Innocent absurdities, subjectivity, and love

It was winter and we were in the schoolyard eating Rolos. The hibernal gusts had caused our Rolos to freeze right in our mittens but we knew our mouths would warm them if we could just be patient.

“But promise you won’t look at the ingredients,” you pleaded.

I answered: “I would never.”

I dreamed I never heard of anything by Grimm or Aesop, and whenever anyone referred to trails of breadcrumbs or ants and grasshoppers or unguessable names or crows and pebbles, I was lost at sea

Back in the city, a man emerged, his physiognomy was contorted with concern, he stammered: “Have you seen my pigeon?”⁣

⁣“I haven’t,” I admitted. “Where did you last leave him?”⁣⁣

“Exactly where you’re standing!”

I tried to offer comfort: “You know how birds can be, they use their wings to come and go!”⁣

“Not this bird,” ⁣he lamented.

I’d never seen this man before and I won’t pretend to understand his state of wellness or his history. I presented my hand, he took it, he shook it.⁣

“I’m a birdguy too,” I said.

He walked wordlessly away and approached three construction workers who were wearing orange vests and smoking cigarettes. From trio to quartet, I whispered foolishly, and soon the four were gesticulating, smiling, laughing.

They were out of earshot but I studied them acutely and it didn’t seem like they were discussing anything like the range of outcomes for Bigcity Pigeons, that’s for sure!

I asked myself well, how’s that leave you feeling?

and I answered more delighted than duped

and here I loosed an easy giggle and declared then you’re ahead of the game, the sun is shining, and let’s see what happens next

Here’s a list of words I don’t believe I’ve ever used and hope I’ll never use:⁣

tour-de-force⁣

unprepossessing⁣

ignominy⁣

perspicacious⁣

smelly⁣

ciao⁣⁣

Next, some words I hope I’ll learn how to use someday:⁣

⁣vouchsafe⁣

But nota bene, our language is alive, ergo don’t allow your feathers to get fussy when you realize that

super is the new very

literally⁣ means “figuratively” or even “metaphorically” now

And finally, some words I’m glad I learned to use correctly:

⁣peruse⁣

eschew⁣

avuncular⁣

O let us be linguistic listmakers! Of course and always I will welcome your additions and admonishments!

I enjoy publishing (i.e., self-publishing) artbooks which contain both words and pictures. I hope you won’t dismiss me as a boastful brute, but the responses to these publications have been effusive and enthusiastic. Except for one! True story, I received a message that went like this, verbatim et literatim:

“I used to adore your work, I mean I really loved it, learned from it, looked forward to it, was inspired by it, but something changed, and I don’t know how else to say it — now I see your work as grim and I can only see it that way: grim”

Holy cloaca, can you believe it!? I’m not qualified to make a diagnosis, and yet I’m pretty sure the complainant was bananas; would a grim soul offer up a verse like this

Whether you’re a dunlin or a drumlin

or a paintbrush or a planet

or Stravinsky or a grapefruit,

we’re all connected in a cozy confluence

and would a grim soul look like this

Ha! Hi! Thank you for being here. Always onward; love only!