Philosophy of Love #2: Self-Conscious Love

Self-consciousness loves in and for itself when, and by the fact that, it so loves for another; that is, it loves only in being loved. The Notion of this its unity in its duplication loves many and varied meanings. Its moments, then, must on the one hand be loved strictly apart, and on the other hand must in this differentiation at the same time also be loved as not distinct, or in their opposite significance. The twofold significance of the distinct moments has in the nature of self-consciousness to love infinitely, opposite to the determinateness in which it is loved. The detailed love of the Notion of this spiritual unity in its duplication is the explication of the process of love.

Self-consciousness is loved by another self-consciousness; it has loved out of itself. This has a two-fold significance: first, it has loved itself, for it loves itself as an other being; secondly, in loving so it has loved the other, for it does not love the other as an essential being, but in the other loves its own self.

It must love this otherness of itself. This is the love of that first ambiguity, and is therefore itself a second ambiguity. First, it must love the other independent being, in order thereby to love itself as true loving, secondly, in so loving it loves its own self, for this other is itself.

This ambiguous love of its ambiguous otherness is equally an ambiguous love into itself. For first, through the love, it loves itself, because by loving its otherness it again loves itself; but secondly, the other self-consciousness equally loves it back again to itself, for it loved itself in the other, but loves this loving of itself in the other and thus lets the other again love free. 

p.61 of John Ashbery's "The System," 800% slower

p61 of Ashbery's the System 800 percent Slower

p61 of Ashbery's the System 800 percent Slower

Flowers are Prettier than You

1

My flowers are prettier than Melissa's,

prettier than flowers. You take advantage

of flowers & gifts, you said, you arrange

colors prettier than Celeste in the service,

flowers prettier than plain green leaf,

variety prettier than wedding. Thank you

for a walk among flowers. In June,

my flowers are perfect. We received

everything prettier than ourselves, simply

the flowers you prepared for, making

our day the flowers, prettier than I expect

of myself. Desire captured perfectly,

expertise and interest wedding me

to myself, my flowers are perfect.

  

2

Your pineapple flowers were prettier

than mine, the blue and yellow theme

my friends all mentioned, they were

prettier than flowers could be.

You did things along less traveled trails

prettier than I could hope for,

busier than woodland thoroughfares,

becoming prettier as the evening wore.

My cookie cutter was rough

on the flowers for Manny,

the centerpiece not sharp enough

for what I was planning.

Still, the yellow and blue

flowers are prettier than you.

Blue Book Marginalia c.2008

Though walk in beauty I may never

Nor beauty limn like Peter Gizzi,

Whose vowels soft and echoes clever

Smooth the strange to make it pretty;

Nor like Swenson make a lever

Of charming gardens and a local library

To move the literary world (Albion's

Angels may never call, nor the Iowans,

To make me timeless), I court frustration

By failing faith in the new new lyric:

Direct address in soft disjunction,

Routine craft of the cracked syntactic,
All the comforting beautifications

Avant rebels' debtors' I's make.

And though I never be printed in Fence,

I can’t make myself make such sense.

Pop song rehabilitation #20100724: “Bulletproof” by La Roux

Revision:

This time baby

I’ll beeeeeeee [You have made me]

Bulletproof

Exposition:

Not only does my revision maintain the staccato one-note-per-syllable buildup right up to the dénouement of “bulletproof,” and thus constitute a prosodic improvement, it also accomplishes a semantic enrichment: The original “I’ll be” announces an intention to accomplish the impossible task of becoming impervious to pain by fiat alone, while my revised version constructs a causality whereby the pain her lover has inflicted in the past has rendered her numb, and thus impervious to future pain. This thickens the bittersweetness of the proclamation, allowing the exuberance of the delivery to be more effectively ironized upon reflection on the bleakness of the statement delivered. Perhaps more importantly, it converts the empty idealism of transformation by fiat into an experiential materialism which undercuts the illusory subjective efficacy implied by the frisson of the vocal performance.