My mother spoke Czech to me, but only when she was angry. Years later I found out it meant "cow shits in a bucket" and am pretty sure it was not the sentiment spoken by but the tone of her voice that she relied upon for the desired effect of those moments.
Once, in an earlier incarnation during this same life, as a bonafide member of the ILGWU, I was engaged in the manufacture of other items apart from ladies' garments. Many times I manufactured products template-cut from huge rolls of various types of fabric. One particular item that comes to mind was a most unusual mattress. It was 2-feet by 6-feet by 2-inches thick, covered in vinyl-coated blue and white engineer-striped ticking. As a dutiful assembly-line worker my 18 years of experience did not predispose me to question such a product.
Who would want a mattress so narrow, so thin, and ...covered in sticky vinyl? The answer came several years later. Nobody! I was arrested in the middle of the night and ushered to my cell in darkness, the way lit only by a guard's flashlight. A few uncomfortable hours later I was awakened by the breakfast call. As my eye opened the first thing I saw was... you guessed it, a vinyl-coated blue and white engineer-striped ticking-covered mattress! I leapt to my feet and shuddered at the first thought which flashed to mind, "You make your bed and you lay in it."
The second thought was less comforting. I remembered that another product-line which I had unquestioningly manufactured back in those days consisted of flexible wafer-thin disposable vinyl accident victim emergency operating room table covers. These went to hospitals where they streamlined the ER operations. After patching up broken humans the ER "sanitary engineers" simply scooped up all the gore and spare parts in the vinyl sheet and dropped the whole thing into the hospital incinerator.
This was one of the main motivating experiences in my decision to focus on pursuits wherein I exercise solitary total control from start to finish over the things I "manufacture." You could say that this "total personal control" is one of the common characteristics of both Art and Poetry.
Isn't the persistence of memory a wonderful and awesome thing?
What a fine poet you are.
|
|
