The Gryphon's Grotto........يعيش. تضحك. الحب.

♫♪♫♪♫♪♪♫

SHORTLY after his arrival in the United States in 1980 in the Mariel boatlift,
the great Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas used a story called ''The Parade
Ends'' to set down his memories of the mass departure and his survival
strategies in the years that preceded it. As this rhapsodic excerpt shows, his
typewriter was his salvation, his life raft:

''Walls, cathedrals, trees and streets, beaches and faces, jail cells, tiny cells,
huge cells; bare feet, pine stands, starry nights, clouds; a hundred, a thousand,
a million parrots, low stools, a creeping vine; it all comes back . . . saved by
that subtle, constant cadence, by that music, by that endless tat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
. . . My revenge, my revenge. My triumph.''

''The Parade Ends'' is one of the 14 stories (and one essay) in ''Mona and
Other Tales,'' a collection spanning three decades -- the whole of Arenas's
brief, intensely prolific writing life. Some appear here in English for the first
time. Others have been printed previously in anthologies or literary magazines.
Especially fascinating is the contrast between his early work, the long lyric riffs
of the early Cuban stories, and the baroque inventions of his 10-year exile in
Miami and, mostly, New York. (Dying of AIDS, Arenas committed suicide in
1990.) Like the early stories, the later ones are also life rafts, but, being made
in the U.S.A., they're more high-tech and full of polished surfaces, concealing
a great mass of sorrow and rage.

The title story is a masterpiece of Arenas's later style that features the Mona
Lisa -- only here, operating independently of her portrait, she is a sex fiend
who picks up a young Cuban exile working the night shift as a security guard
at a Wendy's restaurant in Times Square. The young man -- born in 1959, the
first year of the Cuban revolution -- has never heard of Leonardo or his
famous painting, but when he discovers the uncanny resemblance between his
mysterious eyelashless girlfriend and the priceless portrait, on loan for an
exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, he figures it means that she's rich and
can buy him his own Wendy's. Instead, the sinister Elisa, as she calls herself,
lures her victim to a town in upstate New York and threatens him with a
dagger. As they make love, Elisa morphs into Leonardo -- who has survived,
through the vitality of his painting, with his libido intact. Suddenly, the poor
Cuban security guard finds himself having sex with a 500-year-old wreck, a
''sack of bones with the ugliest of beards.''
...

-

We stood on the rented patio
While the party went on inside.
You knew the groom from college.
I was a friend of the bride.

We hugged the brownstone wall behind us
To keep our dress clothes dry
And watched the sudden summer storm
Floodlit against the sky.

The rain was like a waterfall
Of brilliant beaded light,
Cool and silent as the stars
The storm hid from the night.

To my surprise, you took my arm–
A gesture you didn't explain–
And we spoke in whispers, as if we two
Might imitate the rain.

Then suddenly the storm receded
As swiftly as it came.
The doors behind us opened up.
The hostess called your name.

I watched you merge into the group,
Aloof and yet polite.
We didn't speak another word
Except to say goodnight.

Why does that evening's memory
Return with this night's storm–
A party twenty years ago,
Its disappointments warm?

There are so many might have beens,
What ifs that won't stay buried,
Other cities, other jobs,
Strangers we might have married.

And memory insists on pining
For places it never went,
As if life would be happier
Just by being different.

-

-Dana Gioia-

**Lesbian Chic**

...

...I've been reading a biography of Shel Silverstein lately...did you ever see the you tube of The Great Smoke Off by him that I posted a while back? I'll go get it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVfE_-ZJAxc

whether I remember, or not, Alice. :)

I'm pretty sure I've never seen the video before, Alice.

Cool, so far. :)

:)

*

...

£o♡e

-
I don't mind dying —
But I'd hate to die all alone!
I want a dozen pretty women
To holler, cry, and moan.

I don't mind dying
But I want my funeral to be fine:
A row of long tall mamas
Fainting, Fanning, and crying.

I want a fish-tail hearse
And sixteen fish-tail cars,
A big brass band
And a whole truck load of flowers.

When they let me down,
Down into the clay,
I want the women to holler:
Please don't take him away!
Ow-ooo-oo-o!
Don't take daddy away!

-

Langston Hughes

SR...have any good quotes you've heard lately? What are you reading? Movies? Tell me something....

Reflecting the Mirror - The Fundamental Question, mp3

In January, in San Diego, I was hanging out with my uncle from Vancouver, and he asked what I was reading. And, I said, "It's called, 'How to Master Life," by Thomas Troward.
I said it's sort of like the actual science behind the movie, "The Secret."

I asked what he was reading. And, he said he basically rereads a lot of the same authors. He keeps telling me to read stuff by Beckett. And, I keep forgetting. Anyway.

He was rereading "Notes from the Underground," by Dostoevski. And, I told him I hadn't really read much by him. So I read the introduction of the book, the beginning of the book, & then read the last few pages.

I told him that it was interesting. But, that it had hugely cynical overtones & it reminded me of the perspective the Charles Bukowski writes from.

My uncle kind of agreed.

And, then a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled upon this poem by Bukowski. And it's titled ... "Dostoevsky" ...

And sure as shit. There was my proof that Bukowski had been influenced by the guy.

-

Dostoevsky

against the wall, the firing squad ready.
then he got a reprieve.
suppose they had shot Dostoevsky?
before he wrote all that?
I suppose it wouldn't have
mattered
not directly.
there are billions of people who have
never read him and never
will.
but as a young man I know that he
got me through the factories,
past the whores,
lifted me high through the night
and put me down
in a better
place.
even while in the bar
drinking with the other
derelicts,
I was glad they gave Dostoevsky a
reprieve,
it gave me one,
allowed me to look directly at those
rancid faces
in my world,
death pointing its finger,
I held fast,
an immaculate drunk
sharing the stinking dark with
my
brothers.

-

Dostoevski was apparently sentenced to death in his 20s, & received a last minute reprieve. If my memory serves me correctly.

Hey cool! :)

Elizabeth: How did you know? How did you know I'd respond to you the way I have?

John: I saw myself in you.

-
"Public Like a Frog" by Jean Houston
"Good Poems" by Garrison Keillor
"The Science of Being Great" by Wallace Wattles
"Conscious Evolution" by Barbara Marx Hubbard
"Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein
"Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism" by Ha-Joon Chang

Rereading parts of "The Conscience of a Liberal" by Paul Krugman and parts of "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.

Etc,... I may have a disability. I'm not sure if it's normal to read numerous books at the same time, or not.

I don't really watch movies these days.
The only thing I watch regularly on television is Countdown with Keith Olbermann & Dan Abrams' show.

And if I stumble upon it, I watch Chelsea Lately & the Daily Show.
I watch the LOGO channel a lot. Unless it's just doing a show on dudes.

I'm really excited for the new show coming up on FUSE in mid-April, called NOFX Backstage Passport... They're the first punk rock band to play in China. They tour Latin America & the Far East.
They're all about 40 years old. "Been together longer than the Ramones..."

& they finally ended their boycott of MTV, I think,... & have broken like an 8 year silence from doing interviews...

Fat Mike, the singer, I think, is a friggin' genius. & they're totally political & funny.

Apparently, on this tour which was filmed,... the only place where the fans sucked was Jerusalem. They were spit on so much that they had to jump in the crowd & start bashing heads, or something. They said Tel Aviv was cool & some other city in Israel was too.

The more I learn about the band, the more amazed I am. (And, they're from Berkeley.) :)

Almond Milk is a common Medieval thickening agent It is a cloudy liquid prepared by steeping ground almonds in water, broth, or wine. Almond milk acted as the liquid base and/or thickening agent in a wide variety of medieval and Elizabethan dessert dishes.

P loves Garrison..I'll have to find that book for him..then maybe he will like poetry ..maybe.. :)

...

*

-They're all about 40 years old-

Gotta love that...Sam Seder is 41... a 66-er 2.

*

I kinda prefer shit that rhymes & isn't too "flowery."

So I was using that book sort of as a primer to learn too.

I, of course, love Bukowski. But, I don't consider it poetry. Same with Emerson & Thoreau.

"My thoughts are obscene
But, then, they've alway's been.
And my technique's unlike anything
You've ever seen."

"The girl's getting an attitude adjustment
As I iron out her insides.
She's says she's not too good at this
But, I know she's gives the best rides."

I didn't know that about them...

But, it's mentioned in their song, "Everything in Moderation (Especially Moderation)."

Have you heard NOFX live?

Didn't you say something about wanting to see a Y&T concert the other day? Is that the same metal band from the '80s?

1938 Godfre Ray King, mp3 (From 365 Days Project)

I don't think I've heard NOFX live, no...I'll have to look and see which of thier mp3's I have...

39 ... My hair should be parted not spiked and green
My nights should end at 10 and not 6 am
But it is and they don't
I still get excited when the Adolescents play
Wake up not knowing what I did last night
Finding out and thinking that was cool and not sad.

I might be an adult but I'm still a minor at heart
OK my liver is my senior part
But that's a part you can trade in
When your band has been a band longer than the Ramones
And critics coin you "the punk Rolling Stones"
That's when you know this is for life.

how to post songs, I would.

I know you gave me instructions a long time ago, but I couldn't figure it out. I did try. And now I don't even remember the instructions. :(

I used to like Y&T.
Doesn't that stand for Yesterday and Tomorrow?

Now I'm not positive..

*

That's right. I'm gettin' old and I'm baked. (brainspace)

to stay up later, but I think I'm gonna crash.

It's always nice talking to you, Alice.
And, I hope things are going well.

Sweet dreams.

Sir Real :)

Dostoevski was apparently sentenced to death in his 20s, & received a last minute reprieve. If my memory serves me correctly.

The Czar had pardoned Dostoevsky well before the execution date. Officials ended the proceedings just before they were to fire, and told Fyodor he had been reprieved. Scared the crap out of him, and he stopped fooling around with revolutionary politics--after he spent 4 years in prison.
**Lesbian Chic**

thanks for hanging out with me... :)

I'm not tired so I will leave some goodies here for you to see next time you're around...

Hope you have memorable, fun dreams tonight...

The Petrashevsky Circle was a Russian literary discussion group of progressive-minded commoner-intellectuals in St. Petersburg organized by Mikhail Petrashevsky, a follower of the French utopian socialist Charles Fourier. Among the members were writers, teachers, students, minor government officials, army officers, and so on. While not uniform in their political views, most of them were opponents of the tsarist autocracy and the serf system. Among those connected with the circle were the writers Dostoyevsky and Saltykov-Shchedrin and the poets Pie shcheyev, Maikov, and Taras Shevchenko.
Like the Lyubomudry group founded earlier in the century, the purpose of the circle was to discuss Western philosophy (specifically Hegel and others) and literature which was officially banned by the Imperial government of Nicholas I.
Nicholas I, worried that the revolutions of 1848 would spread to Russia, mistook the largely harmless group for a subversive revolutionary organization. He closed the circle in 1849 and arrested and incarcerated its members.
**Lesbian Chic**

you're up...I figured you went to bed moons ago...

neat.

headache. Stayed up until 6am painting yesterday.
**Lesbian Chic**

The nobility made up a small part of Russian population. Small coordinator class, and a huge peasant class.
**Lesbian Chic**

that's worth a headache...

It is the sort of headache that will subside if I decide to go back to work.
(I hope.)
*Lesbian Chic**

http://www.redbubble.com/people/fimbulvinter/art/57040-8-alice-in-wonder...
**Lesbian Chic**

Dance, mp3

**Lesbian Chic**

Did you catch that link from Mel the other day with all the 'found' items? I'll see if I can get it...you might like it too..

^

I stretched your blog.
**Lesbian Chic**

It's getting full...do you have an Open Mic yet?

Do you feel like making one for us to play on some more?

Sure. I was fishing for some images.

**Lesbian Chic**

"It is by distortedly exalting some men, that others are distortedly debased, till the whole is out of nature. A vast mass of mankind are degradedly thrown into the background of the human picture, to bring forward, with greater glare, the puppet-show of state and aristocracy." -- Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man"

"The error of those who reason by precedents drawn from antiquity, respecting the rights of man, is that they do not go far enough into antiquity. They do not go the whole way. They stop in some of the intermediate stages of an hundred or a thousand years, and produce what was then done, as a rule for the present day. This is no authority at all. If we travel still farther into antiquity, we shall find a direct contrary opinion and practice prevailing; and if antiquity is to be authority, a thousand such authorities may be produced, successively contradicting each other; but if we proceed on, we shall at last come out right; we shall come to the time when man came from the hand of his Maker. What was he then? Man. Man was his high and only title, and a higher cannot be given him. -- Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man"

Paine sure hit the spot when he talked about marauders pillaging and murdering an area, and then
declaring themselves the royalty.
**Lesbian Chic**

those are not bad looking...

That's a woman. Nature does not make ugly.
**Lesbian Chic**

but humans have preferences...

You know when one looks for glamorous au naturell images, the porn peddlers always
flood the selections with women who have excessive amounts. Real life tells a
different story. Where did you go to college?
**Lipstick Lesbian**

I'm going there now..just finished my first class towards a certificate in Library Information Technology...

Thanks for the information, Thespian...

Thanks for the cool stuff on this thread, Alice.
And, for letting me hang out the last couple nights.

Love.

http://www.sun-angel.com/abraham/index.php

*

All-nighters are fun..glad you were around... :)