The first half hour was mine as the UK trip was discussed. All pitched in their thoughts and memories of their trips to Britain. D is from Newcastle; he stays with family when he visits, radiating out to the rest of Britain from there by train or rented car, mostly north to Scotland. Our bus drove around but not through Newcastle but we saw enough of the terraced housing to get a taste of its grittier contrast from the sections of London we saw. D confirmed Newcastle's grittiness saying he got out of Newcastle as soon as he could. (We also saw the Angel of the North on top of the hill before the descent to the River Tyne.)
Strike today in UK, teachers and other public workers, said K. You'd never see that here, said L, a country of rednecks cheering on their own dispossession. I said, I wrote at least three times in tablet while there about ugly couples, lots of them, holding hands to quaintly cuddling to making out in public, I rarely see that in America, at least the not-America I live and work in. The utter lack of self-consciousness or the utter awareness of self-consciousness, I wasn't sure which. The British are the ugliest people on the planet, said D, fully embracing the irony as he smiled his British teeth smile, and they fuck like starving rat terriers fighting over giblets, which won him a ridiculously priced scotch. What does that have to do with their striking, asked L. I just think, I said, America will have to be Britain first on America's descent to becoming Serbia.
- We all agreed to have a Thursday Night Pints in Edinburgh someday.
- Militarized surrealism.
- Obama as Dick Cheney.
- He is a dick.
- He is a dick.*
- Capitalism.
- Capitalism.
- Capitalism.
- Marxism without revolution.*
- How pigs win even when they lose.
- Blame the people.*
- A theory of misanthropy.
- Copa America website.
- The De Rossario-McCarty trade: Metros' point of view.
- Hat-tip to Sasha for the above photo relating to a comment yesterday.
- Bethesda Magazine versus Silver Spring!*
- Brainstorming creepiness.*
- Mark Strand gives up poetry again. I used to read Strand all the time. I've books on my shelves. I haven't read Strand in years.
- Nobel betting odds.
- Lit links.*
- Worn out words.
- One yes for Pale King.
- *K, as promised, those who know I exist but don't find me worthy.
- Vinyl reckonings.
- Belleisle.
- New Lindsey Buckingham. Yes, I do. Been remiss about posting some.
- Playing Goucher September 30. Hamster?
- Motherfucking ticketmaster won't take my credit card, so I'm driving down to Birchmere one night next week to buy the Bonnie Prince Billy tickets.
- You do or you don't.
- Don't look down.
- Lord knows best.
- Therefore I am.
- I think I've played Aladdin Sane more than any other Bowie album.
- I've a new love:
BECOMING WEATHER, 21
Chris Martin
I was out interviewing clouds amassing
the notes of a sky pornographer while patches
of the city subnormalized
by fear of fear like a reef bleaching closed
I took to the streets
looking for a human velocity
feeling disequilibrium
heavy in the abundance
of summer light
the silent apathy
of stars which is neither
silent nor apathetic
I am becoming weather
and
I don't
plan on doing
it alone
