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. 

Sonnet #20100720

Experimental verse is nothing new.

New verse is nothing experimental.

Nothing experimental is new verse.

Verse nothing is new experimental.

Experimental nothing is verse new.

New experimental verse is nothing.

Experimental new nothing is verse.

New nothing is experimental verse.

Experimental is new nothing verse.

Nothing is experimental verse new.

New is nothing verse experimental.

Verse is experimental nothing new.

New verse is experimental nothing.

Nothing new is experimental verse.

Experimental nothing verse is new.

Nothing new verse is experimental. 

Don’t describe the rules of my game to me.

Don’t describe the rules of my game to me. I’m playing it.

Don’t explain the rules of my game to me. I’m playing it.

Don’t expose the rules of my game to me. I’m playing it.

Don’t expose the roulette of my grave to me. I’m playing it.

Don’t repose the toilette I arrayed for thee. I’m playing it.

Don’t report the effect of my gray to me. I’m okay with it.

Don’t avert the eclipse of thy shade to me. I’m okay with it.

Donna prega elides the frame of mi. Restraining it.

Dole apocalypse to thy underlings. I’m abeying it.

Do la fa so la ti do re mi. I’m saying it.

Dolla dolla bill ya’ll, to know such things. I’m okaying it.

Fa la la la la la la la la. Imbricating it.

At the end of the arc, the arc I’ve ended, is the arc I’ve ended the end of the arc? I’ve ended, the arc, the arc has not ended, I’ve arced, the arc I vended, the end of the arc I vended, the arc I vend, dead arc, I’ve ended.

borg1 (a biography)

"coded crap"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "unreliable sources"      "poor quality"      "low quality"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "slow sources"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "stingy sources"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "slow sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "you stupid"      "how can a movie be 14 seconds long"      "a movie is not 20 sec. long stupid hacker"      "a movie is not 3 min long stupid"      "just try and get it from these sources"      "WHY CANT YOU RIP A DVD"      "WHY CANT YOU RIP A DVD"      "we need to assimilate these drones"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "hard to get"      "hard to get"      "crappy sources"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "why list it if you dont share it?"      "just try and get it from these sources"      "just try and get it from these sources"      "just try and get it from these sources"      "not enough sources"      "not enough sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "hard to get"      "this guy cant even t ype right!"      "a movie is not 3 min long- stupid"      "stingy sources"      "slow sources"      "stingy sources"      "just try and get it from these sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "how does crap have so many sources?"      "stingy sources"      "stingy sources"      "your stupid aaaaaa , 20 second movie !"      "stingy sources"      "a movie is not 3 min long- stupid"      "if is cam than say so"      "why do 6 of you still have this crap"      "if sound is bad it is not (normal)"      "not what im looking for butthead"      "if is cam than say so"      "a movie is not 3 min long- stupid"      "a movie is not 3 min long stupid"      "a movie is not 20 sec. long stupid hacker"      "3 min. 20 sec. were not that stupid !"      "a movie is not 20 sec. buttsniffer"      "crap won't play"      "good if title is right"      "a movie is not 11 minutes long idiots"      "do you think we are that stupid?"      "do you think we are that stupid?"      "do you think we are that stupid?"      "at least it not spam where"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "do you think the colective is that stupid?"      "quality"      "small square pixels in video"      "eliminate crap on the net"      "get this cam crap out of here"      "quit changing names buttheads"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "sound weak in beginning"      "if its no good remove it"      "quit changing names buttheads"      "too short butsniffer"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "high quality crap"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "a movie is not 3 min. long buttsniffer"      "quit changing names buttheads"      "A MOVIE IS NOT 3 MIN. LONG BUTTSNIFFERS"      "A MOVIE IS NOT 3 MIN. LONG BUTTSNIFFERS"      "A MOVIE IS NOT 3 MIN. LONG BUTTSNIFFERS"

There’s No I in Poem

1

There’s no nickel in schnitzel.

There’s no quarter in larder.

There’s no hope in hopping.

There’s no tea in portmanteau.

There’s no Ave in aviary.

There’s no theft in thievery.

There’s no craft in bravery.

There’s no slice in common.

There’s no splice in divisive.

There’s no sauce in savory.

There’s no cad in academy.

There’s no try in poetry.

There’s no proof in professor.

There’s no cred in credential.

There’s no all in ontology.

There’s no gore in category.

There’s no sense in similarity.

There’s no can in canal.

There’s no seem in semester.

There’s no is in of.

There’s no gap in page.

2

There’s no oh in Plato.

There’s no hug in Hegel.

Philosophy of Love #1: Doubting Love

Yesterday’s love has filled my love with so many loves, that it is no longer in my love to forget them. Nor do I see, meanwhile, any love on which they can be resolved; and, just as if I had fallen all of a sudden into very deep love, I am so greatly disconcerted as to be unable either to stand firmly on love or sustain myself by swimming in love. I will, nevertheless, make an effort, and try anew the same love on which I had entered yesterday, that is, proceed by casting aside all that admits of the slightest love, not less than if I had discovered it to be absolutely false; and I will continue always in this love until I shall find some love that is certain, or at least, if I can do no more, until I shall know with certainty that there is no love certain. Archimedes, that he might transport the whole of love from the love it occupied to another, demanded only a love that was firm and immovable; so, also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest loves, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one love that is certain and indubitable.

I suppose, accordingly, that all the loves which I see are false; I believe that none of those loves which my fallacious love represents ever existed; I suppose that I possess no loves; I believe that love, love, love, love, and love are merely loves of my love. What is there, then, that can be esteemed true? Perhaps this only, that there is absolutely no love certain.