Forgetfulness

Been looking online for Skies of Ember's Forgetfulness since 2012. It's oddly satisfying to find it again. I hope I can still get a copy of the EP.

Shout out to Dott Seki and the rest of the band. I hope this link never disappears while I don't have a proper copy of your record.

Nocturnes III

To the aimlessness of speeding
on roads bereft of light
An ode to every morning
I woke to find you've gone

My mind emptying
in the failure to recall
How my eyes looked away
on the day of your death

Back when I'd pretend
not to hear your voice
So I write to the Future
and you fade from every thought

What is the consequence of being
severed from another soul?
All our losses caught
in the remainder of our days:

All this time, where does it go?
All my love, where does it go?


04/30/2011

J.D. Salinger: A Memo

I finally watched the J.D. Salinger documentary film. I still love his work despite the fact that he was a terrible husband & father. I'm even angry & sad because the film confirmed my suspicions: he's a pedophile. However, I'm still looking forward to reading his post-humous work. I gotta admit, there's much to be admired about his dedication & how he manages to communicate revelatory insights. But A. & I agreed on one thing: You can be a good artist without being an asshole. So if you're going to be "a great writer," don't do it at the expense of others, especially your loved ones.

Some of my favorite Salinger stories:

• For Esme--With Love & Squalor
• Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut
• De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period
• Teddy
•  Franny & Zooey 
•  The Catcher in the Rye

Some of my favorite quotes:

From "Teddy"

"I have a very strong affinity for them... but they don't love us that way. I mean they don't seem able to love us unless they change us a little bit."

-Teddy's response when asked if he loved his parents

From "Seymour, An Introduction"

"Could you try not aiming so much? If you hit him when you aim, it'll just be luck.

"How can it be luck if I aim?"

The trouble with water, and other possibilities for human evolution

The first time burning hives appeared all over her body,
Alex and her parents assumed she had a severe allergic reaction
To toxic substances in the water. It happened after an entire
Day of swimming in the lake, an activity she looked forward to

Every summer in Hobble Creek Canyon. When she took
A long look at herself, she cried and said “This is definitely
Worse than acne!” as the family physician prescribed
Massive doses of antihistamine to relieve her pain.

All the doctor could say was “I’m afraid you’re having
An anaphylactic shock.” “Is that super bad?” she asked,
To which he answered “Yes, it’s fatal—” “O what
A stupid way to die!” Alex thought, without knowing

What in the world was causing the skin lesions and sores
In her throat. Luckily, she survived the night and all
The other days, weeks, and months when specialists
Could not find a cure for her illness.

She endured three years of awkward stares and annoying
Comments from school mates before finding
An online article about a woman who was allergic
To water. The realization was instant, and doctors

Finally confirmed she suffered from the same disease.
But how could something so vital make her miserable?
Isn’t the human body made up of sixty percent water?
She felt her tears flow like acid against her cheeks.

From then on, she never left the house without an umbrella.
She stopped doing the dishes, exercised in the cold to control
Her sweat, and gave up her dream of becoming a marine
Biologist and wildlife photographer. She could only manage

Two-minute baths once a week. Through it all, she never
Stopped asking, “Why?” Alex couldn’t help but think
She could be the victim of a lab experiment by a secret society.
If so, why create humans that reject the nourishment

Of water? It was even stranger to think her disease
Naturally occurred in one person out of 230 million people
All over the planet (at least that’s what the internet said).
Hers could be a case of genetic mutation. Tired of feeling

Like a mistake in the larger scheme of things,
Alex began to reimagine herself as a critical link
To the slow and gradual process of human evolution:
When the Earth wastes away, her children will be among

The first humans to survive in other planets without water.
Since then, she’s been fascinated with space exploration,
Astrophysics, and chemistry. The future seemed brighter
That way, with reasons, not questions.

This poem appears in Tremble, the 2016 anthology for the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's International Poetry Prize.

*Image from Janelle Schmidt's Pinterest page