Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 82

CarrollBlog 6.24

There's a terrific short story entitled "Impulse" by Conrad Aiken. The gist of the tale is there's a ho-hum guy who lives a truly uninteresting, dull life. One day on impulse, he steals something silly from a store like a plastic comb or a cheap ballpoint pen. He is caught immediately, brought to the police for shoplifting... everything avalanches downhill from there into absolute disaster. The End. One little tickle of nutty-- I've never done anything like this in my entire life-- impulse and t

CarrollBlog 6.23

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/

CarrollBlog 6.22

Meditation on the Word Need

by Linda Rodriguez

The problem with words of emotion

is how easily meaning drains

from their fiddle-sweet sounds

and they become empty instruments.

I can say love

and mean desire to give—

open-handed, open-hearted—

or I am drawn to the light

shining from your soul—

or my life is empty without you—

or I want to run my hands

and mouth down the length of you—

or all of these at once.

Need, now, is a plain word.

I need a nail to hang this picture.

I need mo

CarrollBlog 6.19

For those of you who use TWITTER, I just received this. If you're game, cut and paste it on:

" If anyone is on Twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the internet down. Cut & paste & pass it on."

CarrollBlog 6.18

You see them now and then in bookstores that have chairs. They often wear huge unkempt beards that appear to have been growing untended for years. Their clothes are often inappropriate for the season-- for example they're wearing winter getups on 80 degree days.That's how I noticed him today-- a big beard and a thick wool jacket. He was sitting in a puffy lounge chair off in a corner of the store. Several books were lying next to him and one was open in his lap. He also had a notepad out and was

CarrollBlog 6.14

Beautiful Creature

by Hafiz

There is a beautiful creature living

in a hole you have

dug.

so at night I set fruit and grains and little pots of wine and milk

beside your soft earthen

mounds.

and I often sing to you,

but still, my dear, you do not come out.

I have fallen in love with someone

who is hiding inside

of you.

We should talk about this problem,

otherwise I will never

leave you

alone!

CarrollBlog 6.13

A friend just had a baby, Watching her look at the infant, I realized something I knew but had never registered before-- there is a very special expression that women with infants (in particular) get on their faces when looking at their babies. I have never seen it on anyone else but on new mothers I've seen it frequently. Even when a woman is with her partner, the father of the child, that singular look is only for her baby and has nothing to do with him, no matter how close they are. It says a

CarrollBlog 6.11

Annual

by Robyn Sarah

The yearbooks are out today, with the ink

barely dry on their gleaming pages,

the faint puke-smell of the new bindings.

On the bus, shagged and curly heads converge over

the disappointing spread of candid shots

on center facing pages - random snaps

where everyone who matters is blurred or too tiny

or was looking the wrong way when the shutter clicked,

and after they've each checked out their own

and each other's mug shots, and those of an acknowledged

hunk or two

CarrollBlog 6.10

Walking towards me is a spectacular looking young woman on crutches. It's plain she's in a great deal of pain. Her face twitches, tightens, then relaxes with every step she takes. I find myself staring at her more because I never think of beautiful people in great pain. Only mortals feel pain-- or embarrassment, confusion or sadness. Although of course beauties do-- just not out here in plain view. People this gorgeous aren't however really mortal for the few seconds we usually see them breeze b

CarrollBlog 6.8

The new issue of CONJUNCTIONS magazine is an interesting one. They asked me to write a story for it and the wonderful Powell's Book Store in Portland ran a week long blog about the issue. Here's my bit:

Although it may sound like oxymoron, the term “Impossible Realism” makes a great deal of sense when we permit ourselves to look beyond the quotidian and once again open up fully to wonder, like we did as children. This is why cheesy horror films and great works of the imagination ‘outsi