Monthly Archives: August 2016

Review of Gödel, Escher, Bach by Tony Longshanks LeTigre

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Review of Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

by Tony Longshanks LeTigre

When I lived in San Francisco, there was a hackerspace in the Mission district that became my entire world for two wild years. It was like being beamed aboard an experimental anarchist spacecraft full of creative technology & the coolest, weirdest people imaginable, forever immersed in fascinating projects & conversations. All at once, I realized that hackers were the people I’d been searching & subconsciously waiting for my whole life. Everything was free in both senses. There was a laser cutter, a kitchen, a darkroom for photography, a woodshop; there were 3D printers, fabrics & sewing materials, tables & bins & shelves stacked with gadgets & computer parts & soldering materials; there were two classrooms, & best of all in my view, a beautiful little library where I spent many happy hours. I got to know hacker history & culture & what hackers like to read. I read The Jargon File & delved into the dazzling vortex of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. And I heard many raves for a book called Gödel, Escher, Bach.

By the time I finally got around to reading GEB (as we henceforth abbreviate it), I had left San Francisco & life had changed; but Douglas Hofstadter’s “metaphorical fugue on minds & machines” will always remind me of that hackerspace in the Mission district where I spent some unforgettable days.

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Essay from Donal Mahoney

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Why Did You Write That? 

Anyone who has written fiction or poetry probably has been asked at one time or another, “Why did you write that?” I’ve been asked that question and I have never been able to provide an answer.

Some writers may set out to write a poem that will address an important question about life, such as who we are as human beings and what purpose, if any, we have on Earth. I have never tried to write a poem like that. Nor have I ever written a poem knowing in advance what it might say. I just write down “words” that come to me, provided I like the way they sound and like their “rhythm” when heard together.

I might be sitting in a diner or in my living room and “hear” a few words that sound as though they belong together and so I jot them down, often on a napkin or scrap paper. Maybe an hour or a week later, those same few words will “give birth” to a few more words that seem to fit with their “parents” so I add them to the scrap paper.  When I have enough words, I make my first conscious decision to do something with them. I add verbs or nouns and whatever else is needed to add structure. Eventually I have sentences which I then break into lines, according to sound and inflection. End breaks are important to me. Next I try to determine what the poem, if anything, is trying to say. And that’s not always easy.

I have never been impressed with adjectives and adverbs. I like concrete nouns and strong verbs that drive those nouns wherever they need to go. Sometimes they never go anywhere. Sometimes they “sleep” for a long time, technically alive, but not developing into anything. It’s as if they were an ovum needing semen to become an embryo. But no matter how long a group of words may lie dormant, I never abort them because some day I may know what to do with them and they might develop into a poem.

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Essays from Michael Robinson

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Outside the Shadows

I want to live outside of the shadows…beyond the guns, batons, and tear gas. I want to live with a sense of dignity and calm. I want to live among others without an attitude of deference and anger, and suicidal thoughts. You are homicidal and suicidal she said and I thought it’s the world in which I live that being me to this place. I want to live on a farm with the earth beneath my feet instead of blood running down my face from the beatings. I don’t want to die like Emmett Till. I want to see the world with my own eyes and speak to whomever I please. Don’t tie me down or hang me up in a tree. Does this sound unreasonable to you that I want to live and not die as if my life don’t matter… in the end I want God to hold me close to his/her breast and give me life. My tears can no longer be held inside of my soul. I can no longer exist beyond my pain and suffering while hanging on that cross. Do you feel my regret being in this black skin of mine screaming into my pillow in broad daylight. Do you feel my despair of dying alone in the street with a crowd watching me die. My grave is a cemented yard where all the others have buried into the weeds. Does it matter that I was innocent of any crime other than being black.

Showers of Rain

My tears can no longer be held inside my soul. I can no longer exist beyond my pain and suffering while hanging from this cross. Do you feel my regret being in this black skin of mine, screaming into my pillow in broad daylight. Do you feel my despair of dying alone in the street with a crowd watching me die? My grave-a cremated ditch where all the others are buried in the weeds. Does it matter that I was innocent of any crime other than being black? Living in the shadows I hear the guns; I feel the batons and smell the tear gas. I live with the awareness of being homicidal and suicidal and I’m indifferent to it all. I’ve become used to the blood flowing into the gutter. My blood mixed with the blood of other black males. And nothing grows. I don’t want die in this place…does that sound unreasonable? I want to live and not die with bullets in my chest. I want to see the world with my own eyes and speak to whomever I please. I don’t want to die like Emmett Till buried in a swamp after being nearly beaten to death with a bullet in my head. Don’t tie my hands behind my back and hang me from that tree and dismember my body. Does this sound unreasonable to you that I want to live, that my life does matter?

I can no longer exist beyond my pain and suffering. My tears can no longer be held inside my soul. Do you feel my despair of dying alone in the streets with this policeman on top of my chest with the crowd helpless to help me. I hear my mother’s scream: “No not my son, my only son.” She sobs and shouts Jesus’ name. Her body shakes uncontrollably a pitch plea to God to not take her son away. She has joined the long processing of black mothers that grieve in the midnight hour. Years of mourning comes while setting in that rocking chair of hers. God whispers into her ear… gentle drops of tears roll down her tannish red skin. Her silver hair is in place and her heart still aches at the loss of her only son. She remembers given birth to her son and his death was as if he had been torn from her womb.

Midnight Tears

Have you witnessed the pain and heartbreak of black mothers when they learned that their son has been killed in the streets? Those mothers cry to Jesus and they weep and scream: “no, not my son!” I have witnessed far too many mothers weeping. This weeping isn’t for an hour or a day but for years. My foster mother would slept in a chair and years later after her baby son was hit by a Greyhound bus…I would see the tears rolling down her cheeks. Society don’t understand that for a black mother their sons are their life no matter what the world says he is still their beloved. In their heart within their souls these mothers mourn as if their life has been torn from their womb. All they have left is their faith in Jesus.

After several weeks of mourning for those black males who have been killed in the streets of America. They have been killed either by police or those of their own race. Death is death so what makes the difference when a law enforcement officer kills a black male? It’s because the officers are sworn to protect the life of others…they are sworn to uphold the law and to protect all lives. Since childhood I just wanted to feel safe but I did not. I feared that I would die at a young age as I walked the streets alone going to school or to the store. My foster mother always worried about me because I was so naive and gentle. I learned that the streets was not safe and I had nowhere to turn…I wanted to feel safe when I saw the police but I did not. Yes, police need to know that all black males are not a threat to white America therefore they need not to be profiled and excited. RIP Emmett Till.

I no longer grieve for the loss of my childhood. I do grieve for those two young black murdered in past several weeks. I grieve for the black males who feel and know they have no place to call home. I grieve for the loss of innocence of those who live in the inner-city.

 

 

Poetry from I.W. Rollins

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Blood of Kings Past

i sat across from
this man in my office
building. He stated that i looked
so familiar to him and he did
to me as well when he exclaimed “I am cousin Dave!”

cousin Dave
a man i have not seen since
i was a child. fucking shit,
cousin Dave
my father’s cousin
nephew of my grandfather
son of my grandfather’s sister
who is the daughter of my
great grandfather Francis
who was fresh off a rotting
boat with a dream of the vast
spoils of America

yet here we are
direct bloodline of his
in a sweltering office
building in southern New Jersey
not even 20 miles from
where his ship crashed into shore
just over the bridge
no American Dream
no Manifest Destiny
no vast spoils, conquered lands
just a timid shrimp of a
middle aged man
and a mid twenty something college dropout
sitting in an
office in may
discussing insurance premiums and
commission schedules
and i feel that blood we share
well up around me
first my chest, then my throat and mouth until
it begins to fill my lungs and
choke me
and a vile gurgle
pops through
“dave this was you! you did this!
we were
supposed to be
kings!”

i shake his hand, and pat his back
as sales men do,
“oh yes Dave i will tell my father you say hello
yes he’s doing well, yes we should all get together
yes tell aunt kate, yes Dave
i will call you thursday Dave, yes you
take care Dave, goodbye”

i have not spoken to my
father in 8 months

that is a silence
i am not breaking
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Novel excerpt from Tony Longshanks LeTigre

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Wreginslag: The Magic Castle
By Tony LongShanks LeTigre

Chapter One

Razel-An & Zeffidar decided to take a walk through the woods one day rather than going straight home. It was still morning & the fog wrapped the land in thick wool, so dense that you couldn’t see more than a few feet in any direction.

“I love it when the fog is like this,” said Zeff. “Let’s take a little wonderhike & see what we find.”

Raz was game, so he hoisted his little sister onto his shoulders piggyback style.

They passed through the woods, where birds called to one another in the treetops, seemingly engaged in an intricate symphony, a choir of many voices singing to one another in an unknown language of melody & pattern. They had only explored the fringes of these woods before, but today they went farther. The belt of trees proved to be quite narrow, rather than going on for endless miles as they’d imagined. They broke through & came to what appeared a defunct quarry, where Zeff let Raz down from his shoulders.

“What’s this?” she said, examining a large, unusually round rock near the edge of the quarry.

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Poetry from Joan Beebe

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The Rising and Setting of the Sun

 

   A new day dawns and there is an eerie silence around us.

We wonder as we look at the darkened sky

And we perceive a tiny sliver of gold appearing.

With a shimmering afterglow that gives one a feeling of

Being in another time and place.

Now the rays of the sun shine bright upon the earth

Our senses awake more intensely

We are one with the panorama before us

There is a freshening of life upon the earth.

Slowly but steadily we watch the morning sun appear.

It has beauty as shades of pink

begin to stretch out across the sky.

In the quiet of this new day,

we reflect on the gifts of this sun

Our spirits are lifted and we are happy

We are thankful for the warmth and nourishment it provides.

As the day ends, we watch the slow setting of the sun.

The sky becomes a canvass of red, pinks and gold with

Streaks of light clouds blending in so beautifully that

It becomes a palette of colors across the sky.

It is now the quiet time of the night and we rest.

 

A Broken Heart

There are times when life seems to overwhelm us

We become trapped in a world of our own and

Our hearts cry out for love and understanding.

Time seems to stand still in this place of longing

Nothing seems to change and we become

A prisoner of a broken heart

Another Day

I wake up after only a few hours of sleep

My mind starts overpowering me with what is to come’

Why must it be full of shouting and misery?

The day seems endless and there are tears

Where is the joy that should be part of this day

What is there upon which I can look forward

Just shouting, tension and stress

Yes, it is another day.