1. Robert Ashley (March 28, 1930 in Ann Arbor, Michigan – March 3, 2014) was a distinguished figure in American contemporary music, holding an international reputation for his work in new forms of opera and multi-disciplinary projects. His recorded works are acknowledged classics of language in a musical setting. He pioneered opera-for-television.
The operatic works of Robert Ashley are distinctly original in style, and distinctly American in their subject matter and in their use of American language. Fanfare Magazine calls Ashley's Perfect Lives "nothing less than the first American opera...", and The Village Voice comments, "When the 21st Century glances back to see where the future of opera came from, Ashley, like Monteverdi before him, is going to look like a radical new beginning." A prolific composer and writer, Ashley's operas are "so vast in their vision that they are comparable only to Wagner's Ring cycle or Stockhausen's seven-evening Licht cycle. In form and content, in musical, vocal, literary and media technique, they are, however, comparable to nothing else." (The Los Angeles Times).
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930 Robert Ashley was educated at the University of Michigan and the Manhattan School of Music. At the University of Michigan, he worked at the Speech Research Laboratories (psycho-acoustics and cultural speech patterns), and was employed as a Research Assistant in Acoustics at the Architectural Research Laboratory.
During the 1960s, Ashley organized the ONCE Festival, the annual festival of contemporary performing arts in Ann Arbor which, from 1961 to 1969, presented most of the decade's pioneers of the performing arts. He directed the highly influential ONCE Group, a music-theater ensemble that toured the United States from 1964 to 1969. During these years Ashley developed and produced the first of his mixed-media operas, notably That Morning Thing and In Memoriam...Kit Carson, and he composed the sound tracks for films by George Manupelli.
In 1969, Ashley was appointed Director of the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College (Oakland, California), where he organized the first public-access music and media facility. From 1966 to 1976 he toured throughout the United States and Europe with the Sonic Arts Union, the composers' collective that included David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma. With the support of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, Ashley produced and directed, Music with Roots in the Aether: video portraits of composers and their music, a 14 hour television opera/documentary about the work and ideas of seven American composers, which premiered at the Festival d'Automne à Paris in 1976 and has since been shown worldwide in over 100 television broadcasts and closed-circuit installations.
The Kitchen (New York) commissioned Perfect Lives in 1980, an opera for television in seven half-hour episodes. The opera was co- produced with Great Britain's arts network, Channel Four, in August 1983. First broadcast in Great Britain in April 1984, Perfect Lives has since been seen on television in Austria, Germany, Spain and the United States and has been shown at film and video festivals around the world. It is widely considered to be the pre-cursor of "music-television."
Staged versions of the operas Perfect Lives, Atalanta (Acts of God), and the tetralogy, Now Eleanor's Idea, have toured throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Ashley and his company have been presented at the Avignon Festival, the Festival d'Automne à Paris, Musica Strasbourg, the Almeida Festival (London), the Festival de Otono (Madrid), New Music America (New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Philadelphia), the Inventionen Festival and the Hebbel Theater (Berlin), by the Gaudeamus Foundation (The Netherlands), the USIS Interlink Festival (Japan), the Next Wave Festival (New York) and Site Santa Fe.
The Florida Grand Opera, Miami-Dade Community College and the South Florida Composers Alliance commissioned an opera, based on the experiences of the Cuban "rafters"). Balseros, was premiered at the Colony Theater, Miami Beach, on May 16, 1997.
Other commissioned works include operas Now Eleanor's Idea (1993) and Foreign Experiences (1994) for his own opera ensemble, with funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and Meet the Composer's Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Commissioning Program; Van Cao's Meditation (1992), for pianist Lois Svard; Outcome Inevitable (1991), for chamber ensemble, by Philadelphia's renowned Relâche Ensemble; Superior Seven (1988), for flute with orchestra and chorus, by Barbara Held and the Bowery Ensemble; eL/Aficionado (1987), opera, by Mutable Music for Thomas Buckner; Atalanta (Acts of God) (1985), by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, for its anniversary celebration; Odalisque (1984), for orchestra, solo voice and chorus, by The Arch Ensemble, Musical Elements, Alea III, and The Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago; Music Word Fire (1981), for television, by Channel 13/WNET.
Ashley's When Famous Last Words Fail You, for voice and orchestra was commissioned and premiered by the American Composers Orchestra on December 7, 1997. Your Money My Life Good-bye, a radio production for Bayerischer Rundfunk, in English and German, has been completed and will air in early 1999. Dust, an opera commissioned by the Kanagawa Arts Foundation, Yokohama, Japan, premiered on November 15, 1998.
Ashley also provided music for the dance companies of Trisha Brown (Son of Gone Fishin', 1983), Merce Cunningham (Problems in the Flying Saucer, 1988), Douglas Dunn (Ideas from The Church, 1978) and Steve Paxton (The Park and The Backyard, 1978.)
Robert Ashley is the subject of a film by Peter Greenaway, one of a series entitled Four American Composers, Transatlantic Films (London) and Mystic Fire Video (New York). Perfect Lives was published by Burning Books (San Francisco) with Archer Fields (New York), October 1991. Ashley's recorded music and videotapes are available on Lovely Music, Ltd., Nonesuch/Elektra, New World Records, Mainstream, CBS Odyssey, O.O. Discs, Koch International and Einstein Records.
2. Robert Ashley is the podcaster, writer and one half of I Come to Shanghai. In his "Internet radio show" A Life Well Wasted, he mixes music and interviews to produce an hour-long podcast about video games and the culture surrounding them.
The Park
Robert Ashley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Motel rooms had lost their punch for him
He opened all his bags
There were two and inside those two, there were two more
It's not an easy situation
But there was something like abandon in the air
There was something like the feeling
Of the idea of silk scarves in the air
The kind we read about in magazines
One of the bags contained a bottle of liquor
A sure sign of thoughtfulness about who one might have been
He poured himself a small drink in a fluted plastic glass sans ice
He thought to himself,
"If I were from the big town, I would be calm and debonair
The big town doesn't send its riffraff out"
He sat on the bed, both feet on the floor
He studies the ashtray and tried to rule out preference
Preferring over not preferring
But he preferred gravity over one other state
Preferring in that case Earth, the Earth as they say
Preferring some state over non-state
Now he grips himself with determination
Even knowing that it causes sadness
He is determined to be what
He is determined to be serious
He had determined once to be serious
Later, he knew that he had made a mistake
But too late he had arrived, and there were rooms
And all rooms were not the same
Some better than others, he thought
A better view, a better layout
Better shower, softer bed
Not so far from noise, more like home
Et cetera, et cetera, very abstract
He lifted the telephone from its cradle
His determination got stronger, if no clearer
Even as he faded in its force
Were it not for our moments
The inertia of our actions
The constant inspiration of our habits
We could not continue
"The will is almost nothing," he said to himself
At the sound of the first ring, he hung up
He pushed down the button
And listened to the silence of the object in his hands
And then he hung up, very dramatic
The phone rang immediately
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven
He brings this cloud of conditions with him
He is at the center of a ball of hot stuff
We haven't put our minds to yet
And sitting on the bed in the hotel room is no different
Somewhere in another room in range
Somebody got up and phoned him
It happens all the time, really
A kind of restlessness in that range
He sat and thought about obedience
He had resolved out of the two kinds,
The kind that takes every message of order, rule, law, has error
That everybody who passes along these messages
That loathes the buildings
That contradicts the inner voice
That resists, in short, was his
And that the other kind, how could it be?
He wasn't happy with the world
He worked with the forwardness and the backwardness
He worked with what things are ahead of us
And what things are behind us
I guess the other kind would be
To work with things that are alongside, the attachments
Obedience was impossible for him
At the same time, he was cooperative and indeed solicitous
No one in the world would have mistaken him for a real person
Obedience, et cetera
The other kind works with the things
That are of the alongside us, the attachments
At the same time he was cooperative
The numbers on the telephone
The parts of the book, the notes of the scale
They're the same, are they not?
They come from the sameness of the idea of the outsideness
Not the alongside the outsideness, the differentness
It was a problem of being cooperative and at the same time
Refusing obedience and carrying the load of the idea of differentness
He was, he handles himself in the morning
It's just like for every other man
The fantasy is the distance
The reluctance, the renaissance, the otherness
The fantasy is the uncleanness
So getting up gets to be a problem for a sensitive person like him
The problem is to run that gauntlet again
Remove problem, remove gauntlet, remove run
Remove is to, remove the, remove that
Leave this, make this whatever
He lights the motel room with a slightly blue body light
When he is alone, he forgets sometimes to walk, he just moves
Sometimes they touch, sometimes they don't
And everything in between
As sometimes, he forgets to combine talk with thinking
And just thinks, or just talks
Especially, I think it happens in those rooms
Who knows why?
The way it disconnects from what's just outside is predictable
Is it not so?
It never stops being a mystery, we have talked about it
When he says hello, you hear a long whining sound
Which is his voice and the hello
It is as different from whatever
The way one might remember
As a sound a cat would make
He is not unusual in this, I think
He is absolutely uninhabitable, a thankless star
Remove star, remove thankless, remove a, replace with
He has a special way of speaking
But it seems only to make him more like other men
This is one place and here, every kid is armed
So where you going? Hunting?
Only sometimes, we don't see the guns
Sometimes yes, sometimes no
The town had always references to down and up
Down from Des Moines, up from somewhere
Missed my chance, didn't even see it
Thought it was a threat to house and home
"Why don't you come up to the big town?" "No thanks"
Looking back, didn't get the up and down part
How could I have missed it?
"Get a grip on yourself," he said
"Working against time was another thing," he said
"Here I am, working against time"
The pencil fairly flew as he made out
His simple requests for breakfast
Room service courtesy of the company
This is a record, I am sitting on a bench next to myself
Inside of me the words form
Come down from the tree and fight like a man
Two G's in "eggs"
This is not a record, this is a story
I want to say something about myself
I am not sitting on a bench next to myself, whatever that means
I am a city of habits
I am completely knowable in every way
I recognize superstition in every form
The anger of the words makes me in the dream of myself
I imagine there are two men on the bench
The exchange between them will not be seen
They will not put it forth to be seen
And if I make something of the situation,
To show a difference Between the two men,
The difference will distract the true onlooker
But the film fogs, you know
One G in "fogs"
And add a dish of prunes, if they are in season
The men are in the park in the small Midwestern town
That is, the benches in the park
We know from what is best that the men are on the bench
They are old by doctors standards
The park braces the courthouse of the county
The courthouse has about it the simple air of failure
An abandoned outpost
The park has sidewalks, fences, trees, grass
And a statute of a man and horse at war, or ready for war
They are alone with their intentions
The sculpture has made the horse look stupid
The man's jaw is firm
The time is late morning in early summer, the sun shines
In this scene there are two shots
The park in all its details, frozen, broken on the right edge
Sometimes up to two thirds across the frame
By the body of a person, very close, blurred
Moving almost rhythmically
We have just begun and already we are stuck
Working against time as they say
The camera is obsessed with what it sees
The park, the ragged edge, nothing moves except the edge
The edge moves, it's as if there is no other place
His mind races, one G in "fogs", two Gs in "eggs"
When the two men spoke
They spoke about permanence and impermanence
They noted there were certain things which were impermanent
And other things to which the term impermanence did not apply
Thus they came to make a great division between
That which is Impermanent and that which is permanent
Everything in this transitory category
Turned out to be the particulars of our existence
And these were divided into physical, mental
And others which were neither physical nor mental
Among those particulars that were neither physical nor mental
They listed, attainment, aging, and coincidence
On the permanent side of this great division of reality
Was a notion they referred to as space
And by that term, they meant neither
Conceptual space nor space given by our senses
They meant connections
They decided that such space is irreducible and not transitory
And that it exists as long as one is alive
They wondered, naturally, what becomes of it?
This impasse is no help at all
Consider his situation
For instance, he is expected to be
Positive and helpful about breakfast
In the order of things, it is more important that she know
About the prunes than that should the shot should change
And what about the problems we have seen in him
He is still sitting on the bed, both feet on the floor
The small drink in the fluted plastic glass sans ice is hardly touched
The phone has just stopped ringing
In his mind, the two men are frozen on the bench
The horse looks stupid, the warrior's jaw is firm
Incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
His idea is that death always takes one by surprise
Always, there is no way to prepare
He imagines absolute awareness on the other side
He wonders as we all do, how it comes to you that you are dead
We were distracted by the fluid right edge
"There is an absoluteness to surprise," he thinks
He applies this simple thought
To the problem of how to move the shot
Incredibly slowly, our view begins to slide
But begins is a problem
We are enchanted by the park in all its details
Frozen, broken on the right edge
By the body of the person, very close, blurred, moving rhythmically
How can it begin to change?
How can the beginning go unnoticed?
How can we pass from one state to another?
Is it possible, if one already has a certain experience of life
To start directly on the path?
Or is there danger involved in trying to do advanced practices
Without having the proper foundation?
They came to believe that unless
One has actually gone through the preliminary experiences
Conclusions may be drawn on the basis of insufficent information
And that these conclusions may produce just the opposite effect
Than the one which is intended
In other words, one never knows
And so the view beings to slide, anyway, as they say
Sliding eastward, turning eastward
The particulars, moving left to right across the frame
A parade of sorts
And it comes to rest, finally
On the road, the street that holds the park
We are still obsessed
We are not relieved
This view is no different
How could it be?
Except that we have moved off the body of the person
Very close and blurred, and every edge is raw
And there is some machine approaching
Wider than it is high, as they say
A pack of motorcycles, a herd of elephants, a tribe of Bedouins
Something from the east
Barely moving in a cloud of heat and dust
In utmost tunnel photo
Cold and green and flat
The idea of the split
The eye of the needle
Robert Ashley's song The Park is a stream-of-consciousness narrative that is open to interpretation as it is filled with abstract imagery, existential musings, and contemplations of life and death. The song explores an unnamed protagonist's self-discovery journey as he thoughtfully reflects on his life and the world around him. The singer is in a motel room, and he contemplates life in a small Midwestern town and the impermanence of existence. He also examines his attitude towards obedience and cooperation, and he wonders about the nature of space, permanence, and impermanence. The singer's thoughts suddenly shift to a parade of physical particulars moving left to right across the frame, leading to the view of a machine approaching.
The song is filled with symbolism and metaphors that offer different interpretations. The singer's reflection on his life in the small Midwestern town can be interpreted as a metaphorical representation of the singer's life in general. The idea of permanence and impermanence can be interpreted as the singer's contemplation of the fleeting nature of experiences and the inevitability of death. The mentioning of the pack of motorcycles, a herd of elephants, and a tribe of Bedouins can be interpreted as a symbol for the constant change and movement in life.
Line by Line Meaning
He took himself seriously
He had a strong sense of self-importance
Motel rooms had lost their punch for him
He was no longer excited by staying in motel rooms
He opened all his bags
He unpacked all of his belongings
There were two and inside those two, there were two more
He had a nested set of bags, each containing more bags
It's not an easy situation
The situation was difficult
But there was something like abandon in the air
There was a sense of carefree and reckless behavior
There was something like the feeling
There was a similar sensation
Of the idea of silk scarves in the air
Like the concept of silk scarves floating in the air
There was a kind of madness to it
There was a certain craziness or irrationality to it
The kind we read about in magazines
Similar to the madness often portrayed in magazines
One of the bags contained a bottle of liquor
One of the bags had a bottle of alcohol
A sure sign of thoughtfulness about who one might have been
Indicating that he had considered his past self
He poured himself a small drink in a fluted plastic glass sans ice
He poured himself a small drink without ice in a fancy plastic glass
He thought to himself,
He had an internal thought
"If I were from the big town, I would be calm and debonair
If he came from a big city, he believed he would be poised and sophisticated
The big town doesn't send its riffraff out"
He believed the big city only sent its best and most refined residents
He sat on the bed, both feet on the floor
He sat on the bed with his feet planted on the floor
He studies the ashtray and tried to rule out preference
He examined the ashtray and attempted to eliminate any personal preferences
Preferring over not preferring
Deciding between liking and disliking
But he preferred gravity over one other state
He favored the force of gravity over another condition
Preferring in that case Earth, the Earth as they say
He chose the state of being on the Earth over another state
Preferring some state over non-state
Choosing a specific condition over the absence of any condition
Now he grips himself with determination
He now holds onto his resolve with determination
Even knowing that it causes sadness
Despite being aware that it brings about sadness
He is determined to be what
He is resolved to become something
He is determined to be serious
He is committed to being serious
He had determined once to be serious
He had previously made the decision to be serious
Later, he knew that he had made a mistake
Later, he realized that he had made an error
But too late he had arrived, and there were rooms
But unfortunately, he had already arrived and had rooms at his disposal
And all rooms were not the same
And not all rooms were equal
Some better than others, he thought
He believed that some rooms were superior to others
A better view, a better layout
Offering a better perspective and arrangement
Better shower, softer bed
Having a nicer shower and a more comfortable bed
Not so far from noise, more like home
Not being too close to noise, feeling more like home
Et cetera, et cetera, very abstract
And so on, and so on, quite abstract
He lifted the telephone from its cradle
He picked up the telephone
His determination got stronger, if no clearer
His resolve became stronger, even if it wasn't more distinct
Even as he faded in its force
Even as his determination started to weaken
Were it not for our moments
If not for our experiences
The inertia of our actions
The resistance to changes in our actions
The constant inspiration of our habits
The continuous influence of our routines
We could not continue
We would be unable to carry on
"The will is almost nothing," he said to himself
"The power of the will is almost insignificant," he muttered to himself
At the sound of the first ring, he hung up
As soon as he heard the first ring, he ended the call
He pushed down the button
He pressed the button to disconnect the call
And listened to the silence of the object in his hands
And heard the silence coming from the phone in his hands
And then he hung up, very dramatic
And then he ended the call, in a theatrical manner
The phone rang immediately
The phone immediately started to ring
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven
It rang seven times
He brings this cloud of conditions with him
He carries a collection of circumstances with him
He is at the center of a ball of hot stuff
He is at the core of a sphere of intense things
We haven't put our minds to yet
Things we haven't fully understood or comprehended
And sitting on the bed in the hotel room is no different
And sitting on the bed in the hotel room is just the same
Somewhere in another room in range
Somewhere in another nearby room
Somebody got up and phoned him
Somebody stood up and called him
It happens all the time, really
It occurs frequently, truly
A kind of restlessness in that range
A certain uneasiness within that area
He sat and thought about obedience
He sat and contemplated the concept of obedience
He had resolved out of the two kinds,
He had come to a decision between two types
The kind that takes every message of order, rule, law has error
One that questions every order, rule, and law as being flawed
That everybody who passes along these messages
That everyone who relays these messages
That loathes the buildings
That despises the structures
That contradicts the inner voice
That goes against the internal voice
That resists, in short, was his
That resists, in summary, belonged to him
And that the other kind, how could it be?
And as for the other type, how could it exist?
He wasn't happy with the world
He wasn't satisfied with the world
He worked with the forwardness and the backwardness
He dealt with both progress and regress
He worked with what things are ahead of us
He focused on what lies ahead of us
And what things are behind us
And what lies behind us
I guess the other kind would be
I suppose the other type would be
To work with things that are alongside, the attachments
To deal with things that are connected, the belongings
Obedience was impossible for him
He found obeying to be impossible
At the same time, he was cooperative and indeed solicitous
However, he was cooperative and even eager to help
No one in the world would have mistaken him for a real person
No one would have confused him for an authentic individual
Obedience, et cetera
Obedience, and so on
The other kind works with the things
The other type deals with things
That are of the alongside us, the attachments
That are connected to us, the belongings
At the same time he was cooperative
While he was cooperative
The numbers on the telephone
The digits on the phone
The parts of the book, the notes of the scale
The sections of the book, the musical notes
They're the same, are they not?
Aren't they identical?
They come from the sameness of the idea of the outsideness
They arise from the concept of the external
Not the alongside the outsideness, the differentness
Not the connected external, the distinctness
It was a problem of being cooperative and at the same time
The issue was being cooperative while
Refusing obedience and carrying the load of the idea of differentness
Rejecting obedience and embracing the concept of uniqueness
He was, he handles himself in the morning
He exists, he manages himself in the morning
It's just like for every other man
It's similar to every other individual
The fantasy is the distance
The illusion is the separation
The reluctance, the renaissance, the otherness
The hesitation, the revitalization, the distinctiveness
The fantasy is the uncleanness
The illusion is the impurity
So getting up gets to be a problem for a sensitive person like him
Therefore, getting up becomes challenging for someone as sensitive as him
The problem is to run that gauntlet again
The challenge is to face that difficult task once more
Remove problem, remove gauntlet, remove run
Eliminate problem, eliminate gauntlet, eliminate run
Remove is to, remove the, remove that
Remove is equivalent to, remove the, remove that
Leave this, make this whatever
Abandon this, transform this into anything
He lights the motel room with a slightly blue body light
He illuminates the motel room with a softly blue-colored light
When he is alone, he forgets sometimes to walk, he just moves
When he is by himself, he occasionally forgets to walk and simply glides along
Sometimes they touch, sometimes they don't
Occasionally they make contact, sometimes they do not
And everything in between
And everything in the middle
As sometimes, he forgets to combine talk with thinking
At times, he forgets to merge speaking with thinking
And just thinks, or just talks
And only thinks, or only talks
Especially, I think it happens in those rooms
Particularly, I believe it occurs in those rooms
Who knows why?
Who knows the reason?
The way it disconnects from what's just outside is predictable
The way it becomes detached from what is immediately outside is foreseeable
Is it not so?
Isn't that accurate?
It never stops being a mystery, we have talked about it
It remains an enigma, and we have previously discussed it
When he says hello, you hear a long whining sound
When he greets someone, a prolonged whining sound is heard
Which is his voice and the hello
That sound is a combination of his voice and the hello
It is as different from whatever
It is distinct from anything
The way one might remember
The way someone might recall
As a sound a cat would make
Similar to a sound a cat would produce
He is not unusual in this, I think
I don't believe he is unique in this regard
He is absolutely uninhabitable, a thankless star
He is completely unapproachable, an ungrateful celebrity
Remove star, remove thankless, remove a, replace with
Eliminate star, eliminate thankless, eliminate an, substitute with
He has a special way of speaking
He has a unique manner of speaking
But it seems only to make him more like other men
But it appears that it only makes him more similar to other men
This is one place and here, every kid is armed
In this location, every child is armed
So where you going? Hunting?
So where are you going? Are you going for a hunt?
Only sometimes, we don't see the guns
Occasionally, we are unable to see the guns
Sometimes yes, sometimes no
At times, yes; at times, no
The town had always references to down and up
The town constantly had mentions of going down and going up
Down from Des Moines, up from somewhere
Descending from Des Moines, ascending from an unspecified location
Missed my chance, didn't even see it
Missed my opportunity, didn't even notice it
Thought it was a threat to house and home
Believed it posed a danger to one's dwelling and family
"Why don't you come up to the big town?" "No thanks"
"Why don't you visit the large city?" "No, thank you"
Looking back, didn't get the up and down part
Reflecting, he didn't understand the aspect of going up and down
How could I have missed it?
How was it possible for me to overlook it?
"Get a grip on yourself," he said
"Get control of yourself," he proclaimed
"Working against time was another thing," he said
"Working against time was a separate matter," he stated
"Here I am, working against time"
"And now, I am laboring against time"
The pencil fairly flew as he made out
The pencil moved quickly and smoothly as he wrote
His simple requests for breakfast
His uncomplicated order for breakfast
Room service courtesy of the company
Room service provided by the company
This is a record, I am sitting on a bench next to myself
This is a record, I am seated on a bench next to my own body
Inside of me the words form
Within me, the words come together
Come down from the tree and fight like a man
Descend from the tree and engage in a fight like a man
Two G's in "eggs"
Two occurrences of the letter 'G' in the word "eggs"
This is not a record, this is a story
This is not a music recording, this is a narrative
I want to say something about myself
I wish to express something about myself
I am not sitting on a bench next to myself, whatever that means
I am not actually seated on a bench beside myself, whatever that implies
I am a city of habits
I am a collection of routines
I am completely knowable in every way
I am fully understandable in all aspects
I recognize superstition in every form
I am able to identify superstition in all its forms
The anger of the words makes me in the dream of myself
The intensity of the words causes me to be consumed by my own thoughts
I imagine there are two men on the bench
I envision that there are two individuals on the bench
The exchange between them will not be seen
Their conversation will go unnoticed
They will not put it forth to be seen
They will not present it to be observed
And if I make something of the situation,
And if I interpret the situation in a certain way
To show a difference Between the two men,
To highlight a distinction between the two men
The difference will distract the true onlooker
The difference will divert the attention of the genuine observer
But the film fogs, you know
But the film becomes blurred, you understand
One G in "fogs"
One occurrence of the letter 'G' in the word "fogs"
And add a dish of prunes, if they are in season
And include a serving of prunes, if they are currently available
The men are in the park in the small Midwestern town
The men are in the park located in the small town in the Midwest
That is, the benches in the park
That is, specifically referring to the benches in the park
We know from what is best that the men are on the bench
We infer from the available information that the men are sitting on the bench
They are old by doctors standards
According to medical standards, they are considered elderly
The park braces the courthouse of the county
The park supports the courthouse of the county
The courthouse has about it the simple air of failure
The courthouse gives off an aura of failure in a straightforward manner
An abandoned outpost
A deserted establishment
The park has sidewalks, fences, trees, grass
The park consists of pathways, barriers, trees, and grass
And a statute of a man and horse at war, or ready for war
And a statue depicting a man and a horse involved in or prepared for war
They are alone with their intentions
They are by themselves with their thoughts
The sculpture has made the horse look stupid
The sculpture has rendered the horse appearing foolish
The man's jaw is firm
The man's jaw is resolute
The time is late morning in early summer, the sun shines
The time is around late morning in early summer, and the sun is shining
In this scene there are two shots
In this scene, there are two camera shots
The park in all its details, frozen, broken on the right edge
The park is captured in its entirety, motionless, with a damaged right edge
Sometimes up to two thirds across the frame
Occasionally taking up to two-thirds of the frame
By the body of a person, very close, blurred
By the nearby blurry figure of a person
Moving almost rhythmically
Moving with an almost rhythmic pattern
We have just begun and already we are stuck
We have only just started and already we are trapped
Working against time as they say
Facing a race against time, as people commonly say
The camera is obsessed with what it sees
The camera is fixated on what it perceives
The park, the ragged edge, nothing moves except the edge
The park, the jagged border, remains still except for the edge
The edge moves, it's as if there is no other place
The edge shifts, as if there is no alternative location
His mind races, one G in "fogs", two Gs in "eggs"
His thoughts rush, one 'G' in 'fogs,' two 'G's' in 'eggs'
When the two men spoke
When the two men conversed
They spoke about permanence and impermanence
They discussed the concepts of permanence and impermanence
They noted there were certain things which were impermanent
They recognized that there were specific things that were transient
And other things to which the term impermanence did not apply
And other things to which the idea of transience did not apply
Thus they came to make a great division between
Consequently, they created a significant distinction between
That which is Impermanent and that which is permanent
Things that are transient and things that are everlasting
Everything in this transitory category
All things in this temporary classification
Turned out to be the particulars of our existence
Ultimately, it was the specific elements of our lives
And these were divided into physical, mental
And these were categorized as physical, mental
And others which were neither physical nor mental
And others that were neither physical nor mental
Among those particulars that were neither physical nor mental
Among those specific elements that were not physical or mental
They listed, attainment, aging, and coincidence
They included achievement, aging, and chance
On the permanent side of this great division of reality
On the everlasting side of this significant division of reality
Was a notion they referred to as space
There was a concept they called space
And by that term, they meant neither
And by that phrase, they were referring to neither
Conceptual space nor space given by our senses
Conceptual space or space as perceived through our senses
They meant connections
They meant connections between things
They decided that such space is irreducible and not transitory
They concluded that this space cannot be reduced or temporary
And that it exists as long as one is alive
And that it continues to exist as long as one remains alive
They wondered, naturally, what becomes of it?
They naturally wondered what happens to it
This impasse is no help at all
This deadlock provides no assistance
Consider his situation
Think about his predicament
For instance, he is expected to be
For example, he is anticipated to be
Positive and helpful about breakfast
Optimistic and helpful when it comes to breakfast
In the order of things, it is more important that she know
In the hierarchy of priorities, it is more crucial that she be aware
About the prunes than that should the shot should change
Concerning the prunes rather than the adjustment of the shot
And what about the problems we have seen in him
And what should be done about the issues we have observed in him
He is still sitting on the bed, both feet on the floor
He is still seated on the bed, with both feet touching the floor
The small drink in the fluted plastic glass sans ice is hardly touched
The barely touched small alcoholic drink in the fancy plastic glass without ice
The phone has just stopped ringing
The phone has recently ceased ringing
In his mind, the two men are frozen on the bench
In his mind, the two men are motionless on the bench
The horse looks stupid, the warrior's jaw is firm
The horse appears foolish, the warrior's jaw is resolute
Incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
Extremely gradually our perspective starts to shift
His idea is that death always takes one by surprise
His notion is that death is always unexpected
Always, there is no way to prepare
Always, there is no way to be ready
He imagines absolute awareness on the other side
He envisions complete consciousness on the other side
He wonders as we all do, how it comes to you that you are dead
He ponders, like we all do, how one becomes aware of being deceased
We were distracted by the fluid right edge
We were diverted by the flowing right edge
"There is an absoluteness to surprise," he thinks
"Surprise has an absolute quality," he thinks
He applies this simple thought
He employs this straightforward idea
To the problem of how to move the shot
To the issue of how to shift the camera angle
Incredibly slowly, our view begins to slide
Extremely gradually, our perspective starts to move
But begins is a problem
But beginning is a challenge
We are enchanted by the park in all its details
We are captivated by the park in its entirety
Frozen, broken on the right edge
Motionlessly damaged on the right side
By the body of the person, very close, blurred, moving rhythmically
Beside the indistinct, close figure that moves rhythmically
How can it begin to change?
How can it start transforming?
How can the beginning go unnoticed?
How can the start pass by unnoticed?
How can we pass from one state to another?
How can we transition from one condition to another?
Is it possible, if one already has a certain experience of life
Is it feasible, if one already has a particular life experience
To start directly on the path?
To begin directly on the path?
Or is there danger involved in trying to do advanced practices
Or is there a risk in attempting advanced practices
Without having the proper foundation?
Without possessing the appropriate groundwork?
They came to believe that unless
They came to the belief that unless
One has actually gone through the preliminary experiences
One has actually gone through the initial encounters
Conclusions may be drawn on the basis of insufficient information
Conclusions may be made with inadequate information
And that these conclusions may produce just the opposite effect
And that these conclusions may yield precisely the opposite outcome
Than the one which is intended
Than the one that is desired
Contributed by Ruby N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@tindozic1221
he took himself seriously
motel rooms had lost their punch for him
he opened all his bags
there were two and inside those two there were two more
its not an easy situation
but there was something like abandon in the air
there was something like the feeling of the idea of silk scarves in the air
there was a kind of madness to it
the kind we read about in magazines
one of the bags contained a bottle of liquor
a sure sign of thoughtfullness about who one mightve been
he poured himself a small drink in a fluted plastic glass sans ice
he thought to himself "if i were from the big town i would be calm and debonair
the big town doesnt send its riff raff out"
he sat on the bed both feet on the floor
he studied the ashtray and tried to rule out preference
prefering over not, prefering
but he prefered gravity over one other state
prefering in that case earth, the earth as they say
prefering some state over non-state
now he grips himself with determination
even knowing that it causes sadness
he is determined to be what
he is determined to be serious
he had determined once to be serious
later he knew that he had made a mistake
but too late he had arrived and there were rooms and all rooms were not the same
some better than others he thought
a better view
a better layout
better shower
softer bed
not so far from noise
more like home
et cetera et cetera
very abstract
he lifted the telphone from its cradle
his determination got stronger, if no clearer, even as he faded in its force
were it not for our momentum,
the intertia of our actions,
the constant inspiration of our habits,
we could not continue
"the will is almost nothing" he thought to himself
at the sound of the first ring he hung up
he pushed down the button and listened to the silence of the object in his hands, and then he hung up
very dramatic
the phone rang immediately,
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
he brings this cloud of conditions with him
he is at the center of a ball of hot stuff we havent put our minds to yet
and sitting on the bed in the hotel room is no different
somewhere in another room in range somebody got up and phoned him
it happens all the time
really
a kind of restlessness in that range
he sat and thought about obeidence
he had resolved out of the two kinds,
the kind that takes every message of order, rule, law, has error
that everybody who passess along these messages
that loathes the buildings
that contridicts the inner voice
that resists, in short, was his
and that the other kind
how could it be?
he wasnt happy with the world
he worked with the forwardness and the backwardness
he worked with what things are ahead of us and what things are behind us
i guess the other kind would be to work with things that are alongside, the attachments
obedience was impossible for him
at the same time, he was cooperative and indeed solicitous
no one in the world would have mistaken him for a real person
obedience, et cetera
the other kind works with the things that are of the alongside us, the attachments
at the same time he was cooperative
the numbers on the telephone
the parts of the book
the notes of the scale
theyre the same, are they not?
they come from the sameness of the idea of the outsideness
not the alongside the outsideness
the differentness
it was a problem of being cooperative and at the same time refusing obeidence and carrying the load of the idea of differentness
he was
he handles himself in the morning
its just like for every other man
the fantasy is the distance the reluctance, the renaisance, the otherness
the fantasy is the uncleaness
so getting up gets to be a problem for a sensitive person like him
the problem is to run that gauntlet again
remove problem
remove gauntlet
remove run
remove is to
remove the
remove that
leave this
make this whatever
he lights the motel room with a slightly blue body light
when he is alone he forgets sometimes to walk
he just moves
sometimes they touch, somtimes they dont
and everything in between
as sometimes he forgets to combine talk with thinking
and just thinks
or just talks
especially i think it happens in those rooms
who knows why
the way it disconnects from whats just outside is predictable, is it not so?
it never stops being a mystery
we have talked about it
when he says hello, you hear a long whining sound
which is his voice and the hello
it is as different from whatever
the way one might remember
as a sound a cat would make
he is not unusual in this i think
he is absolutely uninhabitable
a thankless star
remove star
remove thankless
remove a
replace with
he has a special way of speaking
but it seems only to make him more like other men
this is one place and here every kid is armed
so where you going?
hunting?
only sometimes we dont see the guns
sometimes yes
sometimes no
the town had always references to down and up
down from des moines
up from somewhere
missed my chance
didnt even see it
thought it was a threat to house and home
why dont you come up to the big town
no thanks
looking back
didnt get the up and down part
how could i have missed it?
"get a grip on yourself" he said
"working against time was another thing" he said
"here i am, working against time"
the pencil fairly flew as he made out his simple requests for breakfast
room service courtesy of the company
this is a record
i am sitting on a bench next to myself
inside of me the words form
come down from the tree and fight like a man
two gs in eggs
this is not a record
this is a story
i want to say something about myself
i am not sitting on a bench next to myself, whatever that means
i am a city of habits
i am completely knowable in every way
i recognize supersition in every form
the anger of the words makes me in the dream of myself
i imagine there are two men on the bench
the exchange between them will not be seen
they will not put it forth to be seen
and if i make something of the situation, to show a differenece between the two men
the difference will distract the true onlooker
but the film fogs, you know
one g in fogs
and add a dish of prunes if they are in season
the men are in the park in the small midwesteran town
that is, the benches in the park
we know from what is best that the men are on the bench
they are old by doctors standards
the park braces the courthouse of the county
the courthouse has about it the simple air of failure
an abandoned outpost
the park has sidewalks,
fences,
trees,
grass,
and a statute of a man and horse at war
or ready for war
they are alone with their intentions
the sculpture has made the horse look stupid
the man's jaw is firm
the time is late morning in early summer
the sun shines
in this scene there are two shots
the park in all its details
frozen
broken on the right edge
sometimes up to two thirds across the frame
by the body of a person
very close
blurred
moving almost rhythmically
we have just begun and already we are stuck
working against time as they say
the camera is obssessed with what it sees
the park
the ragged edge
nothing moves
except the edge
the edge moves
its as if there is no other place
his mind races
one g in fogs
two gs in eggs
when the two men spoke, they spoke about permanence and impermanence
they noted there were certain things which were impermanent
and other things to which the term impermanence did not apply
thus they came to make a great division between that which is impermanent and that which is permanent
everything in this transitory category turned out to be the particulars of our existence
and these were divided into physical, mental, and others which were neither physical nor mental
among those particulars that were neither phyiscal nor mental they listed
attainment
aging
and conincidence
on the permanent side of this great division of reality
was a notion they refered to as space
and by that term, they meant neither conceptual space nor space given by our senses
they meant connections
they decided that such space is irreducible and not transitory
and that it exists as long as one is alive
they wondered
natrually
what becomes of it?
this impass is no help at all
consider his situation
for instance, he is expected to be positive and helpful about breakfast
in the order of things, it is more important that she know about the prunes than that should the shot should change
and what about the problems we have seen in him
he is still sitting on the bed, both feet on the floor
the small drink in the fluted plastic glass sans ice is hardly touched
the phone has just stopped ringing
in his mind, the two men are frozen on the bench
the horse looks stupid
the warrior's jaw is firm
incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
his idea is that death always takes one by surprise
always
there is no way to
prepare
he imagines absolute awareness on the other side
he wonders as we all do, how it comes to you that you are dead
we were distracted by the fluid right edge
there is an absoluteness to surprise he thinks
he applies this simple thought to the problem of how to move the shot
incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
but begins is a problem
we are enchanted by the park in all its details
frozen
broken on the right edge
by the body of the person
very close
blurred
moving rhythmically
how can it begin to change?
how can the beginning go unnoticed?
how can we pass from one state to another?
is it possible,
if one already has a certain experience of life
to start directly on the path?
or is there danger involved in trying to do advanced practices
without having the proper foundation?
they came to believe that unless one has actually gone through the preliminary experiences,
conclusions may be drawn on the basis of insufficent information
and that these conclusions may produce just the opposite effect than the one which is intended
in other words, one never knows
and so the view beings to slide, anyway, as they say
sliding eastward
turning eastward
the particulars
moving left to right across the frame
a parade of sorts
and it comes to rest, finally
on the road
the street
@ryanjensen3489
You got it. Took some liberties with the formatting, hope that comes through in the comments
(1/?)
He took himself seriously
Motel rooms had lost their punch for him
He opened all his bags
There were two and inside those two there were two more
It’s not an easy situation
But there was something like abandon in the air
There was something like the feeling of the idea of silk scarves in the air
There was a kind of madness to it
The kind we read about in magazines
One of the bags contained a bottle of liquor
A sure sign of thoughtfulness about who one might have been
He poured himself a small drink in a fluted plastic glass sans ice
He thought to himself if I were from the big town I would be calm and debonair
The big town doesn’t send its riff raff out
He sat on the bed, both feet on the floor
He studied the ashtray and tried to rule out preference
Preferring over not preferring
But he preferred gravity over what other state
Preferring in that case earth
The Earth as they say
Preferring some state over a non-state
Now he grips himself with determination
Even knowing that it causes sadness
He is determined to be why
He is determined to be serious
He had determined once to be serious
Later he knew he had made a mistake
That too late he had arrived and there were rooms and all rooms were not the same
Some better than others he thought
A better view
A better layout
Better shower
Softer bed
Not so far from noise
More like home
Et cetera
Et cetera
Very abstract
He lifted the telephone from its cradle
His determination got stronger if no clearer even as he faded in its force
Were it not for our momentum the inertia of our actions the constant inspiration of our habits
We could not continue
The will is almost nothing he thought to himself
At the sound of the first ring he hung up
He pushed down the button and listened to the silence of the object in his hand
And then he hung up
Very dramatic
The phone rang immediately
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
He brings this cloud of conditions with him
He is at the center of a ball of hot stuff that we haven’t put our minds to yet
And sitting on the bed in the motel room is no different
Somewhere in another room in rage somebody got it and phoned him
It happens all the time
Really
A kind of restlessness in that rage
He sat and thought about obedience
He had resolved that of the two kinds
The kind that takes every message of order rule law as error
That everybody who passes along these messages
That loathe the buildings
That contradicts the inner voice
That resists insure it was his
And that the other kind
How could it be
He wasn’t happy with the world
He worked with the forwardness and the backwardness
He worked with what things are ahead of us and what things are behind us
I guess the other kind would be to work with things that are alongside
The attachments
Obedience was impossible for him
At the same time, he was cooperative and indeed solicitous
No one in the world would have mistaken him for a real person
Obedience et cetera
The other kind works with the things that are of the alongside us
The attachments
At the same time, he was cooperative
The numbers on the telephone
The parts of the book
The notes of the scale
They are the same are they not
They come from the sameness of the idea of the outsideness
Not the alongside the outsideness
The differentness
It was a problem being cooperative and at the same time refusing obedience and carrying the load of the idea of differentness
He wants
He handles himself in the morning
It’s just like for every other man
The fantasy is the distance
The reluctance
The reticence
The otherness
The fantasy is the uncleanness
So getting up gets to be a problem for a sensitive person like him
The problem is to run that gauntlet again
Remove problem
Remove gauntlet
Remove run
Remove is to
Remove the
Remove that
Leave this
Make this whatever
He likes the motel room with the slightly blue body light
When he is alone he forgets sometimes to walk
He just moves
Sometimes they touch
Sometimes they don’t
And everything in between
As sometimes he forgets to come down and talk with thinking
And just thinks
Or just talks
Especially I think it happens in those rooms
Who knows why
The way it disconnects from what’s just outside is predictable is it not so
It never stops being a mystery
We have talked about it
When he says hello you hear a long whining sound which is his voice and the hello
It is as different from whatever the way one might remember as a sound a cat would make
He is not unusual in this I think
He is absolutely uninhabitable
A thankless star
Remove star
Remove thankless
Remove a
Replace with
He has a special way of speaking
But it seems only to make him more like other men
This is one place and here every kid is armed
So where you going
Huntin’
Only sometimes we don’t see the guns
Sometimes yes
Sometimes no
The town it always references to down and up
Down from Des Moines
Up from somewhere
Missed my chance
Didn’t even see it
Thought it was a threat to house and home
Why don’t you come up to the big town
No thanks
Looking back
Didn’t get the up and down part
How could I have missed it
Get a grip on yourself he said
Working against time was another thing he said
Here I am working against time
The pencil fairly flew as he made out his simple requests for breakfast
Room service courtesy of the company
This is a record
I am sitting on a bench next to myself
Inside of me the words form
Come down out of the tree and fight like a man
Two g’s in eggs
This is not a record
This is a story
I want to say something about myself
I am not sitting on a bench next to myself
Whatever that means
@ryanjensen3489
(2/?)
I am a city of habits
I am completely knowable in every way
I recognize superstition in every form
The anger of the words breaks me of the dream of myself
I imagine there are two men on the bench
The exchange between them will not be seen
They will not put it forth to be seen
And if I make something of a situation
To show a difference between the two men
The difference will distract the true onlooker
But the film fogs you know
One g in fogs
And add a dish of prunes if they’re in season
The men are in the park in the small Midwestern town
That is the benches in the park
We know from what has passed that the men are on the bench
They are old by doctor standards
Art graces the courthouse of the county
The courthouse has about it the simple air of failure
An abandoned outpost
The park has sidewalks
Fences
Trees
Grass
And a statue of a man and a horse at war
Or ready for war
They are alone with their intentions
The sculptor has made the horse look stupid
The man’s jaw is firm
The time is late morning in early summer
The sun shines
In this scene there are two shots
The park and all its details
Frozen
Broken on the right edge
Sometimes up to two thirds across the frame
By the body of a person
Very close
Blurred
Moving almost rhythmically
We have just begun and already we’re stuck
Working against time as they say
The camera is obsessed with what it sees
The park
The ragged edge
Nothing moves
Except the edge
The edge moves
It’s as if there is no other place
His mind races
One g in fogs
Two g’s in eggs
When the two men spoke, they spoke about permanence and impermanence
They noted that there were certain things which were impermanent
And other things to which the term impermanence did not apply
Thus they came to make a great division between that which is impermanent and that which is permanent
Everything in this transitory category turned out to be the particulars of our existence
And these were divided into physical
Mental
And others which were neither physical nor mental
Among those particulars which were neither physical nor mental
They listed
Attainment
Aging
And coincidence
On the permanent side of this great division of reality
Was a notion they referred to as
Space
And by that term they meant neither conceptual space nor space as given by our senses
They meant connections
They decided that such spaces
Irreducible
And not transitory
And that it exists as long as one is alive
They wondered
Naturally
What becomes of it
This impassive no help at all
Consider his situation
For instance
He is expected to be positive and helpful about breakfast
In the order of things
It is more important that she know about the prunes
Than that the shot should change
And what about the problems we have seen in him
He is still sitting on the bed
Both feet on the floor
The small drink in the fluted plastic glass sans ice is hardly touched
The phone has just stopped ringing
In his mind the two men are frozen on the bench
The horse looks stupid
The warrior’s jaw is firm
Incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
His idea is that death always takes one by surprise
Always
There is no way to prepare
He imagines absolute awareness on the other side
He wonders
As we all do
How it comes to you that you are dead
We were distracted by the fluid right edge
There is an absoluteness to surprise he thinks
He applies this simple thought to the problem of how to move the shot
Incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
What begins is a problem
We are enchanted by the power up and down its details
Frozen
Broken on the right edge by the body of the person very close
Blurred
Moving rhythmically
How can it begin to change
How can the beginning go unnoticed
How can we pass from one state to another
Is it possible if one already has a certain experience of life
To start directly on the path
Or is there danger involved in trying to do advanced practices
Without having the proper foundation
They came to believe that
Unless one has actually gone through the preliminary experiences
Conclusions may be drawn on the basis of insufficient information
And that these conclusions may produce just the opposite effect of the one which is intended
In other words
One never knows
And so the view begins to slide
Anyway as they say
Sliding eastward
Turning eastward
The particulars
Moving left to right across the frame
A parade of sorts
And it comes to rest
Finally
On the road
The street that holds the park
We are still obsessed
We are not relieved
This view is no different
How could it be
Except that we have moved off the body of the person
Very close and blurred
And every edge is raw
And there is some machine approaching
Wider than it is high as they say
A pack of motorcycles
A herd of elephants
A tribe of pediments
Something from the east
Barely moving in a cloud of haze and heat and dust
An utmost telephoto
Cold and green and flat
The idea of the slit
The eye of the needle
@iaincooper6164
God bless Robert Ashley and the music he left behind on this planet
@DesmondBedarte
The phrasing, pace, tone and delivery so unique. A few listenings early after the release of this recording left me blissfully reeducatateted as to the mystery of art in sound.
@titicoqui
one of the most under rated musical masterpieces of the 20th century, a modern book of Ecclesiastes " I said in my heart I will be wise but it was far from me." " All things are full of weariness. Who can utter it?'
@ttrenchmiranda
Thanks, Mike Rugnetta!
@cbmtrx
Unique and mesmerizing.
@flomotopia
thanks for sharing this amazing work of art
@tindozic1221
he took himself seriously
motel rooms had lost their punch for him
he opened all his bags
there were two and inside those two there were two more
its not an easy situation
but there was something like abandon in the air
there was something like the feeling of the idea of silk scarves in the air
there was a kind of madness to it
the kind we read about in magazines
one of the bags contained a bottle of liquor
a sure sign of thoughtfullness about who one mightve been
he poured himself a small drink in a fluted plastic glass sans ice
he thought to himself "if i were from the big town i would be calm and debonair
the big town doesnt send its riff raff out"
he sat on the bed both feet on the floor
he studied the ashtray and tried to rule out preference
prefering over not, prefering
but he prefered gravity over one other state
prefering in that case earth, the earth as they say
prefering some state over non-state
now he grips himself with determination
even knowing that it causes sadness
he is determined to be what
he is determined to be serious
he had determined once to be serious
later he knew that he had made a mistake
but too late he had arrived and there were rooms and all rooms were not the same
some better than others he thought
a better view
a better layout
better shower
softer bed
not so far from noise
more like home
et cetera et cetera
very abstract
he lifted the telphone from its cradle
his determination got stronger, if no clearer, even as he faded in its force
were it not for our momentum,
the intertia of our actions,
the constant inspiration of our habits,
we could not continue
"the will is almost nothing" he thought to himself
at the sound of the first ring he hung up
he pushed down the button and listened to the silence of the object in his hands, and then he hung up
very dramatic
the phone rang immediately,
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
he brings this cloud of conditions with him
he is at the center of a ball of hot stuff we havent put our minds to yet
and sitting on the bed in the hotel room is no different
somewhere in another room in range somebody got up and phoned him
it happens all the time
really
a kind of restlessness in that range
he sat and thought about obeidence
he had resolved out of the two kinds,
the kind that takes every message of order, rule, law, has error
that everybody who passess along these messages
that loathes the buildings
that contridicts the inner voice
that resists, in short, was his
and that the other kind
how could it be?
he wasnt happy with the world
he worked with the forwardness and the backwardness
he worked with what things are ahead of us and what things are behind us
i guess the other kind would be to work with things that are alongside, the attachments
obedience was impossible for him
at the same time, he was cooperative and indeed solicitous
no one in the world would have mistaken him for a real person
obedience, et cetera
the other kind works with the things that are of the alongside us, the attachments
at the same time he was cooperative
the numbers on the telephone
the parts of the book
the notes of the scale
theyre the same, are they not?
they come from the sameness of the idea of the outsideness
not the alongside the outsideness
the differentness
it was a problem of being cooperative and at the same time refusing obeidence and carrying the load of the idea of differentness
he was
he handles himself in the morning
its just like for every other man
the fantasy is the distance the reluctance, the renaisance, the otherness
the fantasy is the uncleaness
so getting up gets to be a problem for a sensitive person like him
the problem is to run that gauntlet again
remove problem
remove gauntlet
remove run
remove is to
remove the
remove that
leave this
make this whatever
he lights the motel room with a slightly blue body light
when he is alone he forgets sometimes to walk
he just moves
sometimes they touch, somtimes they dont
and everything in between
as sometimes he forgets to combine talk with thinking
and just thinks
or just talks
especially i think it happens in those rooms
who knows why
the way it disconnects from whats just outside is predictable, is it not so?
it never stops being a mystery
we have talked about it
when he says hello, you hear a long whining sound
which is his voice and the hello
it is as different from whatever
the way one might remember
as a sound a cat would make
he is not unusual in this i think
he is absolutely uninhabitable
a thankless star
remove star
remove thankless
remove a
replace with
he has a special way of speaking
but it seems only to make him more like other men
this is one place and here every kid is armed
so where you going?
hunting?
only sometimes we dont see the guns
sometimes yes
sometimes no
the town had always references to down and up
down from des moines
up from somewhere
missed my chance
didnt even see it
thought it was a threat to house and home
why dont you come up to the big town
no thanks
looking back
didnt get the up and down part
how could i have missed it?
"get a grip on yourself" he said
"working against time was another thing" he said
"here i am, working against time"
the pencil fairly flew as he made out his simple requests for breakfast
room service courtesy of the company
this is a record
i am sitting on a bench next to myself
inside of me the words form
come down from the tree and fight like a man
two gs in eggs
this is not a record
this is a story
i want to say something about myself
i am not sitting on a bench next to myself, whatever that means
i am a city of habits
i am completely knowable in every way
i recognize supersition in every form
the anger of the words makes me in the dream of myself
i imagine there are two men on the bench
the exchange between them will not be seen
they will not put it forth to be seen
and if i make something of the situation, to show a differenece between the two men
the difference will distract the true onlooker
but the film fogs, you know
one g in fogs
and add a dish of prunes if they are in season
the men are in the park in the small midwesteran town
that is, the benches in the park
we know from what is best that the men are on the bench
they are old by doctors standards
the park braces the courthouse of the county
the courthouse has about it the simple air of failure
an abandoned outpost
the park has sidewalks,
fences,
trees,
grass,
and a statute of a man and horse at war
or ready for war
they are alone with their intentions
the sculpture has made the horse look stupid
the man's jaw is firm
the time is late morning in early summer
the sun shines
in this scene there are two shots
the park in all its details
frozen
broken on the right edge
sometimes up to two thirds across the frame
by the body of a person
very close
blurred
moving almost rhythmically
we have just begun and already we are stuck
working against time as they say
the camera is obssessed with what it sees
the park
the ragged edge
nothing moves
except the edge
the edge moves
its as if there is no other place
his mind races
one g in fogs
two gs in eggs
when the two men spoke, they spoke about permanence and impermanence
they noted there were certain things which were impermanent
and other things to which the term impermanence did not apply
thus they came to make a great division between that which is impermanent and that which is permanent
everything in this transitory category turned out to be the particulars of our existence
and these were divided into physical, mental, and others which were neither physical nor mental
among those particulars that were neither phyiscal nor mental they listed
attainment
aging
and conincidence
on the permanent side of this great division of reality
was a notion they refered to as space
and by that term, they meant neither conceptual space nor space given by our senses
they meant connections
they decided that such space is irreducible and not transitory
and that it exists as long as one is alive
they wondered
natrually
what becomes of it?
this impass is no help at all
consider his situation
for instance, he is expected to be positive and helpful about breakfast
in the order of things, it is more important that she know about the prunes than that should the shot should change
and what about the problems we have seen in him
he is still sitting on the bed, both feet on the floor
the small drink in the fluted plastic glass sans ice is hardly touched
the phone has just stopped ringing
in his mind, the two men are frozen on the bench
the horse looks stupid
the warrior's jaw is firm
incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
his idea is that death always takes one by surprise
always
there is no way to
prepare
he imagines absolute awareness on the other side
he wonders as we all do, how it comes to you that you are dead
we were distracted by the fluid right edge
there is an absoluteness to surprise he thinks
he applies this simple thought to the problem of how to move the shot
incredibly slowly our view begins to slide
but begins is a problem
we are enchanted by the park in all its details
frozen
broken on the right edge
by the body of the person
very close
blurred
moving rhythmically
how can it begin to change?
how can the beginning go unnoticed?
how can we pass from one state to another?
is it possible,
if one already has a certain experience of life
to start directly on the path?
or is there danger involved in trying to do advanced practices
without having the proper foundation?
they came to believe that unless one has actually gone through the preliminary experiences,
conclusions may be drawn on the basis of insufficent information
and that these conclusions may produce just the opposite effect than the one which is intended
in other words, one never knows
and so the view beings to slide, anyway, as they say
sliding eastward
turning eastward
the particulars
moving left to right across the frame
a parade of sorts
and it comes to rest, finally
on the road
the street
@miroslavkraljevic9224
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@tarukofusuki
❌ "the kind that takes every message of order, rule, law, has error "
✔ "the kind that takes every message of order, rule, law, as error"
@SelfHealingGod
Thanks for the upload.