Year: 2012

• January 26, 2012

  A picture of a philosophical way of life followed by a medium-length rant

  An anecdote: Yesterday, while strolling through the grocery store, I heard a young mother say the following to her young son: “Honey, you just have to be happy with the music they play for you. Bon Jovi’s OK.” — Human Anthropology 1. Human beings are thoroughgoing social animals. I.e., social life is ‘metaphysically prior’ to…
• January 25, 2012

  ‘Or some contrivance awkwardly suitable for the unpleasantly awkward occasion’

  Sometimes it goes: once lips to cheek. Sometimes it goes: twice, back and forth, slowly or swiftly. Occasionally, it goes three times. The pressure is also important. So is the touch. Firm or light. Moist or dry. Cheek or air or half-both. As intimacy grows, the lips may get closer or the kisses, on cheeks,…
• January 24, 2012

  The mystery of the pigeons, the tranquility of the birdsong

  How many pigeons are there? I lose count every time. Each pigeon and every pigeon formation come, all come, as a surprise. I look and the formation has changed. Or I turn away, return, and–am I disappointed or reassured?–they have not changed. Or they have. My eye goes back to the places where they were,…
• January 23, 2012

  At home with Joan

  If it’s before 9 a.m. and the doorbell rings, I hurry down the stairs to get it. If it’s after 9, then I assume Joan is up and around, sitting in the kitchen, reading the New York Times as the light comes in through the front window. Upstairs in my treetop home, I loiter with my…
• January 21, 2012

  Against the fantasy of something for nothing

  (Beyond my bedroom window: the snow comes down, the pigeons sit askant, at odd angles, one here, another there as if playing with me.) — (The birds, unseen, are singing amid the gently falling snow. Pure sprightly delight.) — We have inherited a misguided public philosophy concerning the desirability of “free things.” The fantasy that,…