Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 78

CarrrollBlog 8.22

The restaurant up the block is well known for its wiener schnitzel. They are enormous, usually the size of a frisbee on steroids, served along with an equally large salad of some sort or other. The place prides itself on its ginormous portions and as a result, it's very popular despite the fact it's sort of a dump. What I like best about it is in summer they have tables out on the sidewalk. Once in a while you see the waitress bringing out the orders and the looks on the customers' faces as they

CarrollBlog 8.21

I was reading an article about suicide bombers in the Mideast and the startling upsurge of women who have been doing it. One detail that struck me in particular was this: Almost to a one, the women who have been caught before they had a chance to act wore lots of makeup. In fact that is one of the details the security forces look for in potential suspects: When they see a woman who is very made up acting at all suspiciously, they go on high alert and usually stop her. They have discovered that

CarrollBlog 8.20

If a Clown

by Stephen Dunn

If a clown came out of the woods,

a standard-looking clown with oversized

polka-dot clothes, floppy shoes,

a red, bulbous nose, and you saw him

on the edge of your property,

there'd be nothing funny about that,

would there? A bear might be preferable,

especially if black and berry-driven.

And if this clown began waving his hands

with those big white gloves

that clowns wear, and you realized

he wanted your attention, had something

apparently urgent to tell

CarrollBlog 8.19

This Longing

by Martin Steingesser

... awoke to rain

around 2:30 this morning

thinking of you, because I'd said

only a few days before, this

is what I wanted, to lie with you in the dark

listening how rain sounds

in the tree beside my window,

on the sill, against the glass, damp

cool air on my face. I am loving

fresh smells, light flashes in the

black window, love how you are here

when you're not, knowing we will

lie close, nothing between us; and maybe

it w

CarrollBlog 8.18

MAD MEN manners (beware of Mr. Bungle, kids)The best part comes after the puppet show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s7X5-...

CarrollBlog 8.17

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle

of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.

Einstein

CarrollBlog 8.16

"Imagine yourself in pieces.

Imagine all the people who have known you for only a year or a month or a single encounter, imagine those people in a room together trying to assemble a portrait of you, the way an archaeologist puts together the fragments of a ruined facade, or the bones of a caveman . Do you remember the fable of the seven blind men and the elephant? It's not that easy, after all, to know what you're made up of."

Dan Chaon, AWAIT YOUR REPLY

CarrollBlog 8.15

SILENCE

by Stephen Dobyns

I am the music you were born to.

Then you put me aside, waiting your own;

like sticks scratching together, you wanted your own.

I am the song you will sing longest.

I am the clothing you were born in.

Then you changed me for bright red and blues;

like a clown or bridegroom you wanted everything perfect.

Death is a marriage; you will wear me to the wedding.

I am the house you were born in.

Then you left me and went traveling;

like a child without parents or for

CarrollBlog 8.14

"Kafka imagines a man who has a hole in the back of his head. The sun shines into this hole. The man himself is denied a glimpse of it. Kafka might as well be talking about the man's face. Others "look into it." The most public, promiscuous part of his body is invisible to himself. How obvious. Still, it takes a genius to say that the face, the thing that kisses, sneezes, whistles, and moans is a hole more private than our privates. You retreat from this dreadful hole into quotidian blindness,

CarrollBlog 8.13

Solving the Puzzle

Stephen Dunn

I couldn't make all the pieces fit,

So I threw one away.

No expectations of success now,

None of that worry.

The remaining pieces seemed

to seek their companions.

A design appeared.

I could see the connection

Between the overgrown path

And the dark castle on the hill.

Something in the middle, though,

was missing.

It would have been important once.

I wouldn't have been able to sleep

without it.