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The Annihilation Fountain Issue 08
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THE ANNIHILATION FOUNTAIN
A JOURNAL OF CULTURE ON THE EDGE...
TEXT ONLY - ISSUE #8
The Annihilation Fountain & TAF Copyright c 1997-99 Neil MacKay
ISSN 1480-9206
http://www.capnasty.org/taf/
the_annihilation_fountain@iname.com
CONTENTS:
---------
*THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF ART IN THE 21st CENTURY - Revision 2.0
*3 POEMS BY JANET BUCK
*AT THE SPEED OF LOVE
*10 POEMS BY THOM KELLAR
*INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM C. LEIKAM
*CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
************************************************************************
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF ART IN THE 21st CENTURY - Revision 2.0
by RICK DOBLE
************************************************************************
I. THIS IS AN UNFINISHED AND EVOLVING DRAFT
A. It is presented in outline form.
1. Many of the statements are in note form or are
incomplete sentences.
2. A final finished draft will correct this.
B. I feel that artists and thinkers should offer
unfinished works to the public as long as the
works are labeled as such.
C. I am doing this in the spirit of the following
ideas.
D. Although considerable work and thought has
already been devoted to this statement, it is
not unchangeable.
E. We invite comments.
F. We especially welcome suggestions about what
to call this kind of art movement.
1. Please e-mail us your suggestions.
2. What would you name or call this kind of art
movement?
Send an e-mail message
II. INTRODUCTION
A. Up until recently (about 100 years ago)
painters painted directly from nature.
1. Now most painters tend to create from their
imagination, from subjective inner needs and
inner impulses or they paint based on abstract
principles or conceptual ideas.
a) Instead of drawing from nature directly,
some painters draw from their inner nature.
1) For example, Jackson Pollock used to point
out that he, himself, was nature.
2. Painting has become mostly studio oriented.
B. Painting has removed itself from nature for
the same reason that the society itself has
removed itself from nature.
1. People are no longer subject to the same
devastating forces of nature that controlled their
lived a mere 200 years ago.
2. Civilization has overcome nature to a large extent.
a) People live much longer.
1) In just 200 years our life expectancy has almost
doubled.
a) People live more secure and predictable lives.
1) For example, many lethal diseases have been
wiped out or can be easily treated with
antibiotics or prevented with a vaccine.
2) Both long distance travel and travel close
to home can be reliably scheduled (most of the
time) without being subject to the weather.
3) Communications are effortless
a] e.g. the phone, faxes, and e-mail on a
personal level
b] e.g. TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and
the Internet
4) We have a reliable and cheap supply of food and
energy.
C. Painting in this century has merely reflected the break
with nature that the civilization as a whole has
experienced.
D. Human beings are a part of nature and until recently lived
close to nature for better or worse.
1. For hundreds of years the goal of technology and science
was to conquer nature, to subdue it to serve the need of
humans.
a) This has largely been accomplished, for better or for
worse.
E. In short the old relationship that humans had with nature
has been broken and we can never go back.
F. However, in the near future we will be confronted with the
problems that we have created.
1. The UN estimates that in the next century world population
will reach the maximum that the Earth can sustain.
2. According to the Larousse Desk Reference the Earth will run
out of many essential materials in the next 100-200 years.
a) Lead, zinc, mercury and tin are expected to run out in the
year 2015, copper in 2035, nickel in 2060, iron in 2160,
and aluminum in 2220.
3. In addition there may be global warming which is a
consequence of civilization.
a) The weather and sea levels may be affected.
4. Further the destruction of hundreds of species and the
destruction of the rain forest may affect us in ways we do
not yet realize.
G. In short, we must learn to understand, confront, and manage
our own nature because it is our nature that has created the
world we live in today and will create the world of the future.
1. Our own nature is now our greatest danger.
H. In addition because we have become so large and dominant as a
species, we must also manage the planet, become the custodians
of the nature and the Earth from which we came.
1. At this point we have no choice.
2. Because of the immense power we have achieved and which we will
never relinquish, we must also learn to manage the Earth itself.
I. The goals of the New Art will be to:
1. To explore and understand our own nature in relation to the Earth.
2. To explore a new relationship with nature since the old bond has
been broken.
J. This is a heroic task in the best sense of the word.
1. there is no guarantee of success, but that is the nature of heroic
tasks.
2. Painting and art is well suited to create new images and icons that
can serve as touchstones and guides to our future
3. Since this is where the future and civilization is leading us, it is
only natural that painting and other arts would also move in that
direction and be in the vanguard
III. PRINCIPLES
A. The word human comes from "humus" meaning soil or earth
1. human means "from the earth" or "of the Earth"
2. humans must constantly seek to renew, recreate and celebrate their
relationship with the Earth from which they came
B. Our goal is to create a new art which explores the relationship between
humans and the Earth on which they live.
C. Our goal is to also understand human nature in relation to the Earth.
D. To create symbols, icons, and experiences that guide and help humans in
this understanding.
E. Works should explore modern expressions of:
myth, vision, story, dreams, desires, wants, ideals.
F. In order to achieve the above there should always be an emphasis on the
human scale.
G. Works should create or evoke a sense of place. A sense of place is
important to a human's sense of belonging.
H. Since humans need to feel that they are "a part of things" or "a part of
the world," works of art should help people bridge their sense of
dislocation.
I. In order to help create a sense of belonging, works of art might refer
to, derive from, or relate to previous art forms. By previous we mean
the entire history of civilized art as well as primitive, prehistorical,
folk, and naive art.
J. In order to help create a sense of belonging, works of art might include
the natural rhythms of the Earth.
K. This art should often (but not always) be an inclusive art. By inclusive
we mean an art which has wide appeal and is accessible to people.
1. Too much of modern art has appealed to in an in-crowd and deliberately
put many viewers at a distance.
L. This is not a New Age philosophy
1. It's fundamental tenants are based on the best predictions by reliable
sources
2. i.e. that humans are about to reach the limits that this Earth can
provide in terms of population, ability to extract essential resources,
and the ability of the Earth to absorb and accommodate human
by-products and pollution.
IV. THOUGHTS
A. Humans have a fundamental need to belong and to feel at home and to also
feel a part of their world. This cannot be reprogrammed or removed from
the human psyche without serious consequences.
1. One consequence could be that humans destroy the life sustaining power
of the Earth which would doom the human race.
2. Humans are not machines whose needs and desires can be replaced and
redesigned at will.
a) While changes can be made, they must be made within the limits of
what the human psyche can accept.
3. Humans must come to terms with their animal nature
a) Much of what we do is hardwired from 100,000s of years ago.
b) Humans must recognize and come to terms with their animal nature
before they can make meaningful changes.
B. Art which includes the natural rhythms of the Earth could include:
1. the weather
a) e.g. why not installations that are designed to be looked at
in rainy weather or cloudy days or sunny weather?
2. day and night
a) e.g. why not art forms that take advantage of the point in
time that happens each twilight when artificial light and natural
light are in balance?
3. the seasons
4. the landscape
5. the moon
6. the stars
7. the tides
8. the summer and winter solstice
a) The summer solstice has been largely forgotten.
1) Stonehenge and other ancient monuments were built to mark
and possibly commemorate this event.
b) The winter solstice is marked and celebrated, essentially
by Christmas and New Years.
1) One of the reasons that Christmas and New Years are such
powerful ceremonies is that that human participate in an
ancient ritual.
a] such as
i] lighting lights at the darkest time of the year
ii] bringing a tree into the house
b] Much of the ritual of Christmas involves pagan and
Roman rituals
i] Gift giving and a week long celebration up to New
Years is from the Roman Saturnalia festival
c] Christmas is also powerful because it involves the
all the senses
i] church ceremonies
ii] music
iii] food
iv] smells
v] group gatherings
vi] color
vii] And of course involves the deepest religious
needs ~ the birth of Christ
9. the fall and spring equinox
a) the fall equinox is largely ignored as a
celebration
b) spring is celebrated by Easter
10. there were also mid-season festivals, some of which
we celebrate today
a) e.g. Halloween
b) Mid-season festival were not celebrated at the exact
mid-point but rather approximately at the mid-point.
C. Although this is a heroic effort, it may involve
cooperative efforts among artists and involve artists
and others from a number of disciplines.
1. An interdisciplinary new art may work with and include
other arts such as poetry, literature, song, dance,
theater, music, photography, sculpture and especially
architecture, plus other art forms.
a) Artists should at times work in collaboration. This
kind of cooperation will create new art and art forms
which involve synthesis and multiple disciplines.
b) This kind of cooperation will create an art which
does not emphasize the individual artist as much as
the partnership or a cooperative effort.
c) Examples in the past
1) the ballets of Stravinsky which included famous
choreographers and painters
2) The individual artist may be a little less
important than he or she has been in the past.
D. While much modern emphasis has been on art that
springs completely new from the artist's mind, our
emphasis is quite different. Art should often evoke,
refer to, pay homage to, or be related to earlier
art or artforms.
1. In the history of art this has been the rule and
not the exception.
a) It's only recently that artist felt they must
create something completely new.
2. Even radical modern art has been related to
earlier art forms
a) There are dozens of examples but here are a
few:
1) Picasso studied African masks before creating the
landmark modern masterpiece "Les Demoiselles
d'Avignon."
2) Paul Klee studied primitive and folk art of his
country.
3) Henry Moore drew on Pre-Columbian art for his
sculptures.
4) Jackson Pollock referred to the Navajo Indian sand
paintings as partial inspiration for his drip
paintings.
5) Bartok used Hungarian folk music as a major part
of his musical compositions.
E. This new art should include an exploration of the
myths and ideals that have guided humans in the past.
1. For example, some feel that modern western
civilization has been primarily guided by the myth of
Prometheus.
a) Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to
the humans.
1) This gave humans untold power, so much power that
the Gods themselves were angry and punished Prometheus
for doing it.
F. The particular construction of these images and symbols
can be quite flexible.
1. In particular, it can draw on the history of art of
the last hundred years - the numerous experiments that
have left us with a rich legacy to work with in creating
a new expression.
G. It should at times be less studio oriented and more
involved with the outside and Earth itself.
H. Architecture should include the outside and create
transition areas from outside to inside (such as the
buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright).
1. The building in which we live, should not be walls
against nature with windows that don't open and air that
becomes sick because it circulates within the building.
I. The change we are going through may be as profound as
the change that humans experienced when they learned
agriculture and the domestication of animals.
1. This change allowed civilization to flourish because
there was a surplus of food and the food supply was
more predictable.
J. Knee jerk political reactions and environment
political correctness are not welcome. The purpose is
an open inquiry and free dialogue.
K. An art which was less commercial would help attain
these goals.
1. An art which you could not buy, or possess (at least
in the usual sense) might be helpful.
2. For example, images created just for the Internet
which display best on computer monitors would not have
commercial value and they could not be hung on the wall.
Although a print could be made, the effect would be
quite different that the image seen on a monitor.
a) My, Rick Doble, digital images of "Woman in Motion" are
such an example.
b) also images projected onto buildings
L. Some modern art has already moved in the general
direction of our New Art principles - outlined above.
1. The "Land Art" movement
a) Christo's wrapped landscapes
b) The Lightening Field by Walter DeMaria
2. Picasso's Chicago sculpture which contains wires that
emit sounds when the wind blows through it.
a) It is very appropriate for the Windy City
b) It is a sculpture with a sense of place and a sense of
the environment into which it was placed
3. Jackson Pollock's dripped paintings which were inspired
in part by the Navajo Indian sand paintings. These sand
paintings were created by shaman who poured colored sand
into the shape of figures. Later the wind blew the sand away.
4. Brancusi's endless columns
5. The realistic sculptures of people.
a) These sculptures are on the human scale. They are
are so realistic that people react to them as though the
sculptures were part of their space not like the usual
sculpture that is separated from the viewer.
6. Rick Doble's digital images of "Woman in Motion."
a) My own art has concentrated on realistic images of
humans (they are based on photographs), that emphasize the
human scale and yet the images themselves are iconographic
and somewhat symbolic.
M. Because technology has changed, the role of men and women
are different.
1. Women and men will be full equals.
2. This is one of the most profound changes in human nature.
3. The nature and role of women has changed.
a) Women now have control over their bodies.
b) Woman can now earn a living and be independent.
4. The role of men has changed.
a) Men need to find new models, new heroes to inspire them.
1) The hero who subdued nature, protected and provided for
his wife and children may no longer be valid.
2) The male structures of hierarchy, chain of command and
pecking order may need to be altered.
3) The muscular male hero who defeats all foes may need to
be revised.
5. There needs to be stories and myths of the heroic that
apply to both men and women.
N. While this is an inclusive vision, it does find fault with
some modern trends.
1. Pop art legitimized advertising in a way that has made it
much more acceptable. Advertising now enters every corner of
our lives.
a) In particular advertising has intruded into our most
sacred and important holidays and festivals. It has even
started creeping into our personal anniversaries such as
birthdays with mailed advertisements designed to reach the
consumer just before his or her birthday.
2. Architecture, that creates canyon walls in the modern
city, has ignored the human scale and the environment into
which buildings are placed.
a) Buildings need to be more than boxes placed on a grid.
1) This destroys our sense of place and creates anxiety.
b) In many of these buildings you cannot open a window or
get fresh air, hence the frequent "sick building" syndrome.
c) Architecture needs to be created that provides
transitional areas from inside to outside and which does
not set the building and the inside environment completely
separate and apart from the outside environment of the world.
1) For example, buildings should have some balconies, roof
top gardens, and other points that open to the outside.
3. We believe that this movement will be opposed by a number
of people because it is not business as usual.
a) Some people will dismiss it as naive, or try to paint it
as a another new age philosophy.
1) This is flatly wrong.
2) Those who think this are themselves naive because it
is clear that the Earth and human kind will go through
major changes in the next century.
3) The warnings and basis for our philosophy are based on
the best current information and predictions by the most
informed sources.
b) While we do not oppose commercial art, we would
de-emphasize it.
1) This is bound to upset people who make a living from
the buying and selling of art.
a] they will try to belittle its implications.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The purpose of this work is to start a dialogue. If you would like to quote
this article, in whole or in part, or send your thoughts, comments,
suggestions, insights, etc., then please send me an e-mail message.
c Copyright 1997 by Richard deGaris Doble All rights reserved
------------------------------------------------------------------------
************************************************************************
3 POEMS
by JANET BUCK
************************************************************************
City Snow
A warm June day and still it snowed.
Ice-cubes were the people kind.
Sad and laugh-less in the city's colon.
Skies that somehow scraped themselves
like razors rusted by the humid.
Bumper anxious seemed to spread.
We came to play in party bunkers.
Didn't know there would be war.
Traffic like a backed-up toilet.
Clouds of smoke in bitter puffs.
A car was pointed out to me.
Fire hoses stretched the streets
like arms and legs of rattlesnakes.
The body empty. Black and gray
like old briquettes that begged
forgetting flames to burn.
Sunday morning news on pasted screens
in lobbies full of busy ants
without a hill or destination.
Melon skins of people sandwiched.
City indigestion twisting: "man was
murdered yesterday...beaten, tied, and dragged
by ropes to rolling wheels on gravel roads.
Wonder who we should have blamed..."
No one in the lobby moved.
The justice eyebrow to be plucked.
Ingrown hairs of such despair.
Morning breath of progress reeked.
Going home was such relief,
I almost kissed the walls and door knobs
of our quiet country life. A couple grazing
in the grass, shaded by a sighing tree.
I took a shower, scrubbed so hard,
I heard the water's flesh like
hiccups stopping Sunday church.
Our next vacation would be real.
We would stay in ocean waves where
ruination didn't redden breathing flesh
or choke us with its wicked reins.
Beetle Juice
Plastic toes are straws to somewhere.
Somewhere I have yet to go.
I think it has to do with shoulders.
Honest steam on foggy pages.
Sauna baths of syllables that
leave me weak yet wanting more.
The diaper rash of body casts
has lived for years beyond the fact.
Wisdom's polka-dot bikini.
Synonyms for reticence.
Angry blood is almost warm
like celery stalks in humble soup.
To waltz a walk, I have to limp.
To climb a stair, I have to drop.
Drag the lifeless one behind
like thirsty tongues of hunting dogs
that have a mission set before them,
still would rather stay in tents.
The pawnshop of a falling tear
that always closed an open door
before it ever hit the ground.
You are, well, the only one who
knows what lies beneath the rocks.
Trust is brand new shoes in mud;
please be patient with allegro.
You are really, well, the first
to give my tears a promise ring;
slip it over swollen knuckles
just like open parachutes.
Rhinestone scars are never diamonds
to a limb as absent as the sun at solstice.
Tied to others stomping it,
desire's blood was beetle juice.
The Septic Tank
On a fast for forty years
concerning issues of reflection.
Mirrors were a pair of scissors
clipping confidential threads.
File a claim with Fate and God
for their denying perfect bones.
Chew the stethoscope of odd
and worship very normal beds.
Mine a seance of capricious.
Empty pages, barium.
Enemas are so disgusting.
That is, yes, what writing does.
I would open Christmas jammies,
hoping they were wearing feet.
Mine were cropped and rearranged.
Dreams were babies to be weaned.
Clouds of pain were bowls of oatmeal.
Raisins were eternal eyes.
Sprinkled on my choppy gait
like salt when all I wanted was
approval's sugar in a mug.
Consider all the options here:
Chop it off or let it grow.
Leave the pretzel as it is.
Grind it into constancy.
"She will never have a life
if you ignore the cripple clay."
Deciding on the amputation.
Lifting lids of septic tanks.
Someone had to clean the pipes.
Courage was a mustard stain
a little louder than the tears.
Even at the age of seven,
I could make my difference heel,
stuff it into blind submission,
teach the scent of fear a lesson,
be a puppy playing dead.
************************************************************************
AT THE SPEED OF LOVE
by RICK BENETEAU
************************************************************************
The cynic in me made me write this column. The realist
would pen a lament and the optimist was simply too
tired of Tony Robbins to write a totally upbeat blurb
on divorce. But before you begin reading just know that
I didn't take my divorce lightly. If I'd only have taken
my marriage that seriously.
Allow me to warm up here acronymousily, headline-style to
set the tone.
Decreasing marriage rate due to rising rate of divorce.
Increasing rate of divorce drives up number of singles.
Victory for "Family" lawyers (see D.)
On My Own Again named new marital anthem (Hurts So Good
voted second).
Remarry, not me!
Can licensing be the answer? (hint)
Epidemic divorce rate clogs courts.
They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I
expouse what amounts to a cure for the divorce epidemic.
At least it would be a start.
Before I propose my thesis, you need to kick back, close
your eyes and imagine the following scenario: A no-license,
anyone-can-drive-a-car, speed limitless, traffic cop-free,
road-with-no-rules system.
If your imagination is as vivid as mine, you've
envisioned utter chaos and carnage. Kinda like marriage
anymore, huh? Let's develop this further.
We have driver's education courses to teach young drivers
to drive. We mandate a long "learners" period, provide
rules-of-the-road books and make them take an intense
written and driving examination before we deem them ready
to take on the responsibility of driving on public
roadways. The result is that we have an ordered
transportation system and relatively safe roads that few
of us are afraid to drive on. The vehicular accident rate
is nowhere near that of crash-and-burn marriages, soaring
at over 50%.
Now let's examine marriage. We let anybody get married
with only an age restriction in place (and still we let
children tie the noose). There are no marital manuals,
no marriage schools or courses with tests to pass, no
marriage police and no laws or fines imposed during
legal cohabitation. But there IS a marriage license.
The only time elements of "law" seem to rear their ugly
heads is when marriage ends and the divorce process begins.
Ludicrous!
A marriage should be just as easy to get out of as it is
to get into. Or, vice versa.
My theory is NOT that we all be required to graduate
with honors from a College of Matrimony. Far from it. I
propose that since we DO have to take out a license to
marry somebody, we treat it just like any other license.
Renewable. Say, every two years. A laminated license as
show of proof nesting next to your drivers and fishing
license.
The license application form would be along the lines of,
but not as detailed as, an income tax form. We validate
the following: his assets/her assets before marriage,
assets accumulated since last renewal, common debts
incurred during marriage, child custody arrangements if
the licensees do not renew, an agreed-upon monthly sum it
takes to support the children, who gets the family dog etc.
Yes, a prenup, separation agreement and divorce decree in
one tidy little package. 'Til death or non-renewal do us
part. No muss, fuss, or legal bills.
Love is a two-way street they claim. Why not license
people to drive on it?
Now all this is tongue-in-cheek you understand. Kind of.
The cynic in me often looks at the absurdities of life in
such ways. I've come to rely on my left-of-center sense
of warped humor as a survival tactic. Perhaps even a
shield. Sure came in handy during the heat of divorce
battle.
I've been divorced for two-and-a-half years and
separated for nearly eight (shows you that my battle was
as long -and almost as bitter-as World War II) and I'm
sure one day I will consider remarrying. But being wiser
for having been through this will surely have me weighing
both the option, and the sanctity of marriage, much more
heavily than I did the first time.
What matters most is that people take a good look at
where they are at in their marriage or relationship. Oil,
lube and filter coupled with a thorough inspection every
3000 miles or so (couldn't resist!). Marriage is one of
the main highways in life and like all roads, it can lead
to a paradise resort or dead-end in the middle of a desert.
If you take the time together to plan your trip, you are
more likely to keep cruising happily along.
After all, the optimist in me knows that some couples
actually do
c 1998 NetProfit 2020 Inc., Marietta, GA
************************************************************************
10 POEMS
by THOM KELLAR
************************************************************************
IN A PERFECT WORLD
In a perfect world...
The 4 faces chiseled in Mt. Rushmore
would be Johnny, Kris, Waylon, and Willie
OJ Simpson would be stamping out vanity plates
alongside the unabomber in San Quentin.
every wanna-be Doctor, Priest, and Lawyer, made to watch
Paul Newman in "The Verdict" at least 50 times
and a public school education would include mining the mother lode
of irony found in the life and times of Muhammad Ali
In a perfect world...
the Government would not find it necessary to spend 50 million bucks
trying to prove the president committed adultery and lied about it
the NRA would wither up and die due to lack of interest,
Its army of Lobbyist picked off one by one through random gunfire
the camouflaged, soldier of misfortune, pin-headed, bubba-boys
would collectively decide themselves
not smart enough to exercise the right to vote
And every child would know deep and sustaining Love
from those in charge of caring for them
In a perfect world...
I could lay all day on the beach
soaking up Pacific Ocean Sun without burning my ass off
my 1970, Olds F-85, with the 396,
would get better gas mileage the faster I drove it
like maybe 100 miles per gallon at 100 miles per hour
there would fantastic, hole in the wall,
Mexican food joints on every street corner
with plenty of fresh Tortillas, Habeneros, and ice cold Negra Modelo
and "Baby Doll" with the wandering eye,
would magically see George Clooney
every time she looked my way, causing her to re-think monogamy
DEAD MEN
dead men
don't care what the surgeon general thinks
dead men
drive around with no place to go
dead men
figure the come-on at the end of the bar, more trouble than she's worth
dead men
hold alcohol in a medicinal light
dead men
will sleep in their work clothes
dead men
never have to RSVP
dead men
buy cars, and smokes, based solely on price
dead men
avoid eye contact at any cost
dead men
doodle on the obituary page
dead men
drive on bald tires with cracked windshields.
dead men
accept with resignation, the next days hangover
dead men
listen to Coltrane, and Davis, start to finish, no interruptions
dead men
don't floss
dead men
will take their Sake cold
dead men
take the long way to work
dead men
don't sweat expiration dates
dead men
never wear bandages
dead men
are past blaming anyone
dead men
see horse-shit and diamonds the same
dead men
don't care where the candle-wax falls
dead men
forget what day of the week it is
dead men
can't get to sleep at night, can't wake up in the morning
dead men
have nothing in their hands
dead men
never ask another chance
dead men
have stopped trying to make sense
dead men
play dumb when they know they're being lied to
dead men
have made the connection between sorrow and desire
after losing the one thing he loves
a dead man will spend the rest of his days
anesthetizing the past
pouring gasoline on the future
dead men
have no fear of dying the second time
LINE OF SIGHT
maybe the angel watching over me
strikes a match along the corner of my eye
the way them TV outlaws use their cowboy boots
whenever they need to light up a smoke
or maybe the skittish ghost of a firefly
tries to engage me in blind man's mystic bluff
I turn to look-too late-I miss it
left to ponder the validity of the hidden message
it happens all the time beyond the borders
micro sunspot surfing the line of sight
Marlboro angel in a nicotine fit
fires up when God looks the other way
KIND OF BLUE
What Miles Davis was
to melody
John Coltrane was
to virtuosity.
black giants
in white-bread world
mixing up a masterpiece
branding iron hot-ice house cool
tornadoes and sea breezes
shouts and whispers
bold slashing strokes-precise, razor thin lines
the frenetic energy of a humming bird
the economized motion of a crow
muted trumpet-raging tenor sax
"Kind of blue"
2 of a kind
heaven squared
PRIMER GRAY
Smoke ring in a windstorm
old man with blindfold and cigarette
at the university he had "shown promise"
was called a "diamond in the rough"
but the years have gotten away from him
he pissed away his time
now he waits for the phone to ring
for Gabriel to call and ask if he has one last request
from the beginning desire had been a map without names
never sure where he was or where he was going
change made for the sake of change
point A to point B in a car painted primer gray
he drank too much-slept too much
read too much-chased "easy" too much
never finished the book he had been writing
for the last 24 years
now the Rambler sits on blocks
the manuscript lost somewhere in the attic
he calls himself "invisible man on blue planet"
the events of his life written in disappearing ink
nothing to offer as evidence of having circled the Sun
staring at the autumn sky, chain smoking, sipping tea,
he waits for the angels to raise their rifles
and take him home
LOVERS
in these late breaking days
rebellion has become
the most ragged of fashion statements
the banality of it symbolized
by certain
hairstyles, cigarettes, rock bands, automobiles
saltpeter-fueled revolution
defiance institutionalized
from our home entertainment centers
we see, we hear,
the latest corporate anti-heroes
as they sun themselves
along the banks of the mainstream
mega stars
idolized by thundering herds
spilling forth
from the nearest shopping mall
if you were to ask me
I would tell you:
lovers with a cause
are the real rebels
the spiritual benefactors,
the wounded heroes,
the mystics eternally misunderstood
with fine grit paper
working against the grain
hands slivered and bleeding
creating hidden beauty
in time
floating free-form
defying the gravity
of power, greed, envy.
detached-disconnected
born anew
these spirit artists become suspect
a kind of threat to social order
to be burned at a stake
nailed to a cross
assassinated by sniper fire
getting them out of the way
we make martyrs of them
the dead don't scare us
the way living flesh and bone does
it's easier to glorify a touched up past
than face a future
we seem hell-bent on desecrating
one by one
all are shot down
.and when the fields where the wildflowers grow
have been bulldozed and destroyed
then spring is gone
and what's left
is a sort of somber confusion
as hard to define
as that 4 letter word
we so readily cut and paste
to fit our purpose
LOST
where am I going with this?
(stuck mid-sentence)
the point of my explanation
eludes me
I could blame it on strong drink
or old age
or on the houdini like skills
of a much younger woman
who decided there were better things
than being shackled to a crazy man
me
but she can't shoulder all the blame
maybe the trouble really was booze
or the impotency of being "long in the tooth"
or the nights of rage
when I felt old and drunk
and like screaming at her
or anyone else who happened to get in the way
for reasons I now don't remember
she was the closest I ever came...
sorry...
what was the question?
STRESS
somewhere far below
valley of shimmering silicon
hidden beneath dying branches
of a train track Willow
2 Mexican v-necks work up a good buzz
drinking malt liquor-swapping lies
cross-tie compadres
with all the accouterments of the homeless
loosely thrown into a Safeway food cart
Henry laughs at Ricardo
"mas cerveza cabron"
the Hispanic boys can see themselves
in the tinted glass of a southbound commuter
on the inside-upper deck-Lawrence-marketing wunderkind
studies a memo regarding changes
in the company's 401K plan
8 hours of giving corporate head-home he goes
it's Thursday-that means Pasta and Seinfeld
one more day of tap dancing and the weekend is his
Saturday he's got tickets to see Jagger and the Stones
Ricardo picks up a small rock
he likes the feel of the granite in his hands
carefully setting aside the can of King Cobra
he cocks his arm and lets fly
too late-the train has passed-the target missed
inside the moment
Lawrence feels sharp pain to his forehead
"stress he mumbles"
ransacking his briefcase for Anacin
(he thinks to himself)
"there's no way Susan and the kids
will ever know what I go through
to bring home the bacon"
Henry laughs at Ricardo again
"you can't hit shit" he says
THE WORK
Tim is my friend
He's also a shade tree mechanic
makes his knuckles bleed
over the engine in my Oldsmobile
after a Transmission job
he turns to me in Lone Ranger fashion
says "TK-my work here is done"
there are loose bolts sitting in the trunk
I say "where do these go"
he's stoned-doesn't remember
I ran into this house painter once
in the Peppermill lounge-Cupertino
he walks into the place ready to fight
I suggest that he cool off
I buy him a beer
later he says "it's been one helluva week"
he had 3 doors to stain and finish
got down to the final lacquer coat
"screwed up all 3 of em'"
spent hours sanding out his mistakes
I'm like those guys
my stuff never has that "finished feel"
the poems continue to ache for perfection
long after I've sworn them off
one of my ex-wives
used to stand in front of the bathroom mirror
staring at her face
she'd get pissed and yell out at me
"bring me the yellow pages honey
I'm gonna' call someone
who can fix my nose"
reading back my own words
as they look on a computer screen
I can understand her pain
God help the folk-bard
who's work is never done
PLAN B
outside
back porch
I sip cheap red
strum a cracked and buzzing
Harmony 6-string
tell the stars
to go fuck themselves
upstairs
on your back
in bed
Cosmo opened
across your chest
you whisper
something to someone
on the phone
downstairs
in the kitchen
under the ironing board
our 3 year old sits
blissfully occupying himself
with a green, rubber,
T-Rex toy
welcome to plan b
much time ago
I was to be a writer
of words and music
you were going to travel the world
a single woman
scoring brown-skinned boys
taking in the sights
but like dirt-track figure 8ers
we "discovered" each other
an accident throbbing to happen
we became easy marks
lowest form of idiot
of course "little-man"
has no such regrets
no fear for what's future
he's like a sponge
soaking up the moment
laughing to himself
as he and imaginary friends
knowing the pass-word
slip past the angel
standing guard
at Eden's gate
************************************************************************
INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM C. LEIKAM
by NEIL MACKAY
************************************************************************
William and I exchanged several emails over a short period of
time. The subject matter discussed was based on an article I
wrote for TAF entitle Are We A Functional Culture? In that
article I attempted to, at the very least, discuss some issues
regarding the day to day existence within North American culture.
When William read the article he sent me a note that said "I read
through the question of functional and dysfunctional societies
and generally speaking I have a completely different view." And
indeed he does. Having worked along side the likes of Joseph
Campbell, among others at the Stanford Research Institute William
has a much broader perspective, almost a spiratualistic
pragmatism in his views. We corresponded for about a week and
left off with me having given him a whole new series of questions
based inpart on his answers to the questions presented below.
Those questions and answers will be featured in a later issue of
TAF. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy our little discussion
below as much as I did.
TAF: In regards to the article "Are We A Functional Culture", how or
what would you personally define as functional culture?
WCL: Cultures are evolutionary engines. They are reflected from whatever
the culture decides. Decisions are the fuel of a culture. Once a culture
puts itself forward through a stream of history as the United States
as, then it has put itself on the path to burnout. This truly
becomescomplex. To accomplish what I need to say, I will speak in
metaphor.
Comes on like this. We touch a match to the tinderbox. It begins to
smolder toward greatness but at that moment it is nothing but a growing
spark. It can hope all it wants to but the reality is only when the
spark catches. Change happens. Cultures are no different from cells.
They too go through mutations and we hear the cry of the culture as it
suffers and plunges into protectivism. That's when the government
becomes protective. We see it everywhere in our news. All of the
tragedies of the day: John Jones Killed in Pile Up, Route Five Closed:
Chemical Spill and what else is there?
TAF: As we approach, and enter, the next millennium which direction do
see Western Culture going? (imploding, dissolving, transforming into...)
WCL: I have been a transformationalist from the time that I worked with
some of the seminal people in that arena: Peter Schwartz, Duane Elgin,
Mark Markley, Joseph Campbell, and others at Stanford Research
Institute. What a team had gathered there?
There is a circle of people who are sometimes coming together who
willsurvive the catastrophe and they are the Rainbow People, the Dead
Family, the alternative seekers. These will be the people who procreate
the new generation and the new culture.
As I look at the future, I see nothing shy of disaster for humanity. We
are being challenged ecologically. Mother Nature is striking back
already: Cancer, AIDS, new strains of tuberculosis, a new medical
onslaught is hitting us. There are those people whom I've met out there
on the Powwow Trail, the Grateful Dead, The Rainbow people, alternative
communities internationally coming alive as though in anticipation
of what is coming down the corridors of history. They may well become
the back waters of culture. Not even footnotes in history.
In this way these sub-cultures may emerge to create the new western
culture. They contain an amalgam of thought that at its core respects
Mother Earth and all sentient beings thereon. It is merging and coming
together as a coherent philosophy to live by. This is unusual because it
is happening globally. Never before in history has the world ever been
so multi-culturally bound together and yet the irony is that racism
continues to rip humanity apart. Maybe we aren't as well off as we think
we are.
The dominate culture in place at the moment is failing and at the same
time, as throughout history it is creating its elements of survival in
these sub-cultures. We must pay clear attention to even if we do not
agree with their philosophy. It's good to check out what's happening on
the edge of your reality.
TAF: In regards to Western Culture, how do you see the issues of
functional and dysfunctional as related to the Christian notions of good
and evil?
WCL: I don't. There is no such thing as functional and dysfunctional.
None. In order to understand this, you need to go into the unified field
and talk from there. This is where one feels that sensation of being at
one with the universe. Conflict is only because it exists in the dual
world. (This duality discussion is not even real but we have to talk
this way in order that we communicate with each other.) There are many
worlds that we can live in. All we have to do is come into contact with
them. Harmony exists when we understand that we are all human bings
simply expressing ourselves through different motifs. It is then that
the tapestry of being human is real.
On the issue of Christianity? It is coming down in its death throws.
Today, it seems to me that we are changing our views of what's good and
what's evil. If you run back some twenty five years ago and take a look,
Jack Kavorkian could never have done anything close to what he has
already done. The State of Oregon could never have passed its suicide
law. Who would have possibly thought about dignity when you travel off
into the nether-world? These are the real changes that are developing
beneath our feet.
These are the events in our modern world that are changing everything.
We have a few years to go before all of this comes down and becomes the
dominate social and cultural structure. Right now there are serious and
more traditional views being played out. For instance, we do have
freedom of speech given to us via the Constitution but there are
governmental officials in Congress who want to alter our freedoms
because they think that our children should not be sexually educated or
excited. They fear what they call terrorists.
TAF: Throughout recorded history there has always been a degree of
societal/political upheaval around major century or millennial changes.
What are your views on the current and near future condition or state of
Western Culture with this in mind?
WCL: Well, we can just travel back to the last turn of the century and
see so much along the lines of what we are seeing today. Yes, we seem to
have a cycle here. If you look directly at the turn of the 19th to the
20th centuries, we moved from a world of the past and into the
technological revolution that has created the 20th Century. It was in
1896 that Madame Currie began her examination of radium and thus
launched Quantum Mechanics. It was during this time too that
philosophers were haggling over the new ethics and Darwin's notions that
came to be evolution. Changes occurred. Just like now. But the
difference now is that we are shifting a new millennium.
We are involved within a deep, spiritual transformation within global
culture. I may well be stepping far out on this but it seems to me that
the old religions are being rejected and something else is growing up in
the forest of technology and ethics. That's a huge question right there.
TAF: With regards to the coming end of one millennium and beginning of
another, what role, if any, do you see the apocalyptic myth that is
central to many, if not all, cultures having?
WCL: Never in the history of the world, as transformations arrive and
there have been many, do we see a real apocalypse. However, if one steps
way back and takes a look we see that when changes really happen that
change the world as we see it, we often fail to notice it because we
grow into it all. We never feel evolution. We never really feel the
nudge of history when we decide one way or another about this and that.
It is from generation to generation exactly what it is. It is only
people who are stuck who fail to feel the change.
There you have it. To be continued...
************************************************************************
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
************************************************************************
Janet Buck teaches writing and literature at the
college level. Her essays and poetry have appeared in The
Recursive Angel, The Melic Review, Conspire, Gravity,
Poetry Motel, New Thought Journal, The Artful Mind,
Medicinal Purposes, Mind Fire, 2Rivers View, Allegory,
Kimera, The Oracular Tree, Green Cross, Moonshade Magazine,
The Poet's Edge, Ariga, SeekeTr, Asylem, Woven Soles, The
Free Cuisinart, Pif, The Waterloo Review, Illya's Honey,
Fires of Autumn, Ygdrasil, Ascent, Indie Journal, Orbital
Revolution, Flaming Flag, Calliope, In Motion, Idling,
Poetfest, Sapphire Magazine, Southern Ocean Review, The Rose
& Thorn, Perihelion, Zen Rubies, Creative Ooze, The
Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks, Maelstrom, The
Pittsburgh Quarterly, and dozens of other periodicals.
Janet's poetry sites on the web have received more than
thirty awards, including the distiguished "Predators and
Editors: Author's Site of Excellence" and "The Circle of
the Muses Award of Inspiration." "Writing," she says, "is
a tuba in a long parade that chases pain and sorrow to its
dissolution."
/ / / /
Rick Beneteau is an internationally recorded and released
songwriter and is a partner in the Internet Marketing firm
NetProfit 2020 Inc. He also provides copy writing and
complete advertising services including corporate music
production via his TrademarkeT company and he is a for-hire
freelance writer.
\ \ \ \
Rick Doble is a self proclaimed Internet artist. The nude
and partially clothed female figures pictured in his
"Woman in Motion" exhibit were derived in part from
the landmark study on "Human and Animal Locomotion" (1887)
by the American photographer Eadweard Muybridge. More of
Rick's impressive work can be found at these links below:
General home pages that link to exhibits:
www.clis.com/savvynews/rdoble/
http://www.clis.com/savvynews/digi_art/
Links to Exhibits themselves:
www.clis.com/savvynews/photos/
www.clis.com/savvynews/snow/
www.clis.com/savvynews/exhibit/
doble.interspeed.net/neon/index.html
/ / / /
William C. Leikam began his teaching career in the late
Sixties. Since that time he has been involved with a
host of interesting endeavors including the ALPHA
Project, a pioneering research group on the nature of
consciousness, whcih he led; the International
Conference on the Study of Shamanism and Alternate
Modes of Healing; the establishment of the Musart
Label and in 1997, he left Musart to begin hisown
company, Leikam Entertainment. In so doing, he became
involved with IllusionQuest, LLC of which he is the
current CEO.
\ \ \ \
Thom Kellar is "an average joe with some artistic
inclinations...poetry,music, art." He is 43 years old,
lives in Northern California and began seriously
writing in June of 1998. He considers his "work to
fall within the category of folk art...[and]...see[s]
the pursuit of poetry/prose as a way of interjecting
some creative contentment into an otherwise
unsettled and dysfunctional life..."
/ / / /
Thanks Gary 03/09/96 RIP
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The Annihilation Fountain & TAF Copyright 1997-99 Neil MacKay
http://www.capnasty.org/taf/
the_annihilation_fountain@iname.com
