pretzels

Sitting in Row 23C, watching all the going ons and people pushing past. Squeezed tight in open aisle-way like words between margins of a line. 27A tries to push past 19E and they get knotted up like pretzels that I already know we’ll get. Businessman in 23B is all business (and upset about having neither an aisle nor a window seat). His suit is something else. Fancy stuff. Leather laptop case to match his…well…something (can’t put my finger on it).

Takeoff time. 23B clenches tight white knuckles against a frigid armrest – wait, no, both arm rests. I wonder why he’s holding on so tight, but my knuckles are just as pale. That’s unfortunate. I see a boy in the next row. His arms are up like he’s on some rollercoaster ride. Like this is all fun and games. I watch him… I miss the ride. Watching him makes my arms decide that relaxing is ok. I want to hold them up like he is. What would people's eyes say? People say he’s just a kid. I can be just a kid. So I place them in my lap. Close my eyes. Imagine that my hands are waving wildly like his – imagine we are flying.

Later on I’ve settled down and settled in, the reality of where I’m headed commandeered my private jet – my rollercoaster ride. We get our pretzels. I watch the boy again, playing with his pretzels, using his whole tray. His pretzels have become legendary warriors, or maybe dinosaurs before extinction, or aliens or birds or something even more magnificent that lives only in the innocence of his imagination. Inspired by his heroic acts, I take my own bag and shake it. What could be inside? Maybe soldiers… or cowboys… or dragons… I can’t wait… I open my bag and find…

…pretzels.

language (re)literalized: 2

I lost my mind today
If you find it, please return.

You never miss things
until they're gone,

and I think I miss thinking
but I could be wrong

because as I've said
I've lost my mind

If you find it, please return.

You never miss things
until they're gone.

and I think I miss thinking
but I could be wrong

because as I've said
I've lost my mind

If you find it, please return.

You never miss things
until they're gone.

and I think,
but I could be wrong.

language (re)literalized

when she left
she took my heart
or at least
my heart went with her

and my body collapsed to the ground
with a gaping whole in my chest
with nothing left to pump the blood
around my limbs

and it died.

If a tree falls in a forest
and no one hears it:

a tree still died
and no one cares.

Saying I'm myself around you
means that somewhere else
I'm not myself?

Anyway,
I'm glad I can be myself
around you.

Since I've been criticized by the only person who reads this on a regular basis, I thought I would oblige with an update...
What is writing if inspired by criticism, not inspiration? Does it matter (if the event is in the reception, not production)? (Am I even producing?)
The blog as a readerly text?
(Oh how far we've come from [quiet] self expression)

Also, I've discovered that even if things come together in pieces, they still come together,
and even if you replace all the pieces, you can still call it Argo, and it's still the same ship it was before.
(question the objectivity of existence)


I am starting to ramble

but this is as good a [place] as any for that.


jfmg