Not a lot to say about this one except that it comes from the heart. I think this is one of those that I can see working very well as a song. Unfortunately my musical skill leaves a lot to be desired. To be fair, that also didn’t stop early Goats JD, so maybe I should just give it a shot. Very cool to read about some of JD’s poetic influences today. Czeslaw Milosz is great, but my favorite polish poet from the post-war years is Wislawa Szymborska. Give her a read!
Today is more of a vignette that tries to play a bit with the wonderful body horror of the song. To me, body horror has always been vaguely comforting. A reassurance that these things are mutable. I think that comfort is one the song echoes. I always feel like I write best and I feel the most present in the world when I let my borders of self ease up or let them go entirely. It feels visceral.
That last stanza was like pulling teeth and I literally awoke with a start to rush and write it down. Dreams and portents. I had to read some other poetry while I was writing this because I noticed myself getting too stuck in that sort of Mountain Goats rhythm. I like this one! I think there’s an interesting story here, hidden away somewhere, that has less to do with story of the song, but they have the same vibe. Small farming towns and dubious people in machines.
A short essay and some late night thoughts on chapter 80 of the Dao De Jing. I will probably revisit this topic more in the future, and there is still plenty to say on this chapter, especially on the last line, which I am constantly puzzling over. But this is a 5 AM blog post, and while I am all for rigorous thinking there is a time and a place. This might be the place, but it certainly isn’t the time.