Open Spaces

THE ROCK

Burger King sat on top
of the sky
today.

A fugitive rock tried to speak
to the asphalt,
but the asphalt like a traumatized child
said nothing
and the rock died.

We were really stressed out
until we heard the rock speak.
The pine trees had a few things to say
that also quieted our nervous hearts.

They said, "Listen, be still."
And the rock answered,
"You're telling me."

But the hummingbirds and the crows
were living on top of Burger King,
singing a song of sadness.

~ Albert Markovski, fictional poet and community organizer

Today I am really glad that my favorite DVD was recovered from the clutches of HM Revenue and Customs. To celebrate I am sharing some poems! Here is another:

Nobody sits like this rock sits.

You rock, rock.

The rock just sits and is.

You show us how to just sit here
and that's what we need.

~ Albert Markovski of the Open Spaces Coalition

I could say something serious about the actual loss of our open spaces all over the world, but that would be a drag. Plus there are worse things to be bummed about.

Like a dialysis machine to keep us alive in this horrible hell we call earth that we seem to be so proud has evolved from the dinosaurs to our "higher" species when in fact, as with the dinosaurs, it has always been a wretched carnival of violence, consumption, suffering, and survival. Shall we talk about war? Children losing limbs or eyes? Don't feel like it? I didn't think so. Why would you? It is an unbearable drag, all of it. How about your boring job?

~ Caterine Vauban, fictional philosopher, French

Somethingness.... Nothingness.... I guess if I want to talk about actual nothingness I could get back to studying the distribution of voids in the large-scale structure of the universe. Open Spaces indeed! To end on a more positive note, here is another quote from my favorite DVD booklet:

There is no remainder in the mathematics of infinity.

~ Bernard Jaffe, existential detective