Cecil Vortex

The “Pale Fire Deathmarch” Pause That Refreshes

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One week from today, the PFDM kicks off. Job one for this week: make sure you have yourself a copy of so-called “Pale Fire.” Job two: don’t read Pale Fire! Oh, you can read the cover copy. And you can read the spine. Please, read the spine. But as we learned with the GRDM, one of the biggest challenges in these DMs is not getting too far ahead o’ the pack, so be sure to leave them innards alone.
Over the next few days, getcher booties polished and yer canteen cleansed. Shake out the old pup tent. Next week: we ride!

Three perspectives on my lost wallet

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My four-year old daughter:
I thought it was under the couch and
I also tried to look for it everywhere, but
I was having so much fun that
I couldn’t find it.
So it was very sad that you lost your wallet.
My wife:
Well, I was perplexed that we couldn’t find the wallet anywhere in the house.
I was worried that you were so depressed about it.
I felt blue about having more paperwork. And then,
when Chris showed up with the wallet,
I was so happy, I gave him a hug.
Me:
I want to thank everyone.
This has been a wrenching experience.
And now, I’d like to take watch TV.
Catch the game.
Eat a big chocolate model of my brain.

Shaved My Beard

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I shaved my beard today so, hopefully, we can put our feud aside.
You thought I was making fun of the ’70s, but I wasn’t. I love the ’70s.
That’s why I wore the beard in the first place. Can’t you understand?
It was starting to tear the block apart, our feud.
People were taking sides. Mostly they were taking your side. And that made me angry.
So I yelled at your cat. So I took your mailbox.
So I rubbed my butt on your car. So what, right?
Really. I mean, we’re grown ups, you and I. Look: I shaved my beard.
Let’s get on with our lives.

Sanity

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Rising to greet you.
Pulling out a chair.
Licking clean your plate.
Sanity bread crumbs sticking to the side of
your mouth your chin your shirt until
wiped away soft backhand skin.
Sanity letting you sit down first.
Beached and bleached into blue-white seashell fragments.
Crushed and sprinkled over a wide path.
Then sanity taking a nap.

Spin

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There’s a bench by the Santa Cruz merry-go-round
where you can sit and watch the brass-ring jockies
as they spin past at high speeds
watch their faces shift from
crazed release last miss to
tight mad joy next shot
hook swinging into view
watch hands pull back
fingers snap from
loose, curved noodles to
crooked
ready
reach.

“The Pale Fire Deathmarch” Exhortation!

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A few weeks back, we wrapped “The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch,” in which some 13 or 14 of us went screaming across Pynchon’s notoriously challenging uber-book.
Mark yer calendars. Two weeks from today — on May 31st — tanned, rested, and ready, we’ll be starting up Deathmarch 2. This time out, we’re tackling something a wee bit lighter and a whole lot shorter. By its rep, Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire is a wild, one-of-a-kind read. Anthony Burgess says it’s a “brilliant confection.” Mary McCarthy, never one to be out done by Anthony Burgess, says: “This centaur work, half-poem, half-prose . . . is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century.” And various folks I know who’ve already read it say: “Great stuff!”
Here’s how the PFDM works: every Tuesday, I’ll leave a short post here on the site. If you’re reading along, drop by and post a comment — something insightful or erudite, random blather, or just a quick “hey now!” That’s it — that’s the whole deal. The book looks like a great ride. And the whole adventure should take around 7 weeks or so.
All are welcome — good friends, new acquaintances, and outright strangers. And yes, my old enemy, my nemesis: The Man with Five Hands: you are welcome too. The Big Idear is to use the momentum of the pack to get into books we might otherwise miss.
There are two main bargain editions online — The Everyman’s Library edition (an inexpensive hardcover) and the Vintage paperback. Either will work — I’ll include page references for both when we set our weekly targets.
And say, if you’re thinking of marching along, why not be here now and practice commenting at this very moment, by leaving one on this very thread. As an added bonus, it’ll help us get a rough head count so we know how much food and water to pack in. Metaphorically speaking.
See you out on that winding road…. -CV

My New Future Fantasy

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Not so long ago, I was just like you —
sitting around, waiting for the scientists
to discover cheap and safe nuclear fusion.
So they could take us off to Mars.
In ships the size of Delaware.
Now all I want is
a machine that can make a
big chocolate model of my brain.
It’s true!
I want to watch
the game on
a plasma TV
and eat a
big chocolate model
of my brain.

A little wahoo

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I’ve been writing poems for a few years now, but it was just in the last little bit that I finally got my [insert obscure yiddish word here] together enough to start sending a few batches out for publication. And in a bit of a milestone, this very week, my very first poem got published. On paper even.
So if you happen to find yourself in SF over the next few weeks, keep an eye out for issue #7 of the San Francisco Reader, in finer coffee shops and bookstores throughout The City….