I like to encounter poetry, where you don’t expect it.
Here is some, in loose leaves.
Bristlr: The Tinder for Beards
Beard lovers and beard-
havers, rejoice! This app is
here to shave the day.
Mark Kozelek’s Perils from the sea :
(I’ll keep updating this post!)Rob Brezny’s Free Will AstrologyTaurus : I enjoy getting spam emails with outrageous declarations that are at odds with common sense. “Eating salads makes you sick” is one of my favorites, along with “Water is worse for you than vodka” and “Smoking is healthier than exercising.” Why do I love reading these laughable claims? Well, they remind me that every day I am barraged by nonsense and delusion from the news media, the Internet, politicians, celebrities, and a host of fanatics. “Smoking is healthier than exercising” is just a more extreme and obvious lie than many others that are better disguised. The moral of the story for you in the coming week: Be alert for exaggerations that clue you in to what’s going on discreetly below the surface. Watch carefully for glitches in the Matrix.
The best of Murakami advice column
4. Haruki-san, hello. Are you well? Last year, my uncle suddenly passed away. Two years ago, my aunt passed from breast cancer. From the day my grandmother passed away when I was a child, many people who were close to me have passed away. I understand it’s a natural process, but I get upset when I know eventually my parents will, too. I remember when I read your novel for the first time in my teens, my feelings were at ease — I cried. I imagine my aunt talking to me, giving me advice lately. This all said, I have a question: Do you believe in heaven? If so, what do you think the place will be? If you don’t think there is, what do you think happens to the soul?
I may disappoint you with my answer, but I want to “sleep peacefully after death.” I don’t need a heaven, hell, or a Kyabakura. I just want to sleep without any disturbance. Well, maybe if I can eat deep-fried oysters that will be great.
—White Mountain Goat, female, 34 years old, housewife
The Golden Gate (Vikram Seth, 1986)
§1.9
He thinks back to his day at college,
To Phil, to Berkeley friends, to nights
When the pursuit of grades and knowledge
Foundered in beery jokes and fights
Eheu fugaces … Silicon Valley
Lures to ambition’s ulcer alley
Young graduates with sirens screams
Of power and wealth beyond their dreams
Eject the lax, and drives the driven,
Burning their candles at both ends
Thus files takes precedence over friends
Labor is lauded, leisure riven
John kneels bareheaded and unshod
Before the Chip, a jealous God.
Internet slang meets American Sign Language
e.g. : “screencap” :