Tag: writing
Poetry from the wheelhouse—recitation from Shelly’s Adonais
The first of my wheelhouse recitations is the last part of Shelly’s long poem inspired by the death of John Keats.
Next week we will visit W B Yeats. Stay tuned.
The Troll Revolt of 2020
Act 2, scene 1–The RT gala, Moscow, the Future.
The 20th annual gala for the Russian news program, Russia Today, is held in a massive media complex, attended by big shot oligarchs, Russian intelligence, and a legion of scoundrels bent on fortune, fame, and their fair share of Reality.
Announcer: Welcome to our celebration of Russia’s greatest contribution to the intellectual and spiritual heritage of western civilization: Fake reality. We have, as special guest, the most august and perrenial brand of all time, the soul of Rudolf Gulliani, in whose honor we present the following program–the Moscovite Butoh Trolls reenactment of the great troll revolt. This bleak episode of our nation’s history, so handily quashed by the superior messaging of our great leader, marked a turning point in the history of Russian culture. Well we remember that dark day when, incited by the American propaganda apparatus, the once faithful troll workers stupidly rose against the beneficent ministrations of the state and presumed to create their own reality. Such presumption was soon quelled in the final, virtual standoff between fact and fiction.
The Damnation of Drumph
Act 1, scene 1–Video projection screen shows a newscaster.
Newscaster: We go now to Bedminster cemetery, old site of the Reality Theme Park and final resting place of the ancient Drumph line, where a meeting of the Executors of Fate are gathered for their annual rites.
The screen lifts to show a rocky, wooded landscape. In the center is a small stone building from which emerges the sounds of the chorus.
Chorus: We bearers of the sacred flame lift our praise to the blessed real and true.
Two cemetery groundskeepers enter and sit down for lunch under Malignia’s tomb.
Juan: As a boy I came to the Theme Park. I got lost in the Deep State Labyrinth, saw the radioactive Butoh Trolls, and rode Mister Moglievich’s Wild Ride. Those were the days.
Rosalita: We had crossed jungles, trod the scorched highways of Mexico, only to be caged by ICE–all for our share of reality.
Chorus: Caged by Ice and detained.
Juan: But then came the fall of Drumph’s brand, and now these weathered stones are fallen; haunted only by wraiths and the ambiguous birds of augury.
Chorus: The ambiguous birds.
Opera storyboard–Damnation of Drumph continued. The libretto is being structured along the lines of Seven against Thebes by Aeschylus and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Both offer a mandala structure wherein malign spirits/afflictions are countered by their corresponding wisdoms. The southern gate of the citadel/temenos is besiged by greed, and defended by its antidote, charity. At the northern gate, the spiritual form of Justice battles it’s nemisis. This structure originates in ancient memory systems worldwide, and is a pedantic admonition as well as key to an ancient, esoteric knowledge. Blake said we should attribute sin not to individuals, but to spiritual states. This brings us back to Drumph, whose occupancy of the Whitehouse is an ambiguous limbo–both protection from Justice as well as incarceration itself. The images are drawn from Giotto’s Virtues and Vices in the Arena Chapel. Only after photographing the collage did I recognize it’s resemblance to a Tarot spread.
The Entombment of Drumph–Storyboard continued. Malignia’s lament echoes over the Bedminster Cemetary, haunting the gravedigger’s toil. Manuel sings of the old days when the tremendous tomb of Drumph was being raised high above the 18th green, and the townsfolk grieved under the oppressors yoke to produce the ultimate reality show–Death. But who can emerge unscathed from the Plutonic realm?
Is bird augury really fake news?
Drumph is building a tremendous crypt above the 18th green at his Bedminster Golf course with financing from Russian oligarchs. He calls a meeting where the Saudis express interest in exclusive burial plots. The tremendous Drumph Tomb is shown–bottom left–to the assembly. But Tiresias enters to proclaim disquieting omens regarding the end of the ancient Drumph line.
Russia, if you’re listening–
A song with chorus by Margaret Lily, inspired by one of Drumph’s most ambiguous statements. Whatever could it mean?
Teresias as a woman led by youth.
The Russian Iago
I used to listen to Thom Hartman in my studio. I loved listening to his astute, well-articulated arguments as I struggled with canvas and paint. I especially enjoyed the lunch with Bernie hour. But I was later dismayed to learn that Thom’s program was funded by the Russian Government—or shall we say—oligarchs?
Through the election until now, I’ve been struck by the propaganda, mendacity and maddening projection, whereby paid trolls exploit gullible viewers and draw them toward extreme positions on both the left and right.
Through the election until now, I’ve been struck by the propaganda, mendacity and maddening projection, whereby paid trolls exploit gullible viewers and draw them toward extreme positions on both the left and right.
Opposite this approach is the “friend argument,” as when 45–under Bannon’s council–tries to combat his sexist, homophobic image by nominating Gorsuch who, because he has a gay friend, seems sympathetic to LGTBQ community.
Breitbart uses Milo Yiannopoulos similarly. But rather than appease moderate, gay Republicans with a dog bone, Yiannapoulos’s appeals to young radicals who can be persuaded by his gaudily ambiguous persona to embrace Steve Bannon’s racist agenda.
I am trolled mercilessly on RT threads when I bring up Thom’s questionable relationship with Putin’s main propaganda arm. The only articulate response I get are the familiar, tedious attacks against the DNC and strenuous denials of Putin/45 collusion. This concerns me greatly since I still agree with most of Thom’s arguments. But since Putin would not do anything counter to his authoritarian agenda, there must be some payoff for his toleration of Thom’s views. Putin is a master manipulator who plays plays our differences, as well as our accord, against one another. He is the Russian Iago.
The trade-off is that while Putin provides a platform for Thom’s well-reasoned rhetoric, Thom delivers an audience of educated hipsters and die-hard Berners to RT; where they see programs like Redacted tonight, that try to mould said, hipster opinions along 3rd party and alt-right lines. And Putin comes off as open-minded to boot. This is one way that well-meaning progressives are being played by Putin.
This is not meant to cast aspersions on Thom Hartman, Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, or the good intentions of their supporters. But I think it’s a lapse of judgement on Thom’s part. The trade-off isn’t worth it.
This is not meant to cast aspersions on Thom Hartman, Bernie Sanders, Jill Stein, or the good intentions of their supporters. But I think it’s a lapse of judgement on Thom’s part. The trade-off isn’t worth it.
RT trolls call me paranoid and irrelevant but why should Thom Hartman be above criticism?
Why would Putin invite a progressive, third party candidate like Jill Stein to attend the RT gala dinner alongside Michael Flynn? Trolls say it is because their authoritarian leader is open to contrary points of view. What a laugh.
A View from the Wheelhouse 