Happy Birthday Herman Melville. 200 years have passed since your birth. So many whales- so many years- so many readers who have read your amazing book.  I for one am impressed by the writing and your beautiful spirit that sailed on the Pequod.  Time passes and appreciation increases as we see our world soaked in oil and the sea bathed in plastic. We have indeed lost our way. The hunt for oil has taken its toll on us — now we are engaged in a state of denial and our luck is running out. The ship- the whale- the obsession all classic struggles— we still fish for the thing that will kill us.

June 5th, 2019 in America. We see Stonewall at 50. An Anniversary for liberation. 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests in China–the Berlin Wall comes down in 1989 the 20th Century ends. The Iron Curtain rises the iron rice bowl emerges–bigger and better than ever. Democracy is Communism just spelled differently. Marx is history’s future. We begin to see the neo-liberal hammer come down on our heads–we are squeezed- time is a commodity–space an asset. The nuclear-family rises–assimilation is king/queen. Queer is style. Gay unhinged. Hetero-normative looks for a landing. Women remove yourselves from the picture–you thought you had a turn—well think again. Choice is not yours to be. Control is a callous. Rise up or shut up. Nancy resists a revolution…we are near cooked. They step over one another as they climb Mount Everest–some too dead to care that the boot is in their face. We are already done with this century. The 21st looks unsolvable.

June 4, 2019

Here we are in the land of dreams. I wonder as I thought about the dream and the difference between the movie and the dream. Was there a difference between reality and illusion. I thought of Plato’s cave and Guantanamo where the men are kept in a kind of endless hell and the keepers are trapped as well. I think about perpetual war and perpetual life a kind of limbo–war–life they become one. This day is warm and the spring days color our mood. I become fresh and hope fills my glassy eyes with some kind of enthusiasm. The winter coat of my memory fades and yet I fear the first day of summer because it means the light grows less. Oh well we have to go on so says the snake charmer Sam Beckett. I wonder how we go on though? That is my worry. Worry is real. No kidding. I wonder did the cat come home? Or did I shut the door and lock it? Would these trivial things be the end of my thinking? No room for big dreams. No we are here now at the edge. Yes really.

Nothing remains the same landscapes shift time space climate all changes fruits of our labors what next do we charge for delivery do we pray after we feast or before are we hungry in the  morning are we ravashed in the evening do we care do we think do we reap what we sow is there a way out is there a way in can we own our own house can we row the boat can we divine the rod can we make culture who are we who are they who are those who waited in line and failed to get the job to get the paper to sail on the ship to America yes America how are you now that you have made the shift to lean to the far to the right what was the cause you were willing too die for any way any how?

They wanted me to write this all down yes to tell a story about this and that but the this and that was not like 1-2-3- or a-b-c the story was a zig here a zag there like random turns curiosities mistakes discoveries points of interest all kinds of diversions yet there was an arrow once shot it had a beginning a trajectory a going women and men and men and women and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and aunts and uncles and grandmothers and grandfathers and so on and so on all of them contributors to the story of Linda Mussmann and who she came to be and how she lived and thought and moved from here to there and back again time space longitude latitude chance hocus pocus the farm ah! yes there was the farm always the farm the place of performance Argri-Culture we would start from the ground and go up this would take some time naturally first we would say where we were from where we were born and so on after that we would say more things  things significant things insignificant things yes more and less more or less the Dixie highway crossed the Lincoln  highway and the state line made us conscious of our border one side was Indiana and the other side Illinois yes we divided our time and our allegiance with two states Indiana and Illinois yes the states had their character they too were like people liberal conservative free slave red blue and so on and so on yes we swim in the sea is change is change yes this is the spring of 2019 we are witness to great change we must make choices we must collaborate consolidate and arm ourselves against the enemy but first we must know enemies come in many forms yes identity never easy sometimes it takes a life time to discover right Claudia?threats challenges risks walks ropes scaffolds drama opera and so on.

Sine qua non by Mussmann

When they entered the room it was all okay—they was the sine qua non of the space—-we could now relax——

The essential was now here—like the thread on the button—a small thing—but an essential thing—like butter on bread or the lace in they’s shoes—yes this is the sine qua non of the time that they witness—yet they wanted to wrestle with time and space and gender and things called equality—this was hard to come by—as things became less——they become more—more and less the scale was the tool that made a deal real—yet it always seemed to weigh in the fascists favor—even when blind justice was tipping to the right—her dress had lost the luster of gown—now she looked a bit thin and dowdy— Marat get out of your tub and make a revolution again—this time answer the door with a security guard that can hold their own—no you say no you say—no 2nd chance—Charlotte wins the day in your play—and the French move to a revolution they are still trying to make a reality—sine qua non the weather women are telling us it will snow—blades of change—justice is a wreck—Endurance is stuck in the ice on the way to Antartica as Shackleton searches for the South Pole….ho! ho! dogs turn to the left before it is too late —we are on the cliff side of life—

we they us struggle with these adventures that have so few places to hold—call Ishmael—call Lear—call Coriolanus—see what they know—hear their advice—stay the course—thread the needle—whip the butter—butcher the hog—-swim with sharks—-they are in eminent danger—and they know it.

Hocus Pocus

Here we go slip sliding down the rabbit hole.

Alice howls as she wonders which pill will make her

bigger and which one will make her smaller??

We dream or we think we do as the snake charmers

fill us full of hope as we await the spectacle….

are we chained to the performance of snake oil salesmen

who bargain our hopes and dreams to be manufactured in China?

Or do we grab the stick and defend our selves from the cola

induced dream of making America great again??

What is again?

We are caught in the endless two step of the dance.

Oh Lordy! Oh Lordy !

buy me a Mercedes Benz

and get me a room in the Chelsea Hotel

kiss me til the cows come home 

roll me 

roll me

as I drift off toward the edge of the nightmare

or the dream.

Quid est Veritas?

“What is truth?”

Things thought, things remembered, things cast off, things collected,time saved, errands run, sleds slide, hammers measured, gifts returned, joy postponed, calls not taken, rides claimed, gestures frozen, rings tossed, games delayed, weddings mourned, death explained, babes born, mothers prepare, fathers remain, glory sings, we sleep, we wake, we dream, we collide, we swing, we rave, we shout, we cry we mourn, our loss and seek the wake.

Oceans of time sweep us toward the beach the drift, the wave. the left handed mirror—the shoulder —all  assemble in parts to show us where we have been and where we are to go—there Eisenstein’s steps gives us a glimpse of our future and our past——We see our lives all in one frame we think we know how it ends but no we don’t know.  no no no no

One year moves to another and so on and so on…

We blink and we are older.

We sleep and wake up with Proust and Eliot

We wonder how to recall the past—is it a burden

or a happy thing.?

2018 near done and so much happened —yet

the highs and lows are stuck in the map of the mind

like little pins

little markers

showing points to travel back and forth

as we muse about time.

What is time but the butter on the bread….we slip and slide

and then what?

Oh these little thoughts—

they accumulate and then what?

These thoughts and memories are

like dust under the sofa

we are at first irritated by it 

and want it all to go away

with our dust mop—

and later we don’t care.

Our care ceases and time clouds the eye

we are stumped

by the pile of time at our elbow.

Damn it!!

We call out 

and who hears us shout

but the echo of our selves.

And the cat on our lap…..

Whew!!!! it is tricky this navigation

of life.

We like it.

And curse it.

We swim in the current

and some days it is against and

some days it is with the flow of the

tides and time.

Get me the duster—let me whisk away 

the time traveled and revel in what is to come.

2019 gets closer—the lens sharpens

now we are ready to take it as it comes….

one day at a time

one decision at a time

one risk

one leap 

into the unknown.

They all wanted to have a monument built to themselves

but the problem was not so easy to solve.

The monument required a hill—for it is said that

one needs to look up to the one that requires celebration.

Well then —if we could not find a hill what would we do?

Well then—people could get down on their knees.

hmmm? that was possible.

When Walt Disney died he asked to be 

frozen—so he is lying around in some freezer

somewhere?

Where?

I don’’t know.

Mickey Mouse is with him but not with him

the image of the mouse lives on and is making money to this 

day—Mickey funds it all and we can’t even draw 

the mouse without paying some kind of royalty fee.

Yes Mickey is a perpetual cash cow.

It does not seem fair—

“FAIR” is not part our the language now

we are not permitted to say that word

since when?

the emperor declared the word “FAIR” to be

eliminated from the people’s dialogue–

at the beginning the the era of Neo-Nero

 sometime near the beginning of the 21st century

during the neo-civil war.

You see there was war declared but it was a war 

without the usual signs….first skirmish was at the Bank

at the bank???

Yes at the bank.

First they sold people stuff they could not afford.

Then they took them to the cleaners and collected

it back so they could sell stuff again.

Then they took away the cash so every one needed 

a card

and if you didn’t have a card you could not have stuff

and if you could not get a card that meant you had

no cash and no ID

You were kind of in a state of non-existence

You know this sounds familiar.

No you think you know but this was the Neo-Nero era

kind of deal——sort of the results of

too much shopping first in stores then shopping moved

on the tv then shopping moved on line

then the shopping moved into the neighborhood

and people started to sell stuff like way beyond

Tupper-ware parties—it got so bad this shopping

biz that people became crowded out of their houses

and then they had to rent storage units to store the stuff

Yes stuff in storage

became the rage

People became more full

as time went on and 

they had to get more storage

and more locks and keys

and more and more

until

Until what?

The landscape littered with box cars

Yes box cars everywhere—

even in back yards and any empty spaces 

that were possible to put a storage unit and fill it with

stuff—

people were more interested in acquiring stuff

than voting or reading the paper or watching tv

or talking to their children or or….

We were lost in the land of storage with no

hope and no future…we were full and at the same

time empty.

How did we get here—from legacy to storage?

It is never easy —these transitions.

Yes like magic

If you don’t keep your eye on the rabbit and the hat

the sleight of hand can kill you.

pass the mashed potatoes.

LIVE BAIT  by Mussmann

Sunday Dec. 16th we will be presenting LIVE BAIT. This is select writing by Linda Mussmann.

I have assembled some random Blogs that I have posted on the TSL site —Blogs that I have posted over time. I have invited 4 people  (Berta Leone, Sheri Bauer, Richard Gillette, John Moletress) plus Claudia Bruce.

This is a chance to hear some words read by the people I have invited to assist.

In addition there will be some music by Claudia & Sheri. and some visual pieces that I have assembled for this project.

A “free event” please check in—my work is not narrative—so there is no drama—i think about events from the times that I wrote these pieces. Some of the pieces are about people I have read at the moment —some pieces are about events that happened at the moment—and some are memories triggered by the time of my “Blog” entry.

So there you are & here I am.

see you Sunday.