just
enough to escape scrutiny. Then
I must come home and rest, maybe
read a detective novel, in which
the world represented coheres
and meaning means. Out there
online, at work, and in the public
sphere, people say and write a
great many things which neither
swing nor mean a thing. God bless
them and that noise.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
make, such as, "I knew I shouldn't have
trusted February" or "the piece that I'm
not seeing is some kind of evaluative
framework" or "How can people not
get that?" The froth of not-meaning's
whipped up into magnificent meringue
sculptures. I walk among them all day--
the fantastic shapes! I say little in response
Maybe "interesting" or "wow,
really?" or a well placed, "Good grief,
let's hope it turns out all right."
I can pretend to understand just
enough to escape scrutiny. Then
I must come home and rest, maybe
read a detective novel, in which
the world represented coheres
and meaning means. Out there
online, at work, and in the public
sphere, people say and write a
great many things which neither
swing nor mean a thing. God bless
them and that noise.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Overheard at a Job-Site: Enough to Do
Look, you
little sonofabitch,
you don't
need to be making
work for me.
I got plenty
to do, including
nothing.
So don't go
getting big
ideas. Got it?
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
little sonofabitch,
you don't
need to be making
work for me.
I got plenty
to do, including
nothing.
So don't go
getting big
ideas. Got it?
Copyright 2012 Hans Ostrom
Monday, October 22, 2012
Unlicensed Poetry
He operated poetry without a license
for decades. To be fair, he had tried
a few times to get one. But he couldn't
ever seem to complete all the steps required.
Eventually the authorities caught up with
him. They made him pledge allegiance
to a School of Poetry and declare whether
he was underground, on top of the ground,
or just lying there covered in leaves. He
chose the latter. He rewrote the pledge
to make it sound better.
He was also required to join poetry-groups,
councils, and commissions and to post
his opinions about poetry-arguments
online. They wanted to wear him down,
the regulators. Soon enough they lost
sight of him. He slipped away to write
some poems again.
To write some poems. An infinitive phrase,
an unregulated phase in which a body may
live indefinitely. Once again he was free
to associate with garter snakes, statistical
geniuses, cats, drunks, students, plumbers,
spiders, foxed anthologies, and the groaning
clutter of his own mind.
Copyright Hans Ostrom 2012
for decades. To be fair, he had tried
a few times to get one. But he couldn't
ever seem to complete all the steps required.
Eventually the authorities caught up with
him. They made him pledge allegiance
to a School of Poetry and declare whether
he was underground, on top of the ground,
or just lying there covered in leaves. He
chose the latter. He rewrote the pledge
to make it sound better.
He was also required to join poetry-groups,
councils, and commissions and to post
his opinions about poetry-arguments
online. They wanted to wear him down,
the regulators. Soon enough they lost
sight of him. He slipped away to write
some poems again.
To write some poems. An infinitive phrase,
an unregulated phase in which a body may
live indefinitely. Once again he was free
to associate with garter snakes, statistical
geniuses, cats, drunks, students, plumbers,
spiders, foxed anthologies, and the groaning
clutter of his own mind.
Copyright Hans Ostrom 2012
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions
When?
What do you mean?
How come?
Where is it?
Why should I?
Who cares?
Why bother?
What the Hell?
How, exactly?
Where did you get that idea?
When may I expect an answer?
How much?
What's going on?
Where are you?
When did it happen?
Who found him?
Why did she leave?
Who knows?
Why me?
How long do I have?
What are the odds?
Where will I go?
When?
--Hans Ostrom, 2012
What do you mean?
How come?
Where is it?
Why should I?
Who cares?
Why bother?
What the Hell?
How, exactly?
Where did you get that idea?
When may I expect an answer?
How much?
What's going on?
Where are you?
When did it happen?
Who found him?
Why did she leave?
Who knows?
Why me?
How long do I have?
What are the odds?
Where will I go?
When?
--Hans Ostrom, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Reaganomics and Its Metaphors
A link to an older post about the rhetoric and images of "Reaganomics," from my other blog, which concerns politics and language:
http://politicsandlanguage.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/reaganomics-in-the-portmanteau/
The post's title is "Reaganomics in the Portmanteau"
http://politicsandlanguage.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/reaganomics-in-the-portmanteau/
The post's title is "Reaganomics in the Portmanteau"
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
This Digitation
An ant on a twig in a flood
can't conceptualize all that wet
force, nor can I even fake-imagine,
that is to say bullshit my way through,
what this digitation of being-human
is-or-means. My eyes and hands
sometimes attach themselves
(they are mammalian)
to that screen or this, and
this touch-screen or that
keyboard are twigs in the
something, which is of a something
else inside a whatever it may be,
which is purveyed retailishly.
I'm no more than a furloughed
extra in one of coding's lesser
dreams. Maybe you're an electric
fruit-fly, nothing personal. Maybe
we're real holograms, or holygrams,
merely faking ironic asides on
shit they call social media.
Perhaps most happenings now
pour forth frothily from corporate
virtualizers. That G to the P to the S
can pin my point doesn't mean
I'm being or that I'm found.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
can't conceptualize all that wet
force, nor can I even fake-imagine,
that is to say bullshit my way through,
what this digitation of being-human
is-or-means. My eyes and hands
sometimes attach themselves
(they are mammalian)
to that screen or this, and
this touch-screen or that
keyboard are twigs in the
something, which is of a something
else inside a whatever it may be,
which is purveyed retailishly.
I'm no more than a furloughed
extra in one of coding's lesser
dreams. Maybe you're an electric
fruit-fly, nothing personal. Maybe
we're real holograms, or holygrams,
merely faking ironic asides on
shit they call social media.
Perhaps most happenings now
pour forth frothily from corporate
virtualizers. That G to the P to the S
can pin my point doesn't mean
I'm being or that I'm found.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Alive, I Am Allowed
Alive, I am allowed
to perceive large pieces
of whatever this stuff
is we call the world.
Today (what is today?)
I feel the arrangement
to be such a strange
and temporary contract,
one I never signed
but one I greedily fulfill.
Sunlight comes under
blinds, a jet plane high
sounds like an air-duct's
mumble, and later I must
go collect some things to eat.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
to perceive large pieces
of whatever this stuff
is we call the world.
Today (what is today?)
I feel the arrangement
to be such a strange
and temporary contract,
one I never signed
but one I greedily fulfill.
Sunlight comes under
blinds, a jet plane high
sounds like an air-duct's
mumble, and later I must
go collect some things to eat.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Precise, Indifferent, Fluctuating
Hiram liked to piss outside in any season.
There's little reward in asking why.
It does have something to do with men.
Inquire of them. Or not.
Hiram, in socks, no shoes,
pissed outside in a rainstorm.
He said to himself,
"This is outstanding. It is right."
As urine flowed through
his cock into sodden grass
lit dimly, he thought, "One
trouble for humans is
that the universe is
absolutely precise (he
was looking at things
that could be only
what, when, and how
they were), in constant
flux, and indifferent to
human preferences.
Hans Ostrom 2012
There's little reward in asking why.
It does have something to do with men.
Inquire of them. Or not.
Hiram, in socks, no shoes,
pissed outside in a rainstorm.
He said to himself,
"This is outstanding. It is right."
As urine flowed through
his cock into sodden grass
lit dimly, he thought, "One
trouble for humans is
that the universe is
absolutely precise (he
was looking at things
that could be only
what, when, and how
they were), in constant
flux, and indifferent to
human preferences.
Hans Ostrom 2012
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
While The Fascists Were Being Elected
While the fascists
were being elected,
much of the populace
was posting photos
of their cats on social
media, discussing desserts,
and exchanging
clever quips. The
fascists found the path
to power laughably
smooth. So they laughed.
Copyright 2012.
were being elected,
much of the populace
was posting photos
of their cats on social
media, discussing desserts,
and exchanging
clever quips. The
fascists found the path
to power laughably
smooth. So they laughed.
Copyright 2012.
Artists in an Empire
If you're an American, you're a citizen
of an imperial nation. A general
and a president (a general and
a president) gave us fair warning
about a military-industrial complex.
He had helped to defeat one earlier.
If you're an American artist (poet
or painter, musician, novelist . . .),
you're an artist in an imperial
nation, which makes empire
your business by default.
What can be done about this?
This begging question loiters
near you. You see it or hear it
or you don't. Or you do and don't.
What does an American's art
have to do with this American
empire? That's another question.
The questions pile up like
things an empire builds.
Hans Ostrom, copyright 2012
of an imperial nation. A general
and a president (a general and
a president) gave us fair warning
about a military-industrial complex.
He had helped to defeat one earlier.
If you're an American artist (poet
or painter, musician, novelist . . .),
you're an artist in an imperial
nation, which makes empire
your business by default.
What can be done about this?
This begging question loiters
near you. You see it or hear it
or you don't. Or you do and don't.
What does an American's art
have to do with this American
empire? That's another question.
The questions pile up like
things an empire builds.
Hans Ostrom, copyright 2012
Bank of Dreams
At the bank of dreams,
he deposited seven flesh-eating
nightmares and withdrew
one anxiety-dream in which
he has but three days to find
permanent accommodation
in the swarmed, oily city
of Otos, where many
apartment-structures look
like salmon roe, each spherical
unit holding one frantic life.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
he deposited seven flesh-eating
nightmares and withdrew
one anxiety-dream in which
he has but three days to find
permanent accommodation
in the swarmed, oily city
of Otos, where many
apartment-structures look
like salmon roe, each spherical
unit holding one frantic life.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Said
Said, "Clouds, go over to my friend's
house, but don't drop rain."
Said, "Hawk, sit on a power-line
that stretches all the way to Paradise."
Said, "River, sip some tequila, then
salt-water, when you get there."
Said, "Star, you are what you are,
and far is your situation."
Hans Ostrom, 2012
house, but don't drop rain."
Said, "Hawk, sit on a power-line
that stretches all the way to Paradise."
Said, "River, sip some tequila, then
salt-water, when you get there."
Said, "Star, you are what you are,
and far is your situation."
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
It Is Election Season
It is Election Season in the U.S.A.
The Right knows exactly what it hates
but not what it supports. What passes
for the Left knows exactly what
it supports but not what it opposes.
The sheer weight of cash
breaks the back of democracy's
bridge: boom--into the river.
In the meantime, no fundamentals
will change. You could say it was
lost in the Constitution. Or later,
when railroads took over. Or
even later, when no one listened
to Eisenhower's farewell address.
You select your starting point,
your ending, your epistemic closure.
It is lost. Those who would challenge
the fundamentals were exposed
as noble but impotent: Occupy.
Those who should be occupied
pretend to be our close personal
friends: the media. Those
who work too much for not
enough will always
and forever get The Shaft.
It is Election Season in
the U.S.A. White men
are hanging chairs from
suburban trees, a most
safe evocation of lynching,
indeed, sir. Indeed sir.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
The Right knows exactly what it hates
but not what it supports. What passes
for the Left knows exactly what
it supports but not what it opposes.
The sheer weight of cash
breaks the back of democracy's
bridge: boom--into the river.
In the meantime, no fundamentals
will change. You could say it was
lost in the Constitution. Or later,
when railroads took over. Or
even later, when no one listened
to Eisenhower's farewell address.
You select your starting point,
your ending, your epistemic closure.
It is lost. Those who would challenge
the fundamentals were exposed
as noble but impotent: Occupy.
Those who should be occupied
pretend to be our close personal
friends: the media. Those
who work too much for not
enough will always
and forever get The Shaft.
It is Election Season in
the U.S.A. White men
are hanging chairs from
suburban trees, a most
safe evocation of lynching,
indeed, sir. Indeed sir.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
Garbage Disposal
("Insinkerator")
It is a rabid wolverine trapped
in a mine tunnel under the sink.
It is the misbegotten id of the kitchen.
As it masticates food we wouldn't
touch, it snarls, snorts, and chokes.
It is the lawn-mower's mad cousin
holed up in the gothic under-counter
cabinet with terrible chemicals.
As I stare into the sink's hole,
afraid, I hear the monster lacerating shadows.
I will feed it a fork again one day
because I must.
Hans Ostrom, copyright 2012
It is a rabid wolverine trapped
in a mine tunnel under the sink.
It is the misbegotten id of the kitchen.
As it masticates food we wouldn't
touch, it snarls, snorts, and chokes.
It is the lawn-mower's mad cousin
holed up in the gothic under-counter
cabinet with terrible chemicals.
As I stare into the sink's hole,
afraid, I hear the monster lacerating shadows.
I will feed it a fork again one day
because I must.
Hans Ostrom, copyright 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
A Bridge in Venice
When you reach
a bridge in Venice,
you feel as if
you have arrived.
And then you don't
feel that way. You
look at the canal.
People move past you,
you who have become
an obstacle. You realize
that Venice has arrived
at you. It is taking
your photo, which
it will slip into a crack
between some stones.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
a bridge in Venice,
you feel as if
you have arrived.
And then you don't
feel that way. You
look at the canal.
People move past you,
you who have become
an obstacle. You realize
that Venice has arrived
at you. It is taking
your photo, which
it will slip into a crack
between some stones.
Hans Ostrom, 2012
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