Ffolkes,
Ffolkes, I don’t know about y’all, but, it’s my considered opinion that’s one damn silly looking puffin. Between the fat little body (which only appears that way; he’s actually about right for a seabird living in the cold Atlantic ocean…), the mouthful of dead fishies, (which goes to show it’s a pretty efficient fisher….), and that silly expression (do birds really HAVE expressions? If so, how do they do that without eyebrows?) Most importantly, why am I even THINKING about any of this, when I’ve got a Pearl to write?….
Oh well, such is life here at ECR…. I should probably tell you the picture came from the London Daily Telegraph, out of a weekly feature of theirs, called the Animal Pictures of the Week…. There are always some good shots in there, but, this one was irresistible…. If it wasn’t a wild creature, you’d want to take this little guy home with you, wouldn’t you? I know I would; he’s about as cute as can be….. Of course, no wild creature should ever be caged, in my opinion, nor made into a “pet”…
I do enjoy going to the zoo, but, in my heart, I grieve the entire time, for the loss of freedom for creatures who are made to live in the wild. I always end up sad, feeling their sadness, too, the sorrow felt by all those prisoners, of Mankind’s overbearing, completely misplaced sense of entitlement, SUPPOSEDLY given him by that first part in the Bible, that manual of idiocy spawned by a number of fanatical fear mongers over the course of centuries, wherein some asshole made the absolutely false statement that convinced everyone that we have “dominion” over the other creatures with whom we live…. It is especially hard for me to watch the large predators, such as bears, or the big cats, who, after a time, become neurotic and crazy from being confined their entire lives….
I know, it’s probably a little early to start a religirant, especially when it’s an attack on a book revered by such a large percentage of people. But, some days, my anger, at those bloody manipulative assholes, who make up the whole misogynistic structure of modern religious thinking, is just too huge for me to keep inside…. Jimmy Carter made what I consider one of the most cogent statements I’ve ever heard, about how men have perverted even religious dogma, one that SHOULD have been echoing back and forth across the world when it was made…. but, nobody paid any attention…. It went like this….
It is a small step from treating animals like property, to do with as we wish, to treating women, children, and anyone who will submit as if they are of no importance, as if the rights of one aggressive, confused person are more valid than the rights of a woman, a child, or an animal…. All it takes is the innate cowardice that enables one to completely abjure any sort of true humanity, choosing instead the path taken by religious assholes for millennia, thus perpetuating the myths and false assumptions upon which the entire society has been built, and ensuring that women, children, and animals will suffer the perils of persecution and cruelty from men with no scruples….
Ah me…. There is no doubt that I’ve created a monster here; I kind of wish I had an explosive nuclear device with which to kill it, but, it’s rather amorphous, without shape or form one may grasp & hold, and may be hard to destroy…. I know, we can always laugh at it; that always seems to work on bullies, so it should work on these guys, for sure…. Of course, then we have to deal with the mess they always leave behind, but, that’s better than the alternative, for sure…. In fact, that’s such a grand idea, I’m going to make a unilateral decision here, by kicking us completely out of the intro, on into the next section….. I’ll do that, right about HERE….
Shall we Pearl?….
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free your very existence becomes an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus
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I think I hurt myself, ranting like that before I was even awake…. Now, when I consider trying to work up the chutzpah to rant some more, I experience a sense of crushing fatigue, and extreme reluctance to get started….. In short, I’m feeling lazy…. To try to appease my sense of duty, we’ll put an old-school pearl in this section, then make another field decision later, when we get as far as section three…. It’s probably futile, but, it sounds like a plan to me, so, off we go, diving for dollars, or, more accurately, pearls of virtual wisdom….
“Men only learned to walk upright cause they put beer on the top shelf!” — Smart Bee
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty–power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” — Wendell Phillips
“The tragic lesson of guilty men walking free in this country has not been lost on the criminal community.” — Richard M. Nixon
“And we are told in the Scriptures that at the beginning of time the Lord said, “Let there be light.” But I’ve checked this out with a number of eminent biblical scholars. The Lord’s complete statement was as follows: “Let there be light. Well, maybe not all day.” — Steve Allen
“Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone.” — H. L. Mencken
“A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.” — Napoleon Bonaparte, “Maxims” 1804-1815
Okay, so here’s the deal….This last little part is the perfect lawyer’s joke, as it takes aim at them from a number of directions, each striking well at their pointy little heads…. It doesn’t really fit the usual image of a pearl, but, it just went so well with the rest, I couln’t resist…. Here then, I give you our very fine closing pearl for today….
A lawyer shows up at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, “Normally we don’t let you people in here but you’re in luck, we have a special this week. You
go to hell for the length of time you were alive, then you get to come back up here for eternity.”
The lawyer says, “I’ll take the deal.”
St. Peter says, “Good, I’ll put you down for 212 years in hell …”
The lawyer says, “What are you talking about? I’m 65 years old!”
St. Peter says, “Up here we go by billing hours.”
— Orson Bean
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First, here’s a haiku, fresh….
I am, at last, done.
Nothing more to say, not now.
I shall go away.
~~ gigoid ~~
Now, to give this joint a little class, here’s a classic…
In the marketplace they are piling the dry sticks.
A thicket of shadows is a poor coat. I inhabit
The wax image of myself, a doll’s body.
Sickness begins here: I am the dartboard for witches.
Only the devil can eat the devil out.
In the month of red leaves I climb to a bed of fire.
It is easy to blame the dark: the mouth of a door,
The cellar’s belly. They’ve blown my sparkler out.
A black-sharded lady keeps me in parrot cage.
What large eyes the dead have!
I am intimate with a hairy spirit.
Smoke wheels from the beak of this empty jar.
If I am a little one, I can do no harm.
If I don’t move about, I’ll knock nothing over. So I said,
Sitting under a potlid, tiny and inert as a rice grain.
They are turning the burners up, ring after ring.
We are full of starch, my small white fellows. We grow.
It hurts at first. The red tongues will teach the truth.
Mother of beetles, only unclench your hand:
I’ll fly through the candle’s mouth like a singeless moth.
Give me back my shape. I am ready to construe the days
I coupled with dust in the shadow of a stone.
My ankles brighten. Brightness ascends my thighs.
I am lost, I am lost, in the robes of all this light.
~~ Sylvia Plath ~~
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My reluctance to get started on a rant has not merely continued, but grown since last we spoke on this, above in section one…. Rather than subject y’all to yet another obscure grouping of pearls, we’ll go with some artwork…. Here are some pictures I’ve collected from the Net in the last few days &/or weeks, some with animals, a gorgeous landscape, and one brilliant political meme…. The attribution for these pictures is either SFGATE, the London Daily Telegraph, or the UK Guardian, which are my primary sources for news and pictures on the web…. Enjoy!…..
I would caution you to NOT anthropomorphize the last picture…. It would be very easy, but, completely WRONG, so don’t do it….
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Well, that was interesting…. and I mean that in ALL of its senses…. I’m not going to fuss with even thinking about how it turned out, as it sort of got away from me rather quickly today…. I’m trusting my instincts just to post this, knowing it could be the end of all my hopes and dreams…. Well, that’s probably a bit dramatic, and overblown as to risk, but, hey, hyperbole can be fun, when used with some care…. Since that isn’t going to happen around here, I’ll find my way to the exit, and we’ll all be happy….. Well, until tomorrow, when I get up, and do it all again….. See y’all later, ffolkes…
and May the Metaphorse be with you;
Blessed Be, dearest Carole, Mark, and Theresa…
and everyone else, too…
When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.
Which is Why….
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes,
I just sits.
gigoid the dubious
gigoid 