Open Thread Monday 06-13-15
Monday morning poetry:
Seeing the sunrise
if only I could always see it shine
could call it mine
be of humankind
meeting brilliant minds
gathering resources from the caves
painted before recorded time
ocar
mixing light
confusing truth
and the youth
brushing by
brushing by
brushing by
useless strokes burning coal
pocketing souls
numbers "untold."
Meet me,
I am coal!
Burn me
make 'em cold
"Bid" and vote
feel the stroke
YANK—Come on, youse guys! [He is turning to get coal when the whistle sounds again in a peremptory, irritating note. This drives YANK into a sudden fury. While the other men have turned full around and stopped dumfounded by the spectacle of MILDRED standing there in her white dress, YANK does not turn far enough to see her. Besides, his head is thrown back, he blinks upward through the murk trying to find the owner of the whistle, he brandishes his shovel murderously over his head in one hand, pounding on his chest, gorilla-like, with the other, shouting:] Toin off dat whistle! Come down outa dere, yuh yellow, brass-buttoned, Belfast bum, yuh! Come down and I’ll knock yer brains out! Yuh lousey, stinkin’, yellow mut of a Catholic-moiderin’ bastard! Come down and I’ll moider yuh! Pullin’ dat whistle on me, huh? I’ll show yuh! I’ll crash yer skull in! I’ll drive yer teet’ down yer troat! I’ll slam yer nose trou de back of yer head! I’ll cut yer guts out for a nickel, yuh lousey boob, yuh dirty, crummy, muck-eatin’ son of a—— [Suddenly he becomes conscious of all the other men staring at something directly behind his back. He whirls defensively with a snarling, murderous growl, crouching to spring, his lips drawn back over his teeth, his small eyes gleaming ferociously. He sees MILDRED, like a white apparition in the full light from the open furnace doors. He glares into her eyes, turned to stone. As for her, during his speech she has listened, paralyzed with horror, terror, her whole personality crushed, beaten in, collapsed, by the terrific impact of this unknown, abysmal brutality, naked and shameless. As she looks at his gorilla face, as his eyes bore into hers, she utters a low, choking cry and shrinks away from him, putting both hands up before her eyes to shut out the sight of his face, to protect her own. This startles YANK to a reaction. His mouth falls open, his eyes grow bewildered.]
MILDRED—[About to faint—to the ENGINEERS, who now have her one by each arm—whimperingly.] Take me away! Oh, the filthy beast! [She faints. They carry her quickly back, disappearing in the darkness at the left, rear. An iron door clangs shut. Rage and bewildered fury rush back on YANK. He feels himself insulted in some unknown fashion in the very heart of his pride. He roars:] God damn yuh! [And hurls his shovel after them at the door which has just closed. It hits the steel bulkhead with a clang and falls clattering on the steel floor. From overhead the whistle sounds again in a long, angry, insistent command.]
[Curtain]
Comments
Good Morning smiley!
Thank you for the nice poetry to start the day. Very nice day here this morning when we walked our three dogs. The summer running camps for high school kids have started at the college. Oh to be young again but wiser than I was back then.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Good day GG...
Glad you enjoyed the poetry. My son played Yank in a production of O'Neill's The Hairy Ape a few years ago and I was thinking of him and about how O'Neill's work rings powerfully true today.
I'm disappointed that I can't make the Moral Monday March in Winston-Salem today. Had planned to go, but life got in the way. Hopefully, we will get news from our many friends who are there.
Ditto to being young again. Enjoy our mountain splendor, these old Appalachians can soothe the soul in cool breezes like we have today.
U.S. looks to expand drone war
Add Libya
I don't think we've bombed Ohio lately....
Now where was that ISIS flag in the gay rights parade??? he he
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Iraq begins operation to take back Anbar
It's started
There's just one little problem: it could make things even worse
Thanks gjohnsit for keeping c99 informed.
I have no confidence in this offensive
At best the Shia militias will win a slow and bloody battle at Fallujah, probably complete with ethnic cleansing. At which point the whole thing will stall.
The final break-up of Iraq has already started. It's only a matter of time before it goes from de facto to official.
Hollywood censoring movies for the military
The only surprise here is which movies
Good Morning, Smiley
each time I read something like this Open Thread, I regret to not have lived through the sixties and seventies in the US. I think I would understand so much more about all of you and the US, it would make me feel much more "at ease" to say anything here or elsewhere.
I am so distracted reading so many things at once and just grasping half of it, I always feel exhausted from it and want to run away.
But then I have this "do-not-quit" syndrome in me inoculated by well-meaning Americans, so I am still sticking around.
Ok, on my way to accomplish something today, putting as dear NCTim suggested to me one step and foot at a time in front of each other. Have a good day.
https://www.euronews.com/
Good day mimi...
I have written before that i think there must have been something special in the rain water around the turn of the 20th century for so many babies to have become geniuses later in their lives producing works, especially in literature, that profoundly impacted the minds of future generations. We hippies owe much to those giants who braved a less than open landscape "taking it to the 'man'...
APA finally admits it was complicit in torture
Only a decade late
listen too to Democracy Now's broadcast today
on the issue here with transcript. With
https://www.euronews.com/
Whoa! (n/t)
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Hi Smiley and crew....
My pointing finger on my right hand is suffering from mouse syndrome. Way too much point and click.
Have a great day... still have chores to do so I'm off and away for a few...
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Afternoon dkmich...
Fun, mouse syndrome.
gjohnsit is putting meat on the open thread to chew. So much bs going on, especially in the ME. And over on JayRaye's journal, Rockefeller is headlined, another parallel to O'Neill's work against the one percent of old.
Guess you are safely down from the lake, enjoy the rest of today.
thank you
& my favorite "Working Class":
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii0tzsp29KU]