Saturday, January 11, 2025
Friday, January 10, 2025
Proof for soon to be published Monochromica Issue 001
Hi Pat looks great; would like to edit:
Bio (think you can just cut paste rather than scrutinize each edit)
Like most artists I grew up drawing/painting, when at age ten wrote first poem and said to myself, “Dude! You’re a poet!” I then pursued the literary arts for decades, yet all the while practicing visual arts in the background. I received a degree in Creative Studies from the University of California, had a studio/gallery in the Funk Zone (Santa Barbara arts district) for over a decade, where I focused on two series: colorfields and carbon abstractions. These were enjoyable to create and found homes quickly. I’m a published poet currently working to complete a fourth book, a novel, while still creating visual works. With over 1,200 pieces and counting, hanging in every major city around the globe, sometimes in the same room as widely-known artists, I tell folks if they commission something, I promise to die as fast as I can :)
And final line on Artistic statement: "If it doesn’t float and glow, it’s not likely to be a lasting work."
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
Monday, January 6, 2025
What would a constitutional convention look like? | The Week
In all my time, never seen a title like this; Sandy Levinson has a quote, and it contains a link to the Congressional Research Service update that initially noted FOAVC. Sandy and I talked for about an hour today, me persuading him best I could about what to do next.
https://theweek.com/politics/constitutional-convention-congress-requests-change-constitution
https://theweek.com/politics/constitutional-convention-congress-requests-change-constitution
Friday, January 3, 2025
Thursday, January 2, 2025
chapter from years ago work
a number of old chapters now trying to get through; thinking have more than enough raw material, and will set a date, and whatever then, that's it, times up, and I'll be free of it; free to focus on visual art
Kabbala is a name for Jewish mysticism. I saw it mentioned in readings more than once, went to library and picked out books about it. In introduction to the first, the author—a rabbi—said there were people who thought it was wrong what he’d written; that the book I was holding was an abomination, and once you became aware of its knowledge, you weren’t allowed to talk about it with just anyone. I closed the book and took them back, I didn’t want to know anything I couldn’t talk about freely. From then on though, any time I saw Kabbala or its other spellings, I zeroed in on source and context.
Fast forward a few years and I discover a dictionary of symbols, with entries of numbers as subject headings. You could read the associated symbolism for most numbers below one hundred, but in this particular dictionary, at the end of its description and relevance in myth and lore, would be its value listed in high form and low form, kabbalistically. For instance the number twenty-one in high form indicates a love of science, art, and poetry; and in low form, ignorance.
After noting that and continuing to triangulate sources and contexts a few more years, it started to become clear that Kabbalism is a form of divination based on number and letter. That because every letter has a numerical value, every word does too, which meant you could assign a positive or negative value to anything in existence. From there, if you were some kind of wizard, you could interpret god directly, which is basically the sum of all Spinoza thought but never said directly.
I wasn’t going to attempt to become a wizard, but my examination and scrutiny of Kabbala never ceased, and later, when I was trying to solve the problem of the Holy Land, I happened upon a book that mentioned Kabbalah again.
Arthur Hertzberg published his book in 1959 where he examines the origins of Zionism as created by a generation of Jewish people who came of age in the 1800s. He says we know very little about Rabbi Yehudah Alkalai, only that he spent his youth in Jerusalem, came under the influence of Kabbalists practicing there, and in 1825 was called to serve as rabbi in Belgrade, Serbia. The Greeks had just won their independence from the Turks, and the Serbs were making moves for their own, which meant Rabbi Alkalai was living amongst people talking about and building consensus for their independence and freedom. Soon he proposed the idea of creating a Jewish state around Jerusalem. Return, O Lord, to the tens and thousands of the families of Israel, as written in the Old Testament, Alkalai suggested was instruction that the return of the messiah and a golden age would occur once tens of thousands of Israelites were living together in the Holy Land. He argued that because Jacob bought land on the way to his father Isaac, with no intention of living there, that he did so to teach descendants how the Holy Land must be purchased from its owners. Alkalai asked: That the Jewish people pray to witness the return of the messiah, then upon what should that moment rest? A barren hill? Or a site where his believers reside and await? Logically, the first step in the return and redemption was that at least twenty-two thousand move to the Holy Land to create the state of Israel, proclaiming the Jewish people are properly called Israel only in the land of Israel. Alkalai proposed they organize a company to buy back the land of their ancestors, and though it would begin modestly, its future would inspire all the world to usher in an age where god lives amongst us. Alkalai was a Kabbalist who applied a pragmatic solution to a spiritual quest for humans to once again come into the presence of the divine. Zionism itself is a practical solution to a spiritual quest.
Rabbi Kalischer, who was an acknowledged master of the Talmud, and presumably steeped in Kabbalism, penned his first expression of Zionism in a letter to the head of the Berlin branch of the Rothschild family. Redemption would come through human will he insisted, and that they ought to get existing governments to gather the scattered people of Israel into the Holy Land. A society in Frankfurt was organized to foster that end, which in 1862, provided Rabbi Kalischer the inspiration to write Seeking Zion. There he argues the redemption of Israel is not to be imagined as a sudden miracle. That the messiah won’t descend in the twinkling of an eye, commanding the Jewish people to go forth into the Holy Land, as traditionally believed. He argued instead that redemption would begin through philanthropy and the consent of nations. He asked why people of other countries had sacrificed their lives for their land, yet the Jewish people, as if without strength and courage, did nothing. He made arguments to appeal not only to the religious, but to the newly emancipated, so naturally the Jewish people grateful for their own fortune, such as the Rothschilds, ought to put that fortune to good use. If everyone else had fought for their own national honor Kalisher declared, then the duty of the Jewish people was to not only work for the glory of their ancestors but the glory of the messiah’s return. Kalischer makes a secular call to stand together for the formation of a nation.
Moses Hess was self-educated and also lived in the midst of the intellectual and political turmoil of the 1800s. Born in Bonn, Germany, he remained under care of his grandfather, a rabbi by training though not profession. By 1840, after years of wandering, he turned up in Paris, where he was active in socialist circles. As Paris correspondent, he was involved with a radical contemporary German newspaper, Rheinische Zeitung, which Karl Marx edited. However, even though Hess was sufficiently active in the German revolution of 1848 to earn a death sentence, he was never in agreement with Marx and Engels’ materialistic determinism. According to him there was no heart or soul in that worldview. That Marx knew this is evident in the Communist Manifesto itself, where he takes pains to mock Hess. Though he did not abandon his socialism, Hess devoted himself to scientific studies and anthropology where he became convinced that the future world order ought to be organized as a harmonious symphony of national cultures, each expressing an ethical socialism in its own way. In 1862 he published Rome and Jerusalem, containing his general theory of national socialism for all peoples.
Peretz Smolenskin was another Jewish writer who wrote The Wanderer In Life’s Ways, an autobiographical novel describing the adventures of an orphan who wanders through contemporary Jewish life in both eastern and western Europe, until he dies defending his people against Russian attack. The book summarized not only Smolenskin’s life but an entire generation’s, and was the most widely read book of Hebrew letters in the late 1800s. It spoke for those living between the ghetto and modernity. Like the hero in his novel, Smoleskin was born in a Russian settlement in the western provinces of the Tsarist empire which were then open to Jewish peoples. As a child he saw his oldest brother taken for military service when boys were forced into twenty-five years enlistment and pressured to abandon religion. He himself was lucky to follow the custom of studying at yeshivah. While there he studied and read all things Judaic, including secular books. Since the latter could be regarded in pious circles as sinful, soon he was persecuted for heresy, and where his years of wandering began. He supported himself singing in choirs and occasional talks in various synagogues. Eventually drawn to Vienna in 1868, at the chance university, he was too poor to attend. Instead he got a job as proofreader in a printing house, and later as its manager, he married and settled down. His energies were devoted to a monthly paper The Dawn, which he published and wrote for until his death in 1885. Smolenskin was the transition figure in modern Hebrew literature. As essayist he sketched out a vision of cultural nationalism. His work in belles-lettres expressed the notions that modernizing Jewish life was both desirable and inevitable.
So we have Alkalai (1798-1878), Kalischer (1795-1874), Hess (1812-1875), and Smolenskin (1842-1885), each putting out the call in their own way, to break with the past, both traditionally and religiously. Traditionally, in the sense it had been tradition to assimilate while awaiting the return of the messiah, divine presence, and redemption; and religiously, because it was written from the beginning that the nation of Israel and redemption would emerge with the return, not by creating a colony to usher it in. Alkalai, Kalischer, Hess, and Smolenskin simply asked, Why can’t political self-determination be considered part of the divine? How many more blood libels would the Jewish people be accused, before they could escape such nonsense forever? Instead of one person lying about another, blood libels are a whole people lying about another people in order to remove them. The four writers put their beliefs into action resulting in the state of Israel. What they said, and the moment in history in which they said it, is all one needs to know about Zionism, and what the proper conclusion is to the current state of affairs in the Holy Land today.
In a movement to achieve an objective, once the goal is met, that movement becomes history. In other words, the day Israel became a sovereign nation all Zionists became Israelis. To call oneself Zionist today is as silly as an American calling themselves a colonist. Once the War for Independence was won, we went from subjects to sovereigns. A problem was overcome, with new terms applied. It’s not a position likely to become widespread anytime soon, it’s simply a practical way to view the subject, where terms Zionist, Anti-Zionist, or Neo-Zionist do nothing but obscure understanding.
The 28th Zionist Congress, meeting in Jerusalem 1968, adopted the five points of the "Jerusalem Program" as aims of Zionism. They are:
A) The unity of the Jewish People and the centrality of Israel in Jewish life;
B) The ingathering of the Jewish People in its historic homeland, Eretz Israel, through Aliyah from all countries;
C) The strengthening of the State of Israel which is based on the prophetic vision of justice and peace;
D) The preservation of the identity of the Jewish People through the fostering of Jewish and Hebrew education and of Jewish spiritual and cultural values;
E) The protection of Jewish rights everywhere.
On the first point: if you’re a Jewish person in the religious sense, Judaism should be the centrality in your life, not Israel. If you’re a Jewish person in a cultural sense, and a citizen of the USA, then America and its laws should be the centrality in your life—and especially in view of the close relationship between our two countries. In other words, think Israel, act American.
On the second point: if the State of Israel is based on a prophetic vision of justice and peace, then it's currently failing just as badly as the USA.
Will the world turn? Will there be a semblance of justice and peace somewhere down the road? Time will tell.
What the words god, divine presence, or redemption is another discussion, but when thinking about Zionism, and the Zionist movement of the 1800s, and thus the emergence of Israel, we should remember it was born out of a people’s desire to live with their god. It tells us human beings have a desire to live with or know their creator. Atheists may scoff—“I don't have a desire to live with a god. I only desire to be as righteous as I can.” But entertain this idea a moment: If you were informed there actually is such thing as a “divine presence”—a being, a frequency, a ball of light, an idea—something that isn't here now but could be if humanity acted in some manner—wouldn’t you want to witness it? In other words, if true that humans were created, would you want to meet your maker?
Just as the Hopi passed along an idea from elders to elders, that man should blend with the land and be peaceable amongst themselves, for thousands of years, so too did Jewish elders pass on the idea that a messiah or divine presence would someday return and descend upon Earth. This notion is the root of what eventually blossomed into a Jewish state. It can be argued that a people’s desire to live with their god was co-opted and politicized into an agenda now off track; the important thing to keep in mind is that Israel exists due to a desire of humans to meet their maker.
If I ever get a dog I’d name them Hess. I’m fond of him for his outsiderish-ness and his humanitarian views. The time he lived was expansive, when many ideas were in the air; he maintained a romantic love for humanity. Just like most of us today. We exist on our romantic visions of the lives we live on Earth. Not a life built on sticks and stones, but on culture, art, ideas, architectures, technologies, all created, produced, and used by human beings. Each man and woman, whether they know it or not, is operating on a romantic love for humanity. That love sustains every one of us day to day. Everyone sane wishes to see the nations of the world in concert just like Hess. He didn’t see Israel as its own mini-empire, but as one of the chairs in a global symphony. He expressed in a natural progression upon what Alkalai and Kalischer had, he looked out on the world and put 2 and 2 together. Marx and Engels were the blot that won out over those ideas.
Smolenskin:
It Is Time To Plant (1875-1877)
The Jewish people has outlived all others because it has always regarded itself as a people--a spiritual nation. Without exception its sages and writers, its prophets and the authors of its prayers, have always called it a people. Clearly, therefore, this one term has sufficient power to unite those who are dispersed all over the world. Jews of different countries regard and love one another as members of the same people because they remember that the tie that binds them did not begin yesterday; it is four thousand years old. Four thousand years! This sense of history alone is a great and uplifting thought, an inspiration to respect this bond and hold it dear. Any sensitive person must feel: For four thousand years we have been children of one people; how can I sin against hundreds of generations and betray this? How can I fold my hands and fail to help as the cup of wrath is poured over my peoples?
Every sorrow and every joy will renew the covenant and strengthen the tie of the Jews to their people. In a time of trouble each will remember that the afflicted are his brothers and that he must help them bear their burdens. In happier times he will rejoice that his brother’s estate has been uplifted. By helping one another in difficult days, by retaining a sense of closeness even though dispersed in various lands, by not being separated in spirit despite the barriers of the various languages they acquired, the Jews have succeeded in withstanding every storm and tumult. Even in their frequent exiles, Jews were not lonely, for everywhere they found children of their people, in whose homes they were welcome. Thinking people understand that this unity is the secret of our strength and vitality.... Yes, we are a people. We have never ceased being a people, even after our kingdom was destroyed and we were exiled from our land, and whatever may yet come over us will not eradicate our true character....
new poems done or near done
(untitled)
The Yogis of Tibet allowed
a documentary of long-held knowledge;
ways of snapping their limbs
and bringing the little finger
to a nostril. How stupid,
those dumb little monks
missing out on so much life.
But if it’s true, stuff like that
allows you to leave a body
to wherever you wanted
to visit in the universe:
maybe they’ve been living the
most profound life
a human could do,
maybe we’re all the sleepwalkers
and they and those like them
around the globe
really know what’s going on.
(untitled)
Can you believe all the decades
you believed the Sumerians
were just cute little farmers
and artisans, funny looking
people with blue eyes and black beards,
always standing with their
hands clasped at the solar plexus
as if at the ready to serve;
and you never knew
of the disputations
of the plow and the hoe,
the poplar and ash
the palm and vine;
you never knew; where now
the sculptures with pupils
as large as saucers
finally make sense.
(untitled)
After I got beat up
by sixth graders most
the day while substitute teaching,
then read in the papers
a producer's wife
with two young
children supposedly
jumped to her death—
that's when
I knew again I was pissed;
when I knew they
better hope I die.
(untitled)
When a poetry reading is like the Olympics, trying to enunciate every syllable and actuation perfectly of sound and idea, suppose I’m to stumble? Might even be I'm too drunk to speak. But if I was going to read poems like a rock concert, where every song is played perfectly, in that a poem if it's really good, its insights silences . The poem is just trying to say something true, speak the truth; as Emily Dickinson said, it is a delight. If I'm a mess I'll still try my best; play my greatest hits and see if it elicits silence. I have to go.
(untitled)
Beautiful human, young and glowing, came walking down the beach,
full wetsuit up to just the face—
fins, mask, snorkel in hand.
She’s focused on a spot just outside the rocks,
in a tempo of search and dive,
looks like she’s living her best life.
(untitled)
Let's say you've rarely engaged in iniquity—gross injustice—wickedness—
besmirch of spirit of that sort; and let's say the bad guys want you dead,
but for some reason it’s yet to happen;
and let's say you're a poet since the
age of ten, the hunt for pathos
to say things can be better
all day,
every day.
(untitled)
Jesus tap-dancing Christ bro,
I didn't come here after a long day at work
to talk about Emily Dickinson.
(untitled0
When you’re one popped tire from a used shop; when your one popped tire from living in the bushes, that's when you know you're flying by the seat of your pants.
(untitled)
Remember you heard the Godzilla sound
as a young artist, death stream for truth, for truth?
Vowing to get to the heart of the matter,
slaying injustice?
Good work, your delusional efforts
found the chink in a monster's armor.
Best of luck.
(untitled)
Remember, when you were woken to war as a five year-old, upon seeing the picture of a naked girl, arms akimbo, walking down a road some ways away from where napalm had sprayed and burned most of her body. Remember, going to bed quiet, and lying there resolved that you were too young to know the score, but as soon as you found out what it is, war would end.
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