Author Archives: ashok

Marcel Duchamp, “Hat rack”

“Hat rack” | Pictures of Duchamp’s Studio & Discussion of his Exhibitions Hat rack is one of Duchamp’s Ready-mades. The most famous of these I think is Fountain, which is a urinal ripped out of the wall. This is not the sort of “art” I typically appreciate. In fact, I’m pretty sure Duchamp was a …

May 3, 2012 – 3:20 am | By ashok | Posted in media | Tagged , | Comments (0)

For My Mother

Happy Birthday Marigolds tried to eat his leg, lilies wrapped around his arm. Gardening almost collapsed into chaos. He stepped away from the marigolds, watered the lilies. Consoled the piranha plant with the googly, tearful eyes. Even got a wheelbarrow to collect from the money tree. In kindergarten they get bigger quickly – toys still …

May 1, 2012 – 5:25 pm | By ashok | Posted in personal, writing | Comments (1)

Arakida Moritake, “The fallen blossom”

Thanks to Catherine Rogers & Bethany Pedersen for their insights “The fallen blossom” Arakida Moritake The fallen blossom, rising back up to its branch, is a butterfly. Comment: A full growth reaches full growth again. But it had fallen – died. How could the dead flower be equated with the one growing/grown? One could suspend …

April 30, 2012 – 3:33 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Tagged | Comments (3)

“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, and you believe you are living.”

The collapse of conventionality can be more than fatal. Our death – heck, even just our failure – brings down others. I can’t emphasize enough how correct characterizing the world as “delicate” is. The unjust, awful things that happen to us on account of institutions partly occur because they feel threatened by the smallest of …

April 28, 2012 – 5:46 am | By ashok | Posted in politics, writing | Comments (0)

Music

That loud crap blares from speakers large and small. Can’t understand the words – just dull thuds, synthetic sounds, style of dress I’d almost laugh at. Almost. “Deviant,” then in my mind, “thugs;” no fun being scared of everyone younger. I remember how my wife’s family talked about me before she was my wife. Nat …

April 25, 2012 – 3:22 pm | By ashok | Posted in writing | Comments (2)

Yuri Arabov, “War comes out of raw cracks”

War comes out of raw cracks (from Contemporary Russian Poetry: An Anthology. ed. Bunimovich & Kates) Yuri Arabov War comes out of raw cracks and from oaken writing desks. She sits among objects on larder racks, at the bottom of cooking cups, in heads pressed together. Her brother is a hunter who lost his whip …

April 24, 2012 – 3:11 am | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Tagged | Comments (1)

Spring

Pfft. This is a time of renewal, rebirth? Please. Here, we all sneeze more. It rains. Dumb slutty kids underdress for prom. There, the ice is still frozen. But. I saw a female cardinal in its dull brown beauty stand out against the brightness of the day. It endures. Not the rejection, but the recognition …

April 23, 2012 – 4:21 am | By ashok | Posted in writing | Comments (0)

Thought of the Day

When you’re really countercultural, you’re invisible.

April 22, 2012 – 10:09 pm | By ashok | Posted in blogging | Comments (2)

Svenja Schmitt, “Gamer”

“Gamer” by PixieCold @ deviantart Good portraits tell a story. This one is no exception. The discolored eyes show preoccupation with whatever is visual; textured hair glows with the intensity of some of the better game graphics. Her head is afire. What, then, to make of the floral patterns all about? The messiness of the …

April 21, 2012 – 2:10 pm | By ashok | Posted in media, writing | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Jana Mihalkovicova-Lepejova, “Spring Song”

“Spring Song,” by jane-beata @ deviantart What some might dismiss as messy strands of hair have body, luster, curvature in their darkness. Darkness is the true mirror of light. The tilted head with its bright features might seem an afterthought; face is central to the whole yet its precise, simple definition seems too facile. It …

April 20, 2012 – 3:37 am | By ashok | Posted in media, writing | Tagged , | Comments (0)