tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post1145127512297609092..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: PandaemoniumUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-85259635670146120402010-10-18T18:19:40.691-07:002010-10-18T18:19:40.691-07:00Dear Robinson Jeffers,
you heard Hitler's voi...Dear Robinson Jeffers,<br /><br />you heard Hitler's voice<br />on the radio and knew<br />it was not ordinary, that<br />it carried it's force to<br />a tower in Carmel from<br />which more sea and mountains<br />could be seen than in<br />eternity, and more sound<br />inexorably by crash of waves<br />on a rugged coast than<br />by his engines<br />your love by your side<br />made you wise during<br />his pandemonium<br /><br />the cries of his enslaved<br />you did not hear<br />they were not<br />on the radio<br />they too are inexorably<br />in eternity<br />and made others wise<br />in other waysElmo St. Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01588245143022651357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-35447617110721090502010-10-18T07:13:50.844-07:002010-10-18T07:13:50.844-07:00(Oh, and by the way... "Pandaemonium" re...(Oh, and by the way... "Pandaemonium" refers to the end of the first book of Paradise Lost... as I am sure everyone will have noticed.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-32200666225955309692010-10-18T07:11:07.725-07:002010-10-18T07:11:07.725-07:00Elmo,
For several decades after my Reserve Office...Elmo,<br /><br />For several decades after my Reserve Officer Training Corps experience I had a recurrent nightmare about not having my rifle cleaned and brass and buttons polished for inspection. <br /><br />The "real" officers (regular army) pretty much all came from your neck of the woods. It was their duty to get us ready to fight for freedom.<br /><br />(I guess that was what I foolishly thought I was doing, though perhaps not in the way that was meant.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-67945739416879119872010-10-18T07:04:39.190-07:002010-10-18T07:04:39.190-07:00Curtis,
Sorry to be lost in the switches of late...Curtis,<br /><br />Sorry to be lost in the switches of late... too much hammering for too long (think: aerial bombardment)... still our furs salute your furs, across the Great Divide. Every day is Feral cat day around here, chaos notwithstanding, and every night Feral cat night. Some things never change, until they do. <br /> <br /><br />Stephen, mpcrisci2, <br /><br />I don't think stopping to think is part of Charon's job description, but then the unemployed are probably not qualified to comment on other people's jobs...TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-19107841046632953752010-10-18T06:22:38.346-07:002010-10-18T06:22:38.346-07:00Marylinn,
I don't think that's being naiv...Marylinn,<br /><br />I don't think that's being naive, I think it's being sensible. Damage is damage. "Collateral" is just advertising talk.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-28228428159264779712010-10-17T10:45:40.849-07:002010-10-17T10:45:40.849-07:00"...rational reconstruction of irrational eve..."...rational reconstruction of irrational events..." In how many ways can we apply that description today? My 30-year-old son has used the word "savages" more in the past 5 - 7 years than I think I have in my whole life, for our savagery to one another has not diminished. Realizing it is, and has been, here whether I accept it or not, I have a difficult time with the concept of collateral damage. I do not know war from a warrior's point of view yet see only terrible waste and needless havoc in the way we conduct our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. I readily admit to being naive.Marylinn Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02759437467691163658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-38045317119366618952010-10-16T07:56:15.744-07:002010-10-16T07:56:15.744-07:00Tom,
Just reading in yesterday's Times about ...Tom,<br /><br />Just reading in yesterday's Times about US stepping up the bombing in Afghanistan, with claims of few civilian casualties (history repeats itself, Charon going back to get his next load) ---<br /><br /><br />10.16<br /><br />grey whiteness of fog against invisible<br />ridge, shadowed black pattern of leaves<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> what is essential, what does<br /> not only come to that<br /><br /> one of the things picture is,<br /> thinking, of what one<br /><br />grey-white fog against invisible ridge,<br />shadowed green pine on tip of sandspitSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-8661870862807670602010-10-16T06:55:30.612-07:002010-10-16T06:55:30.612-07:00By the way (and off-topic), I was just informed th...By the way (and off-topic), I was just informed that it is National Feral Cat Day (and the 10th anniversary of the celebration). My ferals Eddie, Felix, Honey, Bunny, Eddie, Jr., Tige, Princess Daisy and KingKing send you all greetings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-73229429031379919162010-10-16T06:37:58.580-07:002010-10-16T06:37:58.580-07:00Everything written here by everyone means a lot to...Everything written here by everyone means a lot to me. Ahead of a day of assuredly trivial pandemonium, I know it will stay with me for a long time. Reading "Bomber" Harris's words is chilling, obviously. It's amazing how focused and lucid crazy people, some military people, and especially crazy military people (including the fictional General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove) can be when they're on their game. "It constitutes an expansion of the examination of irrational events into historical poetry, not a poetic misrepresentation of history": that's beautifully said.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-89012016015173986162010-10-15T22:56:35.085-07:002010-10-15T22:56:35.085-07:00if even charon stops to think about this...if even charon stops to think about this...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79017214363228759152010-10-15T18:00:08.062-07:002010-10-15T18:00:08.062-07:00practical morality vs aesthetics.
yes, I too am i...practical morality vs aesthetics.<br /><br />yes, I too am impressed by<br />Malaparte...I just ordered Kaput<br /><br />it is important to remember since<br />only the few now study history that<br />60 to 100 million people died in<br />World War Two/quite a few of them<br />horribly, perhaps many uncounted in<br />Asia and Russia. And the Germans<br />and Japanese were certainly the<br />predominant players.<br /><br />Even Thomas Mann,saddened by the<br />destruction of Germany believed it<br />was better than the alternative.<br /><br />The dropping of the atomic bomb<br />by Truman was not a flippant decision...In the end it saved<br />millions of lives...mostly in Japan<br />and China...<br /><br />What Pandemonium/Malaparte/Celine<br />show to the reader is that War is<br />Hell. Since WWII there have been<br />wars and rumors of wars,the Bible<br />not withstanding. Rwanda/Bosnia/<br />Sudan/Nam/Korea/Cambodia<br /><br />Personally I prefer my uncle's<br />description of war: uncle was a<br />doctor with the first marine division on Guadalcanal and several<br />Solomon island battles and a witness to the visciousness of<br />combat with loss of friends,etc.<br />When I asked him to consider a memoir of it....he looked off in<br />the distance...tears welled up in<br />his eyes...and then his wife said<br />"don't ask." After the war uncle<br />did medical research at Harvard and<br />then became dean of a medical school in New York City for about<br />25 years...teaching. Uncle was friends in Boston after the war<br />with John Ciardi, a decorated B-29<br />gunner,who flew in missions over<br />Japan.Ciardi didn't say much about<br />the war either in his poems. And<br />Creeley who volunteered for the<br />American Field Service and went<br />to India/Burma didn't say much about war either except to explore<br />the alternative.Elmo St. Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01588245143022651357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-44996585842488285952010-10-15T11:32:34.579-07:002010-10-15T11:32:34.579-07:00Tom,
Pandaemonium indeed, followed by Charon, pau...Tom,<br /><br />Pandaemonium indeed, followed by Charon, pausing "for a moment of quiet thought, before turning back to gather up his next load" . . . .<br /><br /><br />10.15<br /><br />grey whiteness of fog against invisible<br />ridge, golden-crowned sparrow’s oh dear<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> subject that passes, as made<br /> is now in front of me<br /><br /> with which one’s hand, which<br /> one would have, makes<br /><br />silver of low sun reflected in channel,<br />white clouds in pale blue sky above itSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.com