Re: Canon

Christopher Daly wrote:
>
> I was intrigued by this contribution to the list. I thought of a host
> of books you could consider but from my own experience I realize that
> there is very much involved in the choice of reading perhaps just as
> much as in what one writes. So at the risk of seeming to be
> self-promoting (which is not really the case since much of what I
> write comes cross me, or runs over me and I don't really have that
> much to do with it production) I thought I would submit this poem for
> your consideration as it continues to be a provocative piece for me
> even though it is some years old.
>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________
>
> ELEPHANT
>
>
> if love implies magic
> and hate some tragic act of love,
> then all hypotheticals are driven off the cliff of understanding
> and categorically deny us the truth of our existence
> notwithstanding the supreme calculus of temptation
> which acts upon us without deliberation
> and infatuates our every notion with a potion of devotion
> which leads to our undoing.
>
> as we chew the cud of knowledge
> and the stomach of understanding swells
> the meadow of the moment grows around us
> and fills the air with cowbells.
>
> clanging and banging every song we ever heard
> in perfect harmony with the one we long to learn
> the mooing voice of understanding
> which emerges from our bellies
> involves us in every word
> and utters every melancholic syllable.
>
> cowbells laugh at every joke
> and cry at every sorrow. they bang out the moment
> heralding each tomorrow.
>
> the magic of their mimicry
> cannot be imitated
> since theirs is the soliloquy,
> the all anticipated
> moment of understanding
> which stands upon the fence and offers no reminders
> and therefore no defense of its crazy lack of harmony
> or its silly lack of time
> of its counterpoint to ignorance
> and its fleeting act of mime.
>
> to sabotage tomorrow's every single sorrow
> is not an easy task
> although foolish not to ask
> how it might be done or perhaps undone
> in a way that leaves us wondering
> if we wanted this sundering
> of every thought and feeling from every thought of i,
> such an act might send us reeling
> off the cliff of do or die.
>
> do or die is a miscalculation of the salutation
> which waves at us from afar
> although not as far as we suspect.
>
> perched as we are in our nest
> we chirp out our request
> to have the lonesome wisdom !
> come visit us with questions
> and then we get incens! ed that questions
> lead to questions
> and begin to linger over what could be the lesson
> of each and every question
> left dangling from the branch of understanding.
>
> ***
>
> The sport of understanding is a game without rules
> forever demanding that we make them up as we go.
> but how do we know what to do when or how to do it
> when we have no basis for making decisions.
> such a game leads to derision
> of its very idea
> which can only be good since it lacks any fabrication
> and spontaneously engages the strings of our emotions
> as it enrages every thought of understanding
> standing on the landing shouting down at us
> with tempestuous strength
> that nothing means anything at length.
> stupid as this voice might seem
> we cannot return from its utterance
> without the pervasion
> of its sundering thundrous wonder
> wandering into our brains and taking up residence
> as if the mind were a mindless! entrance
> of the elephant of understanding
> moseying into our deranged apartment
> and rearranging all the furniture
> thoughtlessly
> so that it might clear a space for itself
> to lie down and take some rest
> until you finally harness it and call the zookeeper in
> demanding he remove her
> even though she isn't his.
>
> if he knows what he is doing he will gladly comply
> and open every door and window until you ask him why.
> to which he will respond that the elephant has told him so
> in a language only he could know.
> so you ask him quite politely if he couldn't hurry up a bit
> and he looks at you with an unsightly mask of rage and says,
> "THE ELEPHANT WILL STAY AS LONG AS SHE SEES FIT!"
>
> too much has gone too far and too far has gone far enough
> so you ask him once again if he might be persuaded
> to which he merely responds, "elephants are not to be paraded."
> you can make no sense of this
> until it begins to d! awn that elephants are wonderful
> and its okay to have o! ne around.
> so you spread some hay out for it and get a bucket of water
> the zookeeper takes his leave with great ceremony
> and the world comes over to see this wondrous pet you have acquired
> and pretty soon you discover,
> there is no other voice you prefer to hear
> than that of your elphantic cousin
> who seems to trumpet out all your sorrows
> and makes you forget all about tomorrows.
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
> >From: Loren Dent
> >Reply-To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: Re: Canon--anthropology...
> >Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 16:25:50 -0500
> >
> >jeremiah
> >
> >i would suggest delving into ethnographic literature. You find the
> themes
> >of those such as Foucault, Deleuze, etc but in a very applied method.
> Also,
> >why not read things that were not necessary intended to locate
> themselves
> >anywhere, such as medical records or police documentation or some
> more
> >obscure political philosophy or even student/worker writings from the
> May
> >'68 event? Then the discussion group could investigate new ways of
> reading
> >those texts. Remember: Foucault never intended on being canonicized
> (word?)
> >necessarily. His research was very specific and directed. Leave the
> >comfort of the canon to Derrida, who finds genealogy not in specific
> >research like foucault, but in Aristotle, Nietzsche and Plato. :)
> >
> >LD
> >UTexas
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: Jeremiah Luna
> >To: Foucault
> >Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 11:35 AM
> >Subject: Re: Canon
> >
> >
> > > What is this for a club? I mean where is the geographical
> location, like
> > > what state of the united states is it in, or is the club in
> europe?
> > >
> > > jeremiah
> > >
> > > On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, Anonymous wrote:
> > >
> > > > Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 17:28:46 -0700
> > > > From: Anonymous
> > > > Reply-To: foucault@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > > To: Foucault
> > > > Subject: Canon
> > > >
> > > > Quick thought.
> > > >
> > > > We know that Foucault was suspicious of both the idea of a State
> and of
> >an Opposition. A few friends of mine and I have applied Foucault's
> reading
> >to philosophical thought. We've started an informal philosophy
> discussion
> >group that, rather than discussing readings from the canon (or even
> the
> >anti-canon, like Foucault, Deleuze, Lyotard, etc.) we're going to be
> >discussing ideas from outside the system of anti-canon and canon,
> such as
> >Tibetan philosophy, etc. We hope it will allow us to develop a more
> profound
> >philosophical autonomy from the whole canonical system (as in the
> >canon-anti-canon binary).
> > > >
> > > > On a separate note, the object of the club is for us to all get
> >postmodern vertigo. The faculty member sponsoring the club once
> engaged in
> >nearly a week of discussion of the idea of time with a friend. He was
> rather
> >disoriented for two weeks afterward.
> > > >
> > > > Sadly, the club is, at this point, entirely composed of men. Can
> anyone
> >think of a few (preferably very short) texts or excerpts from texts
> that
> >might make for some interesting reading? It doesn't necessarily have
> to be
> >non-Western philosophy (or even necessarily
> non-canon-or-anti-canon)--at
> >this point we're all brainstorming.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks :)
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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hey eh mr. day maybe you should submit your elephant poem to

throw yourself down: a journal of radical action and theory

http://homepages.uni-tuebingen.de/student/jeremiah.luna/throwyourselfdown/index.html

if you want I would like to forward it to the other editors. .as our
journal needs submission very badly.

jeremiah luna

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