Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.0806171102010.7471@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: isolation elegy (in the style of moselle)
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:02:35 -0400 (EDT)
isolation elegy our dancer has disappeared into physical therapy my assistant works invisible regular hours we hope he never shows for radio or video or other work arrangements are a thing of the past his interest is that of a mortician my musician friend has disappeared he took the hard drive with him and we live in silence the brilliant ex-student is on the road supposedly we're collaborating but he never showed a show at the university arts center never happened our tenant flaked out on the pittsburgh tour so much for moving out of the choking city (new york) the dance department head has disappeared as well performances at the local club fell through work in the three-dee cave seems impossible at this point { our principles on the nsf grant are wonderful and busy we meet and write and go our separate ways } we had a bad storm last night hurrah hurrah now we spend days talking to the cat and ourselves we work at home approaching and withdrawing from the machine the machine dominates our lives in utter silence our closest hometown friends have disappeared we're outside the potential well of the real we're floating in plasma the consistency of jello our voices are muffled and disappear according to x^1/8 i listen to other lives on the scanner whispering day and night we're on automatic trying to leave the big city (new york) we've no destination in three worlds and ten directions i've done all i can to decorate this one buddha stays silent all of them and oh what a beautiful sunset i say to azure oh yes indeedy she says in response and maybe we'll go down to the lab and dance a little dance or i'll work on the phenomenology of filters and watch tv tv is our friend but it never seems to listen did i mention nick and nick have never called i wonder what it's like to have breakfast in omaha i seem to recollect we left our voices there columbus ohio will do just as well sometimes i'll pick up a guitar and make my noise i build small walls around a massive depression grey goo isn't nano but a condition of everyday life i can't see the forest because of the trees we're tired of poverty and isolation i'm tired of stress and headaches and twitches and pains bad eyes going worse i can't see the boring world did i mention the second life performance seems canceled the curator has disappeared and we're left holding the avatars it's not much of a stretch to drop objects on the ground but in second life i'm just a noisy visitor and where was the show going to happen in the first place anyway no one's ever there so it's like our house i'm waiting for the mail and someone to check the electric she might come this week or the next or down in dark september that should be as exciting as boycotting the olympics we couldn't watch the olympics but china's our future don't forget people here don't believe in evolution and set out to do anything to disprove it i've always wanted to say "if you've read this far" but if you've read this far you're just about here and now there's nothing else going on but clumps of letters i think i'll stay awake a few more hours