From Anarchist to Anarchist, Passing It on

I went out to Babylon Falling
On their last day as an open bookstore.
I met Shawn Roberts, talked with him about his plans.
He said he has none...maybe travel, no plans.
I congratulated him.
I apologized for not finding him sooner
And told him I’d shut down four bookstores myself.
I gave him a copy of Approximations,
My book. He said he’d put it on the top
Of the stack of books to read
By his bed. He invited me
To the closing party tonight. I
Said I’d come if I could. I said I wanted to buy
A book today, just to support him.
When I brought Revolutionary Letters,
By Diane di Prima, to the counter,
He made me ‘take it in trade’ for mine.

I'd write to my congressman, except I don't have one

That probably a safer situation than having one.

Peter, a lot of fine establishments are going away, not just bookstores. A sad story here.

Les

I was pleased in this particular instance to find the bookstore owner upbeat about his future, its openness. Yet, I have been very concerned with the falling of the independent bookstore business in particular because, as an educator, frankly, I believe the distribution of books is part of the lifeblood of our civilization in ways that the distribution of paper napkins and Big Macs is not.

Thanks for your thoughts, Les.

Peter

Another new Walgreen's just opened a couple of blocks from here. That makes either 10 or 11 "super drugstores" in our town. Any bets on whether the pharmacist will remember anyone's name?

Joe

As I argue against the points of religion, so am I compelled to argue anarchy. People are born animals, the world's natural state keeps them animals. You do not believe in anarchy, in fact you believe in order more than most. You believe in your place in that order, as a radical. You believe that grants you special privileges within the order you tell yourself you dislike. You are the very thing you rive against. An animal trying to be a man.

Perce,

I have no quarrel with order, only with order imposed without consent. I have no particular attachment to the label 'anarchist,' only having found it applied to myself and to those I have loved most over the last 40 years...it having first been applied to me at three a.m. by a beautiful woman as she turned the mirror to the wall and later to Betsy Warrior and others I have admired over the years. I usually mean by it anyone who lets her or himself make decisions within a group consciousness, with certain other opennesses. This guide to the term does not serve as a logical definition, nor does it distinguish the human animal from others particularly well. Still, I do oppose coercion and exploitation, and so forth, and I feel free to call that whatever I want.

As an existentialist from the 60s, and as a Heideggerian from the 90s, talk about a human nature or animal nature just strikes me as naive. But I am not going to pretend that my thought is more evolved than yours.

Anyhow, I have sort of been waiting for you to pounce on my use of the word 'Anarchist' in the title of this poem, hoping to learn from you, since you seem to know when other people are misusing the them.

I simply felt a kinship with the bookstore owner's spirit after our conversion, stranger to stranger.

avanti, enjoy the day, Perce,

amo,

Peter

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2009 05:11PM by petersz.

What does a man lose by lying to himself?

I only worry if he believes it.

Well, if you didn't, what point would there be to the lie?

Everybody lies to himself, most of all. Sometimes we even know when we are doing that. The poem is not about anybody's lie, but the genuine feeling a person has of freedom once in a while. First time me and my to be spouse drove across this beautiful country it was in celebration of my getting fired and us being free enough to just take off together without some damn destination. I guess is Perce's never let himself be free, he might think it's a lie for that bookstore owner to feel the openness available to him.

Regarding viewing what someone else experiences as 'lying to himself, 'from my point of view, such cynicism has to be earned. Children's cinicism is just self-indulgence, which is why I usually just ignore Perce when he says stuff like that.

Cheers,

Peter

Don't patronize me, Peter. If you were superior to me in the manners you mentioned, you would know the only effect is wasting time. I trust nothing in myself, even that distrust, yet I move forward constantly, hauling every speck of the past from vile mistake to scintillating success. When you want to prove to yourself you're better than me, come. But with each act of aggression, you will hand me an excuse to pull harder.

In this forum, I really only care about the poetry. I would rather read your poems than try to figure out what you are talking about.

amo,

Peter

It's my life, I'll remember it any way I damn please

Amen to that, brother Johnny.