I remember a famous poet asking his audience if they believed the earth has consciousness. No one raised a hand. I was a teenager and too shy. I knew the earth was smart. After this I resolved to speak up no matter the occasion.
**
“Now” is an advertisement so false even pineal glands know it. “Now” is the most favored word in capitalism. Worse of course is the expression “now and then” which is a stricture on tomorrow, governed by nothing since “now” has little predictive value.
“Right now,” say the tyrants, “things couldn’t be any better.” “Now” says global warming isn’t real. “Now” says the poor are imprisoned and they’re meant to be. “Now” in America is shorthand for “there isn’t any future unless you’re already in the “now” club.” We used to say salubrious persons are “in the know” but, well, you get my drift.
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In disability circles there’s no future planned beyond this: your tomorrows are being erased in the halls of Congress. After health care and social security are gutted will they bring back the ugly laws? Will they lock up the disabled in ruined shopping malls?
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This morning I found myself thinking of Aristophanes who I read assiduously in college. Here he is:
“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”
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Now wants what it has to remain always. The plan is to take down future democracy always.
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Sit for a time in the Agora thinking of Aristotle’s wrists. I believe he looked at them before he spoke. My favorite bird is the Phoebe. I like Miss Dickinson. I’m fond of the late Finnish poet Pentti Saarikoski. He imagined snakes cleaning his ears. Some poets love the snake properly. I like to spread my ten fingers across my face. “Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.” (Werner Heisenberg) Don’t give up. Keep moving. Even in a small dark room.
And speak.
Planet of the Blind 