Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 18

He Went Away

Recently I found out that one of the memorable people of my youth committed suicide. I disliked him very much back then. He was one of those cynical but clever opportunists who succeed mainly because they instinctively know how to play the game; whose ass to kiss as well as what backs to stab at just the right moment for maximum effect. He used people like tissues but then discarded them quickly after they’d served their purpose for him. Eventually people came to realize what he had been doin...

Flowers in the right hands

Flowers in the right hands

There’s a street person in the neighborhood I see at least a couple of times a week wandering around. Periodically she shaves her head down to the bone and in winter wears shorts and flip flops. Now and then the look in her eye is clear, most of the time it’s either mad or deeply paranoid. She seems harmless but nevertheless makes me nervous and I give her a wide berth.

Today I was walking home and was passing a flower shop when she came out the door, holding two long...

The Atheist’s Prayer

A friend sent me an interesting discussion among atheists about the possibility of an atheist’s prayer. This was one suggestion:

Thank you self for hearing things.

Thank you self for seeing things.

Thank you self for eating when you’re hungry.

Thank you self for going without.

Thank you self for avoiding broken glass when I’m barefoot.

Thank you self for knowing how to walk on broken glass.

Thank you self for satisfying your needs.

Thank you self for your restraint.

Thank you self for learning things....

Riding with The Elephant Man

I am standing by the door looking at the floor of the subway car as it rattles into the station. The doors open, people get on and off, doors close again and the train starts to move. I look up and directly across from me is The Elephant Man. Half of his face looks like it has melted unevenly down his cheek. The deep gray skin is pooled on the bottom of the left side of his chin. His nose looks like candle wax that has dribbled and dried on the way down. The eye on the bad side of his face is...

The Lilac Survival Kit

A terrible traffic jam. Cars bumper to bumper all the way down the street. I walk past a city bus sardine’d with people both sitting and standing. Every one of them seems to have long, frustrated or angry looks on their faces. What the hell’s going on— Why aren’t we moving? I’m going to miss my appointment… Passing the front of the bus, I look over again and see the driver: He’s holding a large sprig of lilac to his nose and, eyes closed, wears the biggest smile.

The Lilac Survival Kit was ori...

The Poetry Thief

I once knew a woman who fell in love with a man quickly and hugely. Among his many attributes (she told me), he was a poet who had been writing astonishing poems for and about her since they met. She asked if I would like to see some of them and I said of course. She handed me several sheets of typescript. I read the first two poems, then quickly ran my eyes over a few of the rest. That was enough. I looked at her and said gently, “These are not by your friend; they’re by Pablo Neruda. They’r...

CarrollBlog 6.1

Finally finally-- I'm delighted to announce I've finished a new novel entitled BATHING THE LION.

It will be published in Poland by Rebis October, 2013 and in the US by St. Martin's Press (and elsewhere) in the summer of 2014. It took a long time to write this one, but I like how it came out. I hope you do too. More details as they arrive.

CarrollBlog 2.13

I once had a very formal editor in England. Very proper, very British. While chatting one day I told her I'd read in the paper about a laboratory in Switzerland that had been experimenting with transplanting pubic hair onto the head of bald guys. Initially the concept appeared to be good because that hair is thick and healthy and God knows it’s tough stuff. But after having done a number of experimental transplants they discovered a problem-- when the men’s scalps sweated, they smelled strongly like hot crotch. Obviously the process included transplanting the whole hair and its follicle so it wasn’t just the hair that got a new home upstairs. After I'd finished telling the story, my editor was quiet a while and then said very carefully and regally as only a Brit can "Well, I suppose that gives a whole new meaning to the word Dickhead."

CarrollBlog 2.8

I want to be sitting somewhere. I want to be sitting somewhere with you. Somewhere as the sun yellows down to orange, and night leaks blue then purple into the sky, like ink dribbled slowly into a glass of water. Far above, the glint of a plane draws a white contrail as vivid as school chalk across the evening canvas. We’re in Greece somewhere by the sea. It’s hot—summer. Or maybe a late Fall day somewhere up north. Crisp, when sunsets come and go quickly so you have to pay full attention or you’ll miss them. Two Adirondack chairs side by side, forest green, or no color at all because they’ve lived out in the hard weather for years. You are telling me a story I’ve never heard before about your childhood. Your voice is quiet and intimate, but also alive and peppery with humor. Your hand is on my arm. I am grinning. I’m grinning because it is you talking and your story is good and I know soon we will rise together and have a wonderful meal where the food and talk will be equally good. Afterwards perhaps we will return to these chairs by the sea, or a forest, a desert, or by nothing important at all to listen to the night, as dense and black by then as the inside of a closed drawer.

And you will say. And I will say.

That is all I want on this foggy winter evening.

CarrollBlog 1.18

All right Carroll-reading community-- here's a challenge: DT wrote in that he wants to have a tattoo done using a quote from one of my books. He asked if I had any suggestions. I said I would think hard on it. Then it struck me you too should be consulted because some of you know the books better than I do at this point and have your favorite lines. So-- what do you suggest? The quote obviously can't be too long or else it'll take up all of his skin. When (if) I come up with something I think works, I'll post it here. But in the meantime-- start thinking-- and suggesting.

Post your thoughts here: http://www.facebook.com/thejonathanca...