he stood before the bathroom mirror
stoically regarding his peeved reflection
running and rerunning Corporates snide humoured inquiry of
whether or not he knew of himself what made him tick(Comon yasshole Really Know Thyself) while they had drinks in
a bar off the hotel lobby that Corporate would later submit to an expense-account
to be reimbursed
thats how White-collared Corporate was
the bathroom was lit from without by careless city lights sluicing in
through the thin curtain fluttering before the opened window
one
of those tall narrow windows that only opened so much as so not to allow anyone
to leap from them
Management had a reputation to uphold
he asked Uptight if he recognised that knowing thyself was a product of
the historical processes to date
Im coopting of course(baiting him to see if he would parrot of course
back at him which to his credit he didnt)
Antonio Gramscis Prison Notebooks
In it he wrote the processes to date has deposited in us an infinity of
traces without leaving an inventory
Leaving us in other words high and dry
However in his book Orientalism Edward Said later observed that inexplicably
the translation had left Gramscis comment at that
whereas in fact it concluded by saying
Therefore
it is imperative at the outset
to compile such an inventory
Of course Gramsci(baiting Corporate again) never saw his work published
His fragmentary texts were compiled by editors
And common sense tells us to assume their posthumous organisation implies
bias
The creation of the texts meaning would bear their impact
Sounds outright Biblical doesnt it
Corporate shrugged evidently not
his paygrade
they his reflection and
himself knew exactly where they stood
before
a sink
on
a nicely patterned tiled floor
street
traffic sounds mudding his Coltrane Blue Train
Corporate wasnt looking to hire a thinking man less a critical thinking man
Corporate was looking to hire a competent indefatigable nodding-to-the-eyeballs
Yes Man
someone who was unquestioning
when last round was announced(if he was going to get anything out of
this at least he was going to get high on top shelf booze) and he had ordered
he told Corporate
Given your apparent leanings you
ought to get yourself a soldier boy or girl who is exercised in the selfless art of taking
orders Not asking why And considerate not to form any sort of legitimate
questions
Bueylikyouha he slurred Yacudduit Iffinnuhwan ted
But I dont want
Yasee
Dum dum dum dum reason
he confessed to himself in the mirror
It might have been in Corporates immortal
words Dum dum dum dum
But we aint that Dum are we
his reflection mouthed back
(high
he could read lips it was a great pickup line a great game to play with a drunken playmate)
I cant speak for you But Im not
I hear ya brother I
hear ya
they had taken inventory theyd taken stock in themselves long before he
ever read Gramsci or Said
though he wished he had the poetry in himself to have conceived an infinity of traces
how elegant
How fuckin elegant
so he retired to his room
but not before -- earlier while on a trot to the Mens Room he recognised
that the bar had a bottle of Pappy Van Winkel
-- but not before he had the
beautiful bartender a pliable young
woman given to a handsome tip and a hardy invitation to please come and join him
when she was off to imbibe a tumbler of Buffalo Traces Number One with a Bullet!
to brownbag it and place it on Corporates
room tab
he came out of the bathroom
he sat down with his silver shadow and was going to have a drink to that long ago pronouncement and elegance
0110,
Wednesday, 18 11. 15
