Twigs and branches

Perhaps because I have a bird bath
but mostly due to spring
I’m treated to a raucous caucus
of songbirds squabbling
Seasonal sorts of squeaks and squawks
Heard only at this time of year
Passerine passers-by
Migrants briefly visiting.

One trill triggers me
to recall an aria from Rusalka.

Perhaps the swallows will nest again
in beak-built seasonal
fortresses beneath my eaves
to sally forth in improbable numbers,
little round bodies soaring.

Scientific American now includes an poem with every issue. CT has already encouraged my worst (versed?) impulses by introducing me to clerihews and tolerating my other nonsense. I thought the free form premise of Twigs & Branches at least permitted it.

I’ve indulged myself lately. A triolet? Eight rhymes for orange? Whenever I’ve done something like that, I check to see if someone wants me to stop, but never have heard a discouraging word.

I suppose I’ll continue to add condiments to comments as my muse moves me, but the tendency typically derives from the original post.

”CT could do with a poetry section!”

I’m trying…

Been commenting on CT since the mid to late 2000’s, and now I have a Substack where I talk about left wing politics, political economy and philosophy. Anyway, it’s free, so it has that in its favor!

https://deponysum.substack.com/

And while we’re posting poetry, I did a project a while back involving famous poets and machine learning generated poetry:

https://deponysum.com/2021/02/23/poem/

Finally, as a topic for discussion, it is my general impression that CT as a blog has moved left over time. Do others agree or disagree?

on the other hand – there is this… very… ”practical” poem of Paul Krugman at the NY Times –
called:

”Too much choice is hurting America” –
and the response of:

”JMJackson
Rockville, MD
March 2
Times Pick

”I am an American who has lived in Europe for the last 21 years. The main difference I’ve noted is that is America, what you need is expensive and hard to understand while what you crave is cheap and simple. In Western Europe, it’s the other way around. In America, we are promised the right to “pursue happiness.” In Western Europe, we say, “We actually know a lot of stuff that virtually everyone needs to be happy: housing, health, education, stability, leisure. Let’s try to make sure everyone has reliable access to those instead of pretending that choosing between, say, paying rent or going to the doctor, is some kind of ‘individual freedom’”.
1663 Recommend

6 REPLIES

mrfreeze6 commented March 2
M
mrfreeze6
Italy’s Green Heart
March 2
@JMJackson Great comment. I’ve lived in Italy for some years now and, despite all the political, social and economic chaos that exist here, life is far less complicated because the Italians have access to the very things you mention. Sure, there’s bureaucracy and taxes, but there’s also the realization that government (even the Italian government) helps protect the interests of its citizens.
127 Recommend

RBSullivan commented March 2
R
RBSullivan
Texas
March 2
@JMJackson A very astute observation of a basic difference between largely democratic socialist Europe and the USA. Sadly, most Americans live in a bubble. They are constantly told that it is the best bubble in the world. When I lived in Europe I met many American expats who missed good peanut butter, but not expensive health care, traffic jams, and job insecurity.
143 Recommend

Isn’t that… worth to discuss?

@nastiwoman 9
“largely democratic socialist Europe”

I didn’t know I lived in a democratic socialist country.

It seems to me that, since a lot of dudes in the right used the word “socialist” as a negative epithet against anything they didn’t like, that now even normal stuff like a NHS is considered “socialism”, at wich point everybody who is not very ideologically right wing will become pro socialist.

Submitted in all humility to CT’s poetry section, my own poor effort at topical rhyme…

I’ve been blessed with options and must lend my voice
to offering thanks for such bountiful choice;
I’ve so many options (they give my freedoms protection),
I must be favoured by fortune to have such selection!

In fact I’ve so many choices, sometimes ‘tis tricky to pick –
should I sell my car and my family, or merely die when I’m sick?
Do I sleep under a bridge, or on a park bench in old age?
Such conundrums would puzzle even the most learned sage.

I have boundless gratitude, I really must say,
for the choice of which organ to sell when there’s the next debt to pay.
And with no worker protection, there’s more choice to find –
should we wear out mind and body, or body and mind?

In a sea of possibilities, I’m in a lifeboat
(paddling desperately, barely afloat).
More luxurious choice – starvation or thirst?
Fire or Ice? Which do I think is worst?

Though one question remains, which I can’t help but wonder
(as I watch the world being looted by those seeking plunder
and to turn civilisation into a mad free-for-all),
when all options are dreadful, is there really much choice at all?

nG

Let’s talk about maskholes.

The states of Texas and Mississippi have declared the day of jubilee, everything’s open! Nothing to see here! Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, was the darling of CPAC for proclaiming that freedom trumped (!) public health.

It might be interesting to discuss whether this is a question of values or an epistemological quibble, which are not necessarily distinct issues: while the impulse to dance at the edge of a cliff doesn’t imply a denial of gravity, the intricacies of biology are not widely understood (and their foundations often denied).

Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think that someone bellying up to a bar tomorrow, or next week, has made a careful calculation of risks and benefits.

I don’t know any anti-vaccets.

But a lot of people I know are showing signs of anxiety disorders, along the lines of being too afraid to leave the house.

This can possibly lead to people becoming too afraid to leave the house to go get a vaccination, even though the vaccination is the eventual way out of the original source of the fear.

======

I wouldn’t be surprised if in some people fear of covid19 had got displaced onto fear of the vaccine, in a very conterproductive way,

Ups?
and I forgot the definition of ”Communism” as we don’t want to have all these comments again where commenters firstly try to define what ”communism”…
is – so let’s take the Wikipedias Poem as basis –

”Communism (from Latin communis, ‘common, universal’)[1][2] is a philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order structured upon the ideas of common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money[3][4] and the state.[5][6]

Communism includes a variety of schools of thought which broadly include Marxism and anarcho-communism as well as the political ideologies grouped around both, all of which share the analysis that the current order of society stems from capitalism, its economic system and mode of production, namely that in this system there are two major social classes, conflict between these two classes is the root of all problems in society and this situation can only ultimately be resolved through a social revolution”.[7)”

nastywoman, Democrats now have a slight edge in Orange County, CA, and they’ve long been in the ascendant in Laguna Beach, where I live.

I don’t doubt that some denizens might consider you communist. My family moved here in 1961 and were bemused to encounter outright anti-semitism. Our representatives back then were nearly delusional. A great many nutcases decamped to rural refuges as Asians and Latinos increased their numbers (and as the aerospace industry dwindled), but not all; rock-ribbed Republicans predominate in Newport Beach and loudly demonstrate in Huntington Beach.

It’s a pretty place, although someone accustomed to forests might not immediately appreciate the charm of chaparral. Coastal scrub, they call it. This is one of the best spots in the country for bird watching, or so it’s said.

The Mediterranean climate is easy to take, although the threat of drought is always looming. Last year’s rainfall measured 577 mm; the year before, 539; the year before that, 107. As of rainy yesterday, we’re up to 106.

”Democrats now have a slight edge in Orange County, CA, and they’ve long been in the ascendant in Laguna Beach, where I live”.

I know – and I suspected that you ”live” in my ”current US home town” too – but as I kind of grew up in Newport Beach -(at least 15 winters) – and we probably once met at the Shake Shack – Democrats – then – NEVER – had a slight edge in Orange County –
or as the life-long Republican the John Wayne Airport is named after – supposedly said:

”Life is tough, but it’s tougher when you’re stupid”.

And that’s ”the thing” – it used to be… kind of ”stupid” to come out in Newport Beach with all my ”communistic” ideas – or as my (Republican) friends then used to say:

Oh – you – you ”Europeans”!

https://youtu.be/_jJiTcubp5E

When I take my daily stroll I wear a blue cotton cap emblazoned with the logo of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and the not terribly effective polyester mask I carry in my pocket, similarly branded, turns my gray muzzle into that of a sea lion.

The mask I wear when I order takeout, a gift from my brother, gives me the face of some sort of cat, whiskers bristling. Best to be silly, I think.

Crook-Ed Memories of Poetry.

I know of a place on the net 
Where poems again want to get
But the memories fade
So many topics to grade
So their history they seemed to forget
KT2.
Enjoy. 

Haiku Economics

Invisible hand;
Mother of inflated hope,
Mistress of despair!

Stephen Ziliak (link at end)

CT poetry history:

https://crookedtimber.org/2012/03/21/poems-to-celebrate-world-poetry-day/

https://crookedtimber.org/2017/03/21/world-poetry-day-redux/

https://crookedtimber.org/2011/10/26/poetry-and-people/

https://crookedtimber.org/2005/07/03/spammer-poetry/

https://crookedtimber.org/2006/03/17/a-poem-for-patricks-day/

Cut thru economics with cru-ditties. ymmv.

“The Ten Limerick Principles of Economics
“Says Harvard economics professor Greg Mankiw (pictured): 
“Although the study of economics has many facets, the field is unified by several central ideas. The Ten Principles of Economics offer an overview of what economics is all about.”

“A generation of undergraduates has mastered the Ten Principles of Economics through the agency of Prof. Mankiw’s famous textbooksand courses. Now, in the interest of the general public, Dr. Goose shines a light on these Principles to reveal their provocative yet oddly rational sexual subtext.

“1. People Face Tradeoffs. 
“I find,” said a fellow named Grange,
“Our position exceedingly strange.”
“My dear,” said his Miss,
“If you hanker for this,
You must offer me that in exchange.”

“To get one thing, you have to give up something else. Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another.

“2. The Cost of Something is What You Give Up to Get It.”…

“9. Prices Rise When the Government Prints Too Much Money.

“To her daughter said Mrs. McNeilly,
With a look that was solemn and steely:
“Your currency, dear,
Will be cheapened, I fear,
If you fling it about very freely.”

“When a government creates large quantities of the nation’s money, the value of the money falls. As a result, prices increase, requiring more of the same money to buy goods and services.”
http://www.limericksecon.com/p/ten-limerick-principles-of-economics.html

Haiku Economics

Money, metaphor, and the invisible hand.
BY STEPHEN T. ZILIAK

. ..” I was teaching economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology when I made the haiku-economics connection. I needed to connect with 225 economics, science, and engineering majors—college kids who were being trained to believe that poetry and feelings are not important to, say, the World Bank. At the same time I was readingThe Essential Etheridge Knight and falling in love with haiku. I thought about the inability of standard economic models to explain bubbles, crashes, and global inequality—and how market fundamentalists refuse to discuss them. I saw the bridge I needed in this poem:

Invisible hand;
Mother of inflated hope,
Mistress of despair!

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/69633/haiku-economics