7.31.2002

"Fuck" is an interesting word, linguistically speaking. It has the virtues of brevity, adaptability, expressiveness, and is understood universally. It has a huge number of synonyms, ranging from coy euphemisms to acceptable jocular equivalents to coarse vulgarities.

Oddly, it has very few polite equivalents. Strictly speaking, no single English word in current use bears the same primary meaning. It may be thought that "copulate" is an exact synonym for the verb to fuck, but "copulate" has a broader meaning: "to couple, conjoin, link together; to become conjoined or united." In its sexual meaning, it is primarily confined to zoology.

In order to refer to the activity that "fuck" describes, it is necessary to engage in circumlocution or periphrasis. Thus we get "make love to," "sleep with," "engage in sexual relations with," and the like.

It was not always so. "Fuck" is recorded as being used in more-or-less respectable literature as early as 1500, and it is found in Florio's Italian-English dictionary (1598). "Fuck” appears in Nathaniel Bailey's dictionary (1730), but not in Johnson (1755).

Although the following words all describe the same thing, they have won acceptance, if not in the salon, at least in the outer-rooms of polite society: "play mothers and fathers," "go upstairs," "make babies," "get one's jollies," "play hide the sausage," "get into one's pants," "have a tumble." And then there are the earthier monosyllabic inventions: "stuff," "screw," "pork," "poke," "bang," "bonk," "root," "hump." Note that these can be used both as verb and noun. Interestingly, it is easy to see that some of these synonyms are more acceptable than others, but all are more accepted than "fuck." Generally, the more humorous the construction, the more acceptable it is.

Looked at solely as a lexical unit, "fuck" is a very good, sturdy, versatile, and descriptive word. If our social masters could reconcile themselves to the idea that sex is a legitimate part of human existence and is here to stay, it may be that "fuck" will eventually be accepted in polite use.

- Julian Burnside, vocabula.com

Middlespace
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7.30.2002

MIDDLESPACE - the space between

Moving mouths of flapping words
Surround my head opaque and surreal
Without meanings or inspiration
Heavy eyelids on bobbing head
Sloppily pretending to take notes or write poetry
Vapid [of] content

Sleep - the attractive whirlpool of the moment
Fading blurry cross-eyed attention span
Images and dreams undulate in and out
Scattering perception bugswings
Falling forward and again towards
an end

7.29.2002

MIDDLESPACE - the space between

Haunted by detailed and vivid adventure dreams
Inescapable warrens of mystery and chaos
Wake plans muted by inevitable attentions
Prickly porcupine thistle sticking like magnets to exposed iron boxes
Two hours is never enough sleep time
For parents of prodigious progeny
But all is forgiven upon sunrises when
We muster all we have remaining and continue our hike into
The woods of the imagination
Evacuation plans never so un-smooth
Dream detectives never so coolly behaved
Amid impending boom, doom and gloom
Again the world is safe from evildoers and idiots


"There isn't really much else that [Ralph Nader and] the Greens can hope to achieve. Whatever their utopian platforms may say about renewable energy, corporate responsibility, diversity rainbows or frogs in top hats, the ruin of the Democratic Party is their only feasible aim. The first Democrats to be taken down, if the tiny party's plans are effective, will be the most progressive."

-Joe Conason

[middlespace live]

7.26.2002

From New Orleans:

Artificial overly-grinning floating torso
Curious about how it relates back
to them

Local flavor yawning over wonders
Acted anew by visitors with notions
about here

Gaping staggeringly blind
About self and about life
and love

Observations include lessons
Learned through the details
closely captured

So much the same behaviors
Personalities distilled into one
black mass

7.22.2002

Fools are people who spout off on topics for which they are wholly unqualified. Delusional fools use language to format their nonsensical words in a manner which replicates sensible, cogent thought. Manipulative predatory fools are fully aware. They fool no one but themselves.

Even though they realize how much they piss and moan, they really only just spin wheels; gratifying only themselves. Upon close inspection, they reveal much more than they will ever know. Blinding naivete and insulting immaturity do not make one in any way credible.

Merit is earned through much hard work. Luck is simply probability; it all evens out.

middlespace

7.19.2002

MIDDLESPACE - somewhere not here

Interesting digression. i've known/know bulimics...not a fun cycle indeed.

Instead "working" I'm exploring Latin.

I'm working on my connection between LIGHT, ART & PEACE:

lux ars pax

august might be best. tomorrow, we have visitors coming and we're gonna visit our neighbor's new baby. sunday, our neighbors (different) are cooking for us. it's a nice community.

lux ars pax

that says it all.

Bonus

Flying apart at the cliques
Theme-to-theory
Mind boxed with fear and fatigue

Simple hoops to successes
a dime at a time
Before sleep for the chores

Relative wonders of season changes
Shirts or skins?
yin to my bang

So tired to die soon
But won't we all
Time, after all, proceeds

Biology determines
Psychology varies
We are all the same still

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7.18.2002

[Previously Untitled]

Hungry. Cold. Eyes hurt. So this is the 21st century.

Bs, Ls & As
A good day for all three
If you take care of your feet
your feet will
take care of you, they say
To the hilt dressed
for success implied
or offered or as expected

War & terror
Congo & Zaire
as carefree as love & lust
on a seven hour drive
to the black market money changers

A woman's woollen cape
of navy and striped of gold
tiny mirrors adorn miniature tic-tac-toe boards
and all I can think about is
selfish, savage, sensual

It will all get better though
As soon as the river comes back
Until then there is nothing to do -
- except wait
and eat our bitter root mush

No snakes no game
but rats galore
A month out with kids
back home with plenty to eat

And from the front she looks tough
and funny and all together
But her profile reveals her sad
and lonely inner-self

Look under the tiny little mirrors

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