“Seize all the
joy you can that robs no other. Sleep in peace, play in jolly earnest, wag well
and mean it, and finally, be happy always.”
Arsene Houssage
So whaddafucks dat mean
I dont know
but
it really ups the ante
Houssage also
wrote "Des destinees de l'ame"
- “On the destiny of the soul” - which
is comforted among other rare and antique books in Harvards Houghton Library
it was
recently determined to be bound in human flesh
the practice anthropodermic
bibliopegy
(I didnt know this though if cut piecemeal it makes perfect sense) once was somewhat common
"There are many accounts of similar occurrences in the 19th century, in which the bodies of executed criminals were donated to science, and the skins given to tanners and bookbinders.”
of course Harvard would say this communicate it with a seasoned talking head before its prestigious
back drop a head fake a knowing nod
(I didnt know this though if cut piecemeal it makes perfect sense) once was somewhat common
"There are many accounts of similar occurrences in the 19th century, in which the bodies of executed criminals were donated to science, and the skins given to tanners and bookbinders.”
of course Harvard would say this communicate it with a seasoned talking head before its prestigious
back drop a head fake a knowing nod
we could chalk its grotesquery up to its polysyllables
but
that said
if
I had a tome bound in human flesh suspicions about my book wouldnt be easily quelled
No
Id have to
come up a line to boggle an interested mind
I am reminded of
Umberto Ecos library 30,000 volumes
Ive
read it is referred to as his antilibrary
his unread book and they are far
more valuable than the ones hes read
“A library should contain as much of what you do not know as you can afford”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“We do not
spontaneously learn that we dont learn that we dont learn . . . the problem
lies in the structure
of our minds: we do not learn rules, just facts, and only facts. Metarules (such as the rule that we have a tendency not to learn rules) we don’t seem good at getting.”
of our minds: we do not learn rules, just facts, and only facts. Metarules (such as the rule that we have a tendency not to learn rules) we don’t seem good at getting.”
fascinating to be sure
fascinating perhaps as the book I have
which is also bound in human
skin
facts vs rules
being an
undergraduate an undeclared pre-med
student which meant I only had to be enrolled
as pursuing a degree in biology
this lush bureaucratic placement provided me untold perks
this lush bureaucratic placement provided me untold perks
though some
which may have confounded people according to what is determinate -- through their eyes -- as to what a perk really is
I suppose its
always to be relative or subjective according to an individuals taste
and Ill
suppose my tastes sharpened honed by scouring used city bookstores for
print that was deemed censored or blasphemous
pulp fiction rag and hard-boiled
I suppose to be polite I would assess my tastes as acquired
I suppose to be polite I would assess my tastes as acquired
and necessarily
secretive
then it was
biology or architecture each had its own
practising mad scientists
Everything
was on the table
by my
second-year I had acquired a
reputation which preceded me as an industrious exact labrat
I often found myself shoulder-to-shoulder with graduate lab assistants and somewhat infamous with those assistants who were women
through some fault of my
own
however in my defense through more a fault of theirs
remembering then that the bras
were off and burnt with draftcards
that
sexual experimentation -- Christ we were scientists -- was
probably in vogue on par with that of the Roaring 20s or even rivaling Germanys
kabarett scene
I took off any
notion of training wheels and worried its hinges
we were ON!
one particular
assistant who possessed a superb mordant
wit worked for the university as a
diener
I impressed her when I respectfully ascribed to her and only her
as Leichendiener
which
means corpse servant
trained in
Europe speaking four languages she was pleased with my perception
frankly she had it on other women
she
also had fantastic brain
and
a wicked accent
our sharing
was incomparable and during one session at her place in the city a
joint smouldering between us afterwards
I shared a pipe dream of one day having a human skull to ponder as in
the famous scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Alas, poor Yorick, I knew him (Yorick was the prior kings court jester).”
-- You knew him well
-- I did not
The
line is Alas poor Yorick I knew him
she steeled her eyes
-- Knew him
-- Knew him
I wasnt backing down
she flopped
over in bed to her bedstand
her flopping was incomparable
and from the covey beneath a couple of drawers where all manner of lubricants devises and skin mags were fastidiously stashed she produced a handsomely bound collection of Shakespeares plays
and from the covey beneath a couple of drawers where all manner of lubricants devises and skin mags were fastidiously stashed she produced a handsomely bound collection of Shakespeares plays
-- You really want to do this Because a side bet is the natural prodigy of a coupling such as this
-- You really want to do this This aint an ordinary coupling
-- No Im
fucking your brains out Obviously
-- Such a clever boy
she was
wrong and I didnt feel bad about it
because I had given her a way out
and usually I take full advantage of those scenarios
thats how I earned my human skull
it was confined
and confided with my secret stash of books in my parents attic accessible only
through my bedroom closet which
meant regarding my dads war injuries if they
needed something from the attic I was the one who fetched it and I called it fetching so it sounded
demeaning and wouldnt be challenged
I
put together an inventory for them
we
did the old debit – credit routine if
they needed something or were storing something else I was the one jumping
through hoops I also called it that to
twist a slim modicum of guilt into the webs we weave
look at
me a fuckin gatekeeper
which
made a skeptic of me regarding everything I ran up against thereafter as a man
per the infamous Latin saying Quis custodiet ipsos custodes
per the infamous Latin saying Quis custodiet ipsos custodes
Juvenal --
sensational -- Who watches the
watchmen
not
a fuckin soul
and
that occasionally drives me nuts
I beat up a
professor over a disagreement regarding our perceptions of the grading scale
his perception was later
colored by the embarrassment that I discovered his daughter was a junkie and whoring to make fixes because as she said he was done paying for her habit
she also said the habit came from a
beating he gave her as a young girl
she never
quite healed
he I expected
blew off the meeting wed set after lecture for his office
he was gonna
learn me something
she showed
instead
strung out
she
had keys
she
insisted I come in and wait with her for him
she
said her father could be a real prick
I
held her hair as she vomited in a trashcan I yanked out from beside his immaculate
desk under the pale
of all the honorary calfskin degrees hanging behind it
of all the honorary calfskin degrees hanging behind it
he
arrived almost an hour and a half late for our scheduled appointment
incensed he
caught me with a badly conceived punch I saw coming
I caught him with a good combination I
learned in Golden Gloves
he learned me honorary
degrees outweigh honor
departing the
university
it said the professor magnanimously
preferred not to have me charged
it
also said that it could not in good conscience allow me to remain on campus to
further my studies
it
would
it insisted
not
make it difficult for me to transfer into another college or university
the book Finnegans Wake was a parting gift from my Leichendiener
it appears drab
but she upped the ante
suffice it to
say Joyce usually speaks to me from the comfort of my home
the skull and a
candle are his bookends
1700, Saturday,
14 6. 14
