Paul Cameron Brown

“ And all without a scarce concern for their ultimate use. Are we to believe each one came to naught as the sceptics predicted? After all, in this practical world who has use for dreamers? We already know Boca was stymied at the title level. Nothing ever graced his newborn creation beyond that first utterance. It was like sending a baby into the world without proper bedding or clothes. One nastier commentator even alluded to Boca's work as the equivalent of premature ejaculation. All buildup with no satisfaction. ”

“ BOCA "Nature abhors a vacuum", theorists of both philosophy and politics assure us. What's more, the phenomena is not confined to mere physical science given the nature of human opportunism. Glance a map of central Europe for further insights. One side always replaced the other when a "common," enemy expired. Boca might well have studied such eventualities. Boca was a writer. More accurately, a "touch-dancer" with the written phrase, deftly painting the catchy one-liner with effortless ease and grace. Boca knew his craft, be it the arena of story, poem, drama, (it didn't matter the genre) . ”

“ And I thought of institutionalized evil & rabid passion for revenge pursued beyond the final resting place-- most private skeletal remains held up as curios. Medieval burning of a heretic's bones, manure pile for those decried damned; the cross-roads drive your cart over the bones of the dead, the remembered suicide's end. ”

“ Rich desire to impregnate with evil, To embarcation upon conquests. To embolden and make one's mark, however ridiculous to the sane and balanced mind. Horrible. The dirty laundry of just one over-flowering and too abundant mind gone wrong. One single blossom out of place and "killer". ”

“ COUNTESS II Imagining the smoke burnt imprint of a tatoo with tapers flickering, the bejewelled gaze a dragon's snout must bring or the serpent coil, crimson flame curl of dashing cobra, its very fangs drawing lifeblood from the fleshy perch in smooth, red scarifications. On the pectorals of a sailor. Perhaps whiplash of the granite waves, grim trucker with a "Mother" grasping chains that see burly sandbags in place-- hirsute biker, cords of hair lashing his tattooed lady the lavender caress of scar with implant that of the chopper itself, her fleshy buttocks careening off the road. ”

“ Where every accent and syllable decrees one's station in life. Where every utterance labels the speaker according to rank and social standing by rigid calling. I thought of myself discussing such things with the perturbed, yet unmovable ideologues of the People's Democratic Republic of China. Did they know Marx's friend and colleague, Engels, kept a mistress? Did they care that Marx disapproved? Imagine using the word "grave" in the same breath as "grave offence" to discuss incest. Glib moralizing, the trumpet of the bourgeoisie! ”

“ WITHIN REACH There are two images, a moon within reach yet trapped under snow-- an old woman's threadbare shawl with peasants furiously working brooms scraping ice shavings into howls and husks of frenzy. Ii Then the same pond, this time summer with fishing nets, and briefer shawls pirating light's wanton swoon, a spyglass hour moon all bathed in yellow colour of kerosene --a rich creamy butter-- goldilocks let out on weekends her spun, golden tresses lowered onto the water like so many little boats nimbly hopping aboard. ”

“ And a final verdict, if there is need for one, can be seen in Boca's last will and testimony. He let it be known of his intention to chisel the "ultimate" one-liner. One to grace his own tombstone. On this he set to work with a last burst of frenzy. "To mirror my tragic-comic fate", as he would have said. Perhaps Boca is still at work, either on the snappy final wording ("the right elasticity") or in the mechanics of the engraving itself. Only a stone-cutter could estimate the probable expenditure in time for the latter. Novelists in dire need of fresh insights should enlist Boca. ”

“ With supernatural hands extended the sea is a wretch's bitter vinegar pounding the little, eggshell homes where, at twilight, a dozen village Elders with bell and taper, candlelight and prayer bind parchment oaths to envisage clandestine pacts, sabbats, obscene sojourns. ”

“ II A garment is held high as adrenalin in the marble glow of wintery air. Mud puddles reflect the faery shrimp of clouds while cone-shaped coniferous trees perch on lawns like starlings. III High above to skating and sugar-icing rinks in misty hues, a ginger-bread man manoeuvres past the ghost tails of a dead luna moth.
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WANDERLUST Who administers to my needs? Is it the dandelion, so ant-encrusted, that yellow pollen dangles from a shiny abdomen suggestive of some actor's smeared and garish make-up? ”

“ Worried looks crept onto the onlookers' faces. Encyclopaedic came the flowering. Ad factories should have tapped such a larder. Any creative department could have done worse than with Boca's dripping imagery and gift for the keynote phrase. "There is majesty here", said one, "and more than a little Blake. I am reminded of the great symbolists." "One has to be practical", cautioned still another. ”

“ On the palette, dreams are fickle, subject to "drunk and disorderly resisting arrest," outmoded and fuzzy with age. Policeman of the Olmec intellect, you dance late on feather boas this Mariachis of the soul with glittering purse and yellow, travelling nectar Tequila. ”

“ Pebbles into a cesspool, our sometime passions alive in the outback where honey-fuelled ants soothe enemy bones. My blood, tempest-whipped, ardour drawn to the surface fathom marks the depths sees a spectacle on the roads queues/Carnival & Lent, unbridled raw and raging. ”

“ That before people are capable of aspiring to work, they must first be fed. And all contacts, within life, must inevitably come through and be restricted by, how one has chosen to make that daily bread. Or, in Marx's words, how one is prevented from advancing by artificial class barriers. ”

“ The autopsy-necromancy Nazi intrigue, playing polo with your opponent's skull --Carl Sagan's Broca's Brain red-bearded decapitation floating in a cloud of formaldehyde; sale of skeletons/white slavery filthy lucre all in one utilitarian lust for cadavers .... Robber-birds pinioning their prey ... Mania to collect mania to re-collect, shadow-boxing logic rattle his bones he's only a pauper whom nobody owns. ”

“ ADVENTURER How desert islands in a cartoonist's imagination invariably are flat, palm-studded peopled by a solitary, abject yet humorous man. In real time, no delight; such islets are razor hot, rock sharp treeless, barren slabs ... examples of art shirking, but not shrinking life. ”

“ Bare bones future Medical schools may be facing a bare bones future, thanks to a shortage of skeletons. According to an article in The Medical Post, most anatomy skeletons come from India and the Indian government has placed a ban on the export of human skulls and skeletons. At Queen's University, 500 students share 300 skeletons, four or five of which have to be replaced every year although the head of the anatomy department says the students take good care of them. ”

“ Joseph's Cathedral, bottom of the hill, here Andrew Marvell of "coy mistress" fame sports a plaque remembering "time's winged chariot" and farther (further!) up a quaint pub gives accolades (Kudos, too) to the fact, 1666 nefariously was the plague year in London--Parliament Hill, a brief arm stretch away, posited strangled chickens and other assorted heirlooms in vain attempt for poesy to thwart poxy. ”

“ He was too busy fishing for the "mot juste", he explained in a moment of clarification. "One man in the right is a majority", proclaimed Boca, remembering a snippet of John Stuart Mill. Too busy was Boca replanning the structure of the Colosseum so it might better accommodate his label, his notion, his re-christened version of the ideal verbal escort to accompany that ancient edifice. And write Boca did. Titles fell increasingly from his pen. "The Barking Tree." "The Leaking River." These were but two. Boca thought he would improve on Tolkein's efforts, at least in the direction of title. ”

“ XII Save us from people who are right, the "firm but fair" rabid feminists, rapid virilism crescendo intellects with egos to stop a train. Humility of purpose is decidedly inferior to quiet perseverance in the truth. ”

“ His plight remains the very stuff of tragedy. By epic standards, how many Bocas are there worthy of a balladeer and myth maker? Credible Boca may be, but understandable? Boca, the metaphoric equivalent of a Sisyphus chained to his rock of obsession. "This horrible rock", (or pebble depending on your viewpoint) , wailed Boca. "I've become my own obstacle, my work is the personification of my own limitation." Worse, imprisoned in an inescapable logic and the narrow confines of a blink of talent.
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WORK IN PROGRESS Two Chinese fellows approached me in a London suburb. ”

“ Gender knows no restraint. Male crazies? I see the cloaks and shawls of spectres breaking saloon bottles with an axe cursing demon rum, hear "red alert" at maternity wards after the shootings --boy babies, at risk, from estrogen cranks. VIII Strange, women speak of it, Lepine died for it--his ersatz, clouded vision, no milktoast he, yet so much egg on the face this dirty thing "Justice". Naughty boy taking one too many reprimands from Father, think of Madonna's spankie. ”

“ Exportable revolution. The decadent bourgeoisie struggling to maintain their stranglehold on comfort. The Gospel completely according to Karl. That would be without considering the question of Marx's alleged incest with his daughter. But, then, most everything in the Marx story is "alleged." The alleged politics of confrontation. The alleged incompatibility of those who toil with their rulers. The alleged inertia of labourers even to the degree of their exploitation. And, yes, the alleged superiority of any one system over another. ”

“ Maybe Boca had a point. "Assembly without Hope" and "Nirvana without End" touched on his mystical stage. He dropped this and proceeded into the area of historiography. And afterwards, dry epistemology would see him concentrate his efforts. These forums were indeed worthy of his attention. Too long had they been neglected. All were in need of good, metaphoric dusting by title. At last word, Boca was inching toward Kant's, "Critique of Pure Reason". "That one, in particular, has a poor ring", he was heard to say. On they came. Precise. ”

“ Anatomists say it would be extremely hard to duplicate the surface details with plastic skeletons but the option may have to be considered.
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READING THE TIDES: PETROGLYPH PARK " ... A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain ... a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a faery's wing." THE GREAT GATSBY Perceiving the universe as an orchid stem, wild hibiscus crane & heron breaking water --voyage of elliptical, pea-shaped canoe down dancing images of the underworld. ”

“ Off memory & a dare, the grave man coming to a bitter end. Burleigh, top of his skull reminiscent of a laundry cup (or toothpaste cap) separated from its yellowing, rightful owner. No jaws of life here-- rather vengeance beyond death, shellac & varnish twist shoved to the withering bone. Phrenology, sinister "fin de siecle" fingering of the intellect's character through guru-dimensions of the head, (pseudo-savant/skulduggery clairvoyant) . Thimble-full thinker, sleight of hand smoke'n mirror trophy hunters boisterous crowd in a "hanging mood". Coins flip on the outcome while town drunks reel ”

“ The intriguing thing is in the witchery, smoke 'n mirrors world of Obeah, toenails are prized much like the greying Information Age values organ transplants for an aging population. XII Medieval really. Nothing the body profuses is really evil, only our intent. XIII Should a fly symbolizing havoc, despair and filth fall into Holy Water, the detested fly not does pollute the sacred vessel. XIV Modern fitness buffs full-circle with gleaming sweat-stained temples "glistening" with, what else, moisture.
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