And the harder it gets now, the softer I sing
cause the fight to be human don’t mean anything
-Justin Currie
The budget blueprint is for the guidance of Congress; it is not presented to the president for a signature or veto and does not become law.
New York Times, 4 hours ago, on January 12, 2017
…the vote-a-rama is a wholly symbolic exercise, political theater.
-John McCain, R-Ariz.
Once a picaro, always a picaro.
-Thrall and Hibbard’s thesis on the nature of a Picaresque novel
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
-Brother Ignacio on Facebook last week
I feel the absence of Dr.Thompson acutely. More and more and every year, the man and his work is the only rudder I can grab a hold of to steer me through the polluted black waters of the New Century. I suppose there’s Ian MacKaye. And Brother Don. Which is to say the only faith I have in these dark times is in the hearts and minds of great men and women who’ve managed to keep their eyes and hearts open. For me it’s been a journey back, I’m often lost in the blast, not as confused as angry, but it’s an anger that can shut the whole thing down. It’s unfortunate, but not permanent, and my facilities may come back just in time. Nobody knows what will happen. The only thing we can agree on is an uneasiness in the gut as we brace ourselves for the terror of a country rolling backwards into the type of oligarchy I’ve been dreading my entire adult life.
I have a tendency to duck out, hide away-not so much in apathy but utter disgust-a muted outrage. I’m good in the clutch, I’m steady, but the day to day bores me to tears. My point is I’ve had to read the same article on NPR at least 5 times now, and I’m still not sure I understand it. Politics are made deliberately obtuse, which doesn’t make it any easier for a zen outlaw and escape artist born in the Year of the Rabbit like me. After my second go through of the article, I searched online for a great quote from Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, which led me to William Brinkley and spidered out into unrelated research and ended in a flame war on Facebook with a stupid twat and eventually plugging in my strat and doing some Stinson, Waits and Psalmships covers. It’s almost 3:30 in the afternoon. I’m exasperated from waking up at noon to hear the news, and vague and obtuse writeups on NPR and the New York Times. Can this qualify as activism? Am I done now? Can I have some time to myself, take the day maybe, lay in the tub with a copy of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail?
I am disgusted with myself. Outraged at the world and about at the end of my rope here, at Going For The Throat. It’s been happening for a while, probably concurrent with the tidal wave of dread that came over me right after I turned 40. There was gratitude-and a real sense of power, standing in my kitchen, the last night of my 39th year. I started to run myself through the ringer, you know, how I do, but then came something else. You feel an ease in parts of your body you didn’t know you could feel anything. Know what I mean? There are parts of us that are so wrapped up in responding to stressors created by the mind that we don’t even know are there, let alone utilize, strengthen and nurture. Aho I did not expect something positive to come of this post. It was practically a resignation letter. That is the power of writing, my Brother, my Sister. You’ve got to clear the chamber. There is a diamond of you, buried ‘neath the toxic retelling of tired stories and lies. You are not this detritus of the mind. You are not your mind. You are. Unless you’ve made your exit-downing a bottle of barbiturates, running a garden hose from the exhaust pipe in through the window of your car, or turning the business end of a shotgun on yourself and pulling the trigger-like those 3 writers have.
As sad as it may sound, if not killing yourself is the one great thing you’ve managed to do today, this week, this year-than you can be glad. I sure am. But don’t worry about me. This is not a cry for help. I may be tired of my own bullshit and have to call myself out in public like this for getting frustrated at the news and dumb girls on Facebook but I won’t be checking out any time soon. I’ve got work to do.
See you at the readings motherfucker.
Please join Jim Trainer this Sunday January 15th, at Malvern Books, as he and 100 other poets read as part of the National Poets Protest Against Trump and on January 22nd at Kickbutt Coffee, for his featured reading at SpokenandHeard, with wonderful poet G.F. Harper.
Going for the Throat 