The number 1 element

is to find a chance piece of data, something from the newspaper
or radio, no tv shows for now because we want words alone,
discrete signs of the times which we can reorganize,
categorize, discuss the options one has, keep a fine edge on
the semantics. You know what is meant by this?
Building blocks that can disintegrate into fine particles
of speech without losing their spicy tang, their consistency
of effect, whether flat or dramatic, context or subtext.

The next element

number 2 on the list, requires a dose of religion
or spiritual excess, the imagination of a physicist
like Teller, Oppenheimer, sliced with Brecht or Calvino
(please take your pick). As an example, the suggestion of sin,
cardinal or deadly, guilty as hell or merely banal, should enter
into the equation, a remix if you will, so that the past
may be leavened with whatever the current climate will allow.
After the fall, it seems, is a constant, probably the result
of something Planck ate. Nonetheless (and to proceed)

it's self-evident that number three on the list

will be the most difficult, so far: the belief that everything
is oppressive. Have faith, it's true. Even the molecules
in space dust are subject to attractive forces. Below
what human ears can discern, a b-flat note is heard.
3 billion years old, and older still once the trap is closed,
the siren calls, and the event horizon of the dominant power
asserts itself over matter and distance. This theory applies
equally well to the insect world, where every creature is a slave
to the system. Freedom rings a false note, seduces us all
with the language of escape, which makes for a good laugh
don't you think? But this isn't comedy and by now
the intent of these digressions should be clear,

which makes the 4th element

superfluous, but it merits discussion in any event
or the syllabus will have to be shortened, and no one
will obtain validation in the form of a doctorate. So
play along with the gag: it's only nonsense, but we like it
yes we do, and that's the point isn't it? Nothing can be said
that has any justification outside itself, not that
it should be any different, as the object lesson to be learned here
is that nothing, whether political, historical or despotic
over time or in the moment, needs to be changed.

Fifth element?

An illusion, much like a game that's rigged with the dealer
always filling an inside straight. You know it's coming
but you bet anyway. This is hope not based on reality,
i.e., an irrationality, which basically sums it all up.
Better to meditate and starve to death? Of course not,
suicide or martyrdom is selfish (yes, the judgmental
process survives even this). So, go ahead -- kiss
your lover while he sleeps, high five your kids,
pretend that love exists, somewhere, outside the purview
of language, of navels grazing, of wars fought for the principle
of who lives and who dies, who sells and who buys.
The sparrow knows as much as you or I. Love that.


� 2004 by Tara Birch