3H, B, 6B

3H, B, 6B

Happy Hour

When the doomsday asteroid sails to strike,
elephants of the blazing plains
will gather about a baobab
and dance on their hind legs;
ostriches will fly for the first
above the circling leathern skulls,
and birds that flame the most in hottest regions
will molt every sunset feather into empty evening grey.

When the asteroid's burning belly burrows into the plates,
turning them to tsunamis of molten glass,
herds of sasquatches will hurtle
from the forested hills in flames;
rank with sulphur, they will bear down
like skunk comets, down the hillsides, reeking;
burning twiggy, knotted fur, wailing cries,
howling a sound that will cause
any within hearing to instantly die.

When the ashen plume gushes up with the hemorrhaging
of the earth, unknown swimmers from the seas
will surface on the naked shores:
eyes like beads and eyes like bulbs,
teeth like needles and lips like frogs,
slimy, skeletal or luminescent,
muscular or whippish, crushing or zinging
with lightning tails of death.
They will proclaim the sins of the highest towers -
creatures forever unseen, swimming
the blackest, emptiest, ocean depths

that will become unhoused and waterless.

Pencil

Pencils, B...

3H, B and 6B

6B, B and maybe 3H or 2H

2B and some others I think

Charcoal and white

A pencil of some kind

 

3H, B and 6B

Globalization

"Sometimes globalization is viewed in fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will. In this regard it is useful to remember that while globalization should certainly be understood as a socio-economic process, this is not its only dimension. Underneath the more visible process, humanity itself is becoming increasingly interconnected; it is made up of individuals and peoples to whom this process should offer benefits and development, as they assume their respective responsibilities, singly and collectively. The breaking-down of borders is not simply a material fact: it is also a cultural event both in its causes and its effects. If globalization is viewed from a deterministic standpoint, the criteria with which to evaluate and direct it are lost. As a human reality, it is the product of diverse cultural tendencies, which need to be subjected to a process of discernment. The truth of globalization as a process and its fundamental ethical criterion are given by the unity of the human family and its development towards what is good. Hence a sustained commitment is needed so as to promote a person-based and community-oriented cultural process of world-wide integration that is open to transcendence.

"Despite some of its structural elements, which should neither be denied nor exaggerated, “globalization, a priori, is neither good nor bad. It will be what people make of it”. We should not be its victims, but rather its protagonists, acting in the light of reason, guided by charity and truth. Blind opposition would be a mistaken and prejudiced attitude, incapable of recognizing the positive aspects of the process, with the consequent risk of missing the chance to take advantage of its many opportunities for development. The processes of globalization, suitably understood and directed, open up the unprecedented possibility of large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale; if badly directed, however, they can lead to an increase in poverty and inequality, and could even trigger a global crisis. It is necessary to correct the malfunctions, some of them serious, that cause new divisions between peoples and within peoples, and also to ensure that the redistribution of wealth does not come about through the redistribution or increase of poverty: a real danger if the present situation were to be badly managed. For a long time it was thought that poor peoples should remain at a fixed stage of development, and should be content to receive assistance from the philanthropy of developed peoples. Paul VI strongly opposed this mentality in Populorum Progressio. Today the material resources available for rescuing these peoples from poverty are potentially greater than before, but they have ended up largely in the hands of people from developed countries, who have benefited more from the liberalization that has occurred in the mobility of capital and labour. The world-wide diffusion of forms of prosperity should not therefore be held up by projects that are self-centred, protectionist or at the service of private interests. Indeed the involvement of emerging or developing countries allows us to manage the crisis better today. The transition inherent in the process of globalization presents great difficulties and dangers that can only be overcome if we are able to appropriate the underlying anthropological and ethical spirit that drives globalization towards the humanizing goal of solidarity. Unfortunately this spirit is often overwhelmed or suppressed by ethical and cultural considerations of an individualistic and utilitarian nature. Globalization is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon which must be grasped in the diversity and unity of all its different dimensions, including the theological dimension. In this way it will be possible to experience and to steer the globalization of humanity in relational terms, in terms of communion and the sharing of goods."

--Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in veritate

Making Games

We never knew of conkers,
the tame game that became the name
for the nuts in England.

But at the alley's end
we gathered them, calling them chestnuts.
With bushels in our shirts,

we divided into regimens
at kept distances, and lobbed them like grenades
at each other, high in arches

across the cul-de-sac.
At alley's end, grew the benefactor
and keeled the fenceless fence:

at junction of corners,
blurring of property lines,
grew the climbing tree,

and the source of our weaponry.

Byron Dale

Viva Cristo Rey

I watched For Greater Glory last night.

I thought the film was watchable.

Here's Patrick Madrid talking about the Cristeros War:

Chichikov

THE CAMP 

By Pavel Chichikov

Encampment of the atheists

A well-known slum and shambles

Outside the gates of Paradise

Hovels made of black-tarred paper

Smokey fires fed with rubber

And old electric wire

Those who camp there dress like hoboes

Huddle near the bilious fires

Draped in sacking and old clothes

On the mountain overhead

A sound of lutes and joyful singing

Flights of dancers moving, angel-led

Some abandon camp and climb

But others will not leave for now

Who think they live in passing time

Who think that they are still alive

And huddle near the smoky flames

Afraid to move until the world arrives

What is the music that we hear?

Ask the few courageous dead

But others claim there is none, out of fear

There are many who complain

About the peace-disturbing noise

                        But while they camp here heaven will remain 

TWISTING FUNNELS 

By Pavel Chichikov

Missouri spring, I-70

Near the town of Mexico,

Lurid sunlight on the highway

Above the fields rise two black clouds

Great dignities, the crowns of ogres

Speak through channels in the air,

Articulate by thunderbolt

Words of ions modulate

While from the local radio

Warnings of impending twisters,

Cars go forward towards the west

Complacently through streams of sunlight

Back and forth the dialogue

Between the pregnant ogre clouds,

But nothing like a funnel falls

Across the waiting helpless fields

So are we now awaiting storms

That spit their lightning overhead

But never seem to burst and spin

But rise and dissipate instead

Scatter, but the storms return,

Perhaps someday they will touch down

To blow the world to kingdom come,

                        Twisting funnels going round

The Poetry of Pavel Chichikov

Time-Stamped

pencils, I think it might have been HB

pencils