Forensics

The toxic strain was the innovation
Murder, they say, is a matter of imagination

Against the conqueror, it is said that poetry can be a weapon
Something quite potent that might trigger prompt retaliation

For in the throes of reactionary passions
These men in khaki oft favored assassinations

The tawdriness of the violence that becomes the thin skinned
The culture of silence they impose in pursuit of blood and sin

After the takeover, it was a matter of consolidation
Silence is golden, the poet embodied the opposition

In those early days of the coup, it was just another atrocity
Later, they would be more exotic and turn to dropping bodies

Pushing people out of helicopters over the Pacific ocean
In this case, the resort was to unnatural bacteria, botulism

The toxicologist's report would outline the matter, the dry minutia
The unlikelihood of natural occurrence of this strain of bacteria

Where the Bulgarians, contra Trotsky, used the poisoned tip of an umbrella
This toxic strain was plausible deniability for the likes of Kissinger

We only have interests, such are the wages of Pax Americana
To paraphrase: it was our son-of-bitch that poisoned Neruda


...

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves."

— The Kissinger Doctrine (New York Times June 27, 1970)

...

"If he had a toxic strain, how would it have gotten there?” said Charles Brenner, a forensic investigator from California who helped complete the report. “That is more a matter of imagination, and not science."

— Was Pablo Neruda Murdered? (New York Times, February 15, 2023)

Forensics, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Poison by Bell Biv Devoe
• Murderer by Barrington Levy
• New York is Killing Me by Gil Scot Heron
• Cold Blooded by Rick James
• Evidence by Ark Blakey and Thelonious Monk
• Cold, Cold Heart by Dinah Washingon
• Evidence by Soullive
• Murderer by Buju Banton
• Evidence by Thelonious Monk
• It's Going Wrong by Chocolate Genius

File under: USA, Chile, coup, violence, murder, blood, sin, politics, rogues, politics, Great Game, crime, dictator, culture, observation, policy, hatchet job, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: June 8, 2023

Tropes

Why are plots always sinister?
Why always proud to be a sponsor?
Why stay the course and never lose hope?
Running away is perfectly fine, why be so beholden to tropes?

...

My contribution, as you know well, was a result of none too subtle blackmail
For when you passed me in Times Square in the company of that discreet female
You remarked, "Fancy seeing you here my dear uncle in these streets"
Hot pink. Just as she wiped the telling smudges of lipstick
An understanding, an agreement in your eyes to not sing like a bird
Still, proud sponsor, it rankles, even as I've kept my word

...

Now now, there's a perfectly innocent explanation
No need to make a drama out of this situation
Some go with double lives, lies and fabrications
I rather prefer the subtle art of omission
Not another word more, no one needs to know
Loose lips sink ships, careful as you go
And prefer strategic silence instead of playing the improviser
Default deny is a straightforward policy, there's nothing sinister

...

Life lessons, it takes a village, and all that talk
A proper education. Lean in. Stand strong. Walk tall
Think. Buyer beware. Hell hath no fury
Also: le silence n'est pas un oubli

Compromising Situation, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Say Nothing by Omar
• Don't Explain by Billie Holiday
• Man of the World by Peter Green
• It's a Man's, Man's Man's World by James Brown
• Busted by Ray Charles
• Le Silence n'est pas un Oubli by Orchestre Les As de Benin
• Situation by Yaz
• Busted by The Isley Brothers
• Compromising Situation by Elecktra
• Silence is Golden by Franki Valli & the Four Seasons
• Blackmail by Donell Jones
• Busted by Stephanie McDee
• Man of the World by Eric Clapton

File under: humour, life, lies, culture, observation, perception, betrayal, language, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: June 1, 2023

Cadman Plaza, Noon

Outside the courthouse waiting, cameras at the ready
Perp walk in prospect, vultures killing time
Jaded, one of the photographers explained
"We're basically waiting for people that don't want their picture taken..."

The nannies with their ruddy charges seeking the shade in the plaza
Grandma demographic, patiently observing, tiring them out
Who knew that Haitians had so many blond toddlers?
Homeless man conversing with the invisible crowd
A righteous lecture on grievances continuing and past

Eyewitness news WABC-7 New York
Truck and supporting cast, reconnaissance
Photogenic correspondent, hair piece steadied, swank
Checking angles, anticipating, the video man readies the camera
"This is federal, once they've got you in their sights, game over"

Court lets out, the morning session is over
The lawyers on their break, gray suits suitably somber
Homeland Protection Services crew fall out, looks of relief
The old man emerges, and could it be? Ooh, his daughter

Then the rush, furtive as he exits the courthouse
Coverage, first spotted by the indie stringer as he moves to the left
Caught, unexpected this development, indecision
Now the dance, the choreography begins
Questions hurled as they all move to the right
Telephoto lens activated, daughter lets out a yell.
He falters, stuck mid-street, then moves right, resigned
Can't avoid it, they have to walk through the plaza

Outrage and shame cross the face of the daughter
Shame and more shame on the part of the father
Click, shutter, click, more questions
He stutters - big mistake - and starts to answer
Ooh, this is a live one here
Protests vehemently, "We will appeal."
Passing the homeless man whose patter suddenly becomes distinct
"This country was never innocent... Repent"
Click. Gotcha, all in a day's work

Soundtrack for this note

• Plaza de Toros by Larry Young
  Featuring Grant Green and Elvin Jones. The album is called Into Something.

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File under: culture, observation, life, city, media, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: June 1, 2023

Only Interests

Bureaucratic maneuvering born of sharp elbows
Directing the ultimate operational examples
We have only interests and shades of gray

So. Thoroughly flesh out the preferred option
While presenting limp policy alternatives
These fig leaves adorn the poisoned chalice
We have only interests, it's worth the price we pay

Constructing straw men in this intellectual game
Realpolitik when it comes to brass tacks
A balancing act of supposed hard choices
We have only interests, tough decisions have to be made

Deflection, play down the issue of an embargo
Encourage accommodation and liberal treatment
Throughout, proffer expressions of sorrow
We have only interests come what may

Moral blinders in the form of dual purpose equipment
Facade of toothless sanctions against de jure illegality
Exchange programs in all categories, including military
We have only interests, suffice to say

As to the unfettered pursuit of power and wealth
Cynical calculation asserting favored preferences
The strange architecture of misdirection
We have only interests, the decisions have been made

After National Security Study Memorandum 39 And The Future Of United States Policy Toward Southern Africa by Edgar Lockwood


File under: USA, politics, policy, cynicism, rogues, war, language, hatchet job, Great Game, Strange Bedfellows, Africa, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 24, 2023

Trouble Manufacturers

Trouble manufacturers, all competitor coupons happily accepted
We are never knowingly undersold, you've, no doubt, heard our enduring promise
Our prices are insane, truly, nobody beats us
For trouble is our business. Satisfaction guaranteed

The future of anxiety retail is moving in our direction
Extra discounts on distress will be applied when you check out
Rest assured, our no pressure tactics are world renowned
And if all else fails, consider our money back guarantee

Worry on demand, cash on delivery
A legendary family-owned business
Take part in our award winning retail experience
Premium service for all, pricing you can understand
Trouble manufacturers
Affordable luxury each and every day

Trouble, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye
• Trouble by Jose James
• Trouble by Amel Larrieux
• Nothin But Trouble by Charlie Hunter
• Trouble by Stanley Turrentine
• You See the Trouble With Me by Barry White
• Double Trouble by The Roots
• Trouble by Lizz Wright
• Double Trouble by Beres Hammond

File under: humour, language, culture, absurd, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 21, 2023

Shadows

Shadows. Unsteady harbingers of the night
Furtive motion at a remove at once and then joined together
The stories they tell, mirrors of alternate worlds
Uprooted, prodigal strangers, faintly recognizable as ourselves

Visions. The griots would speak of the antecedents
And of the journeys from origins that were once called home
Roots and connective tissue to pasts we escaped
Places we once belonged, sanctuaries lost
And glories to be regained

Absences
That, at night, when the calm invades our shelter
When momentarily we can truly perceive the notices conveyed by the spirits
We welcome the reflection, these fugitives that elude us
Even as we touch and draw together

Shadows, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Blue Shadows by Freddie King
• Soul Shadows by Joe Sample
• Shadow Dancers by George Benson
• Spirits by Gil Scott-Heron
• Shadows by Tom Scott
• The Moving Shadows by United Future Organization
• Genes and Spirits by Moses Taiwa Molelekwa
• Shadows and the Light by Maysa Leak
• Messenger of Wisdom by Kool & the Gang
• Standing in the Shadows of Love by Barry White
• Shadow Dancers by George Benson & Jack McDuff
• Shadow Boxing by Teena Marie
• Spirits of Tembisa by Moses Taiwa Molelekwa
• Shadows of the Night by Pat Benatar
• Silver Shadow by Atlantic Starr

File under: culture, observation, perception, sensory, longing, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 21, 2023

Now's the Time

The afterlife of a whispered thought
Lingering, a seed planted haphazardly bears fruit
Precious, a leaf collects dew drops, a matter of flows redirected
Reducing, harnessing, fluid dripping capturing the very essence

Even without anyone immediately acting, ideas witnessed gain weight
Assessed when issued but always waiting for their moment
That nature and society abides with the waiting without regret
Secure in the gods' admonition for restraint
Keenly discerning the theme that opportune time deems befitting
When mankind would seize the direction of the most worthy

The prescient would bemoan the wasted time
While the laggards, new converts all, would sing the praises of the present
The regrets of the former - inconvenient as they are,
Are mere reminders of the grand experiment that is life

Pressure relieved, catharsis reprieved
The rhythms echo the past messages
Fragments made whole, a new synthesis
Vivid futures in prospect, now's the time

Now's the Time, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note. (spotify version)

• Now's the Time by Charlie Parker
• The Right Time by Ray Charles
• I'm Ready by Tevin Campbell
• It's Time by The Winans
• Time is on my Side by Maze
• People Get Ready by Brand New Heavies
• Our Time Has Now Come by Soul II Soul
• It's Time by Horace Silver
• Now's the Time by Prince and the Revolution
• The Time is Right by Barry White

File under: culture, observation, perception, memory, sensory, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 21, 2023

Questions

Questions. Mostly unanswered but still worth savoring
The act of articulating a thought brings its own reward
And trouble too, for outlining a pitfall brings up liability
We'd rather plod on covered by our veil of inertia

Forewarned implies agency and the shackles of responsibility
And tort with its troubling specter, a reminder that we live in community
Caught between decisions to forget - escape clauses
And what we choose to remember, commemorate and applaud

Better the comfort blanket of neglect
The faint hope of a rescue at the last, the arc of a story
The seductions of wishes, human truths to live by
Something, someone will come at the last moment

Lingering thoughts, softly, beneath a whisper
Hovering, floating almost above a scream
Unspoken messages, liminal, unseen
Nesting, incubating, fragments of a dream
Questions, yes. Mostly unanswered, but always worth savoring

Questions, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• The Questions by Common & Mos Def
• Unanswered Question by Amel Larrieux
• Love is the Question by Linvall Thompson
• The Question of U by Prince
• No Question by Roy Ayers
• Question and Answer by Pat Methany
• There Are More Questions Than Answers by Johnny Nash
• The Question Is by The Winans
• 21 Questions by 50 Cent
• Question Mark by Allen Kwela Octet
• Reasonable Question by Brian Eno
• Ask Me No Questions by The Bangles
• Questions by David Ruffin
• Questions by Morgan Heritage

File under: culture, observation, strategy, memory, perception, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 20, 2023

Up for None

Up for none and down for nothing
The fever that had gripped us dissipated
Leaving so suddenly that the previous scripts were still in place
Bewildering to perform the rote actions, even more pointless now in the light of day

Clear eyed though, we told ourselves fictions
That the fog had lifted for good
The new certainty, the new normalcy, we averred
That we would only deal with the lingering mist going forward
That the righteous hubris that just yesterday opened wounds could be foregone
Up for none, we played our role

Still, best to forget the previous direction, the wounds inflicted
Purification ceremonies have their chaperones, midwives to earlier indecencies
For shame's inconvenience is soothed by the passing of time
From fictions spring received notions
The balm of stories we tell ourselves to relieve the burden of ignorance

Rewriting the script with the assured rhetoric of the misled
Gaps, ellipses, things that are suddenly unmentioned
Unmentionable in the polite society of striving simians
Smothered by all too conventional wisdom, these truths
Up for none, then, and down for nothing

Up for none, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Keep on Movin' by Soul II Soul
• Don't Look Back by The Tempations
• Up for the Down Stroke by Parliament
• How Soon We Forget by Colonel Abrams
• Back to Life by Soul II Soul
• Up and Down by Ray Prim
• Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen
• Don't Look Back by Bobby Womack
• But Not For Me by Ahmad Jamal
• Up and Down by Horace Parlan
• Don't Look Back by Ramsey Lewis

This note is part of a series: In a covidious time.

File under: culture, observation, perception, regret, Buyer's Remorse, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 16, 2023

Significations

Just past the circumlocution office
Working in the obfuscation quarter
Dogon turanci as the Hausa say
Long-winded sentences, empty phrases

For when the content of one's thought is blanketed by evasion
Comes the turn to bureaucratese and the many uses of euphemism
Couched as higher learning such is the defense mechanism
Leading with this badge proudly proffered to escape derision

Sesquipedalian in intent and strategy
Winding down with a touch of verbosity
A facility with words intended to obscure
Prolix pronouncements and significations

Significations, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Don't Say Nuthin' by The Roots
• Empty Talk by Alvin Robinson
• So Watcha Sayin' by EPMD
• Long Winded by Blahzay Blahzay
• What'd I Say by Ray Charles
• Don't Say Nuthin' (remix) by The Roots
• Blah Blah Blah by Blahzay Blahzay

File under: humour, language, hatchet job, misdirection, culture, observation, perception, absurd, poetry, toli

Writing log. May 9, 2023

Attrition Curve

Voluntary separation
Consider it an opportunity
If it fits with your plans
Might as well take the money

Take the offer, for sure, it's a tough call
For, who knows, the next time will be involuntary
It isn't pretty, you know, when the ax falls
Firings, unemployment, turmoil, redundancies

Take the buyout, it's relatively generous too
Just surprising that they'd pay you to leave
Pitching it as early retirement or the chance for something new
Ignoring entirely all the tales they were spinning just last week

To their credit, they aren't handling it like others in the industry
The fashion of layoffs is catching, albeit their choices are arbitrary
Impersonal, the casual cruelty of what they call restructuring activities
But no doubt it still hurts to have them talk of performance calibration
Empty phrases: managing the attrition curve, structural costs reduction

Voluntary Separation, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify)

• Buyout by The Floozies
• Can't Afford You Mad Cobra
• All I Have to offer you (is me) by Charley Pride
• Buyout by Esham
  Imagining what one would do with the proceeds of the Chrysler buyout. Cautionary tales have their own soundtrack
• Your Mess by Omar
• I'm a Mess by Anthony Hamilton
• Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine
• All Good Things (Come to an End) by Nelly Furtado
• Unexpected Things by Hohzo
• Severance by Street Fever

Bonus beats Get Rid Ah Dem by Sizzla

...

Previously, in the same vein:

• Restructuring Activities
• A Resource Action
• Workforce Rebalancing
• A Message from our Leader
• Involuntary Termination

File under: language, bureaucracy, work, economics, corporation, culture, job, USA, observation, poetry, perception, capitalism, humour, satire, The Rough Beast, toli

Writing log: May 12, 2023

Including Toy Guns

At approximately 1:30 this afternoon, a student brandished a gel blaster gun and began using it in the hallways. The student was immediately apprehended by staff and was detained by our Student Resource Officer. The campus was placed on a "Hold" from 1:30–1:55 p.m. while staff and [redacted] police made sure the area was safe.

Please remind your children about the dangers of students bringing certain items, including toy guns, to school. Possession of any type of weapon — including a toy — is a serious violation of the [redacted] Student Code of Conduct.

...

We need to have a talk, my children
You're old enough to hear the deal

You do remember, we've had the sex talk already
All that stuff about the birds and the bees

We've had the race talk also, a puzzler that one
When I brought up ignorance, that social disease

But, mark my words, I'm raising you in America
That land of opportunity, with all that it means

Cringe, I know, your father's message, but hear me out on this
Lest I ever hear of you saying that you can't breathe

Far too many lives have been lost, consigned to thoughts and prayers
People just like you, brought low for the most dubious of reasons

Truth be told, this society is funeral minded
I can barely keep up, the litany of hazards we face daily

Knocking on the wrong door, jogging, or simply reaching
We can now add another, but this one is easily avoided

The subject is weapons, the danger is the perception
Some might say that it's a matter of possession

Albeit you might be having a little bit of fun
Careful of the things you carry including toy guns

True, in our family, we've always held that education is war
But the new warfare is metaphorical, don't bring in bows and arrows

I kid you not, it's unfortunate, there's no foolproof protection
Even a raised umbrella can cause no small amount of trouble

So if you must wield a weapon, let it be in the form of your thoughts
And express them judiciously, for no one is promised tomorrow

Your words will carry you but remember
It doesn't cost much to bite your tongue

Do go out of your way to make others comfortable
Proudly wear, as you do, that mask of civility

But make sure that it is only heartfelt outrage
That causes you to be accused of disturbing tranquility

That's all I have for now, I cry at night that you can be viewed as a threat
Despite all of our efforts, this country decidedly fails to protect

That we live in this strange world full of perils including toy guns
Carry on as you were, you're my favorite daughter and son

See previously: Prone, Action Items and Response Consultant

File under: USA, blood, violence, absurd, culture, observation, weapons, modernity, perception, language, bureaucracy, life, poetry, outrage, guns, The Rough Beast, Observers are worried, toli

Writing log. May 8, 2023

Restless Joy

Restless joy, unbridled at that
Skipping, ecstatic despite yourself
And a sound issues from primal depths

Elation then, loping and sinuous
Demanding fervently to be shared
Unbidden glee, always in motion

This frantic compulsion
Uncontrollable, effervescent
Restless joy, oh what a feeling

Joy, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Joy by Teddy Pendergrass
• You Bring Me Joy by Anita Baker
• Joy by Blackstreet
• Joy Inside My Tears by Stevie Wonder
• Joy in the Morning by Alton Ellis
• Joy & Pain by Maze ft. Frankie Beverly
• Testify by Sounds of Blackness
• I've Got Joy by CeCe Winans
• Joy by Ledesi
• Joy by Isaac Hayes
• Joy by Whitney Houston
• Happy Feelings by Maze ft. Frankie Beverly

Writing log. May 7, 2023