Wednesday, May 19, 2010

The Center Cannot Hold

Shoveling and shoveling onto a widening pyre,
Those nearest the pile get buried.
Dried up manure, moistened by hearthy fire,
Spews clouds of black smoke on the mad and the harried.

Surely some revelation's at hand
Surely the dingdong's our rebellious bell.
But is the center taken first because they're the unmanned
Or to give Lucifer time to add circles to hell?
-William Specter Yeats

CENTRIST, adj. Occupying the far fringe of both sides.
Yes, Olivia, this is about a brothel.

16 comments:

TLP said...

Oh gee. I thought it was about Arlen.

Never got to work in a brothel. Maybe in my next life.

the amoeba said...

CENTRIST, n. The one to which you applied the perfume. Funny that you mentioned 'manure' ...

TLP said...

Centrist: far right of me.

pia said...

Funny TLP I was just commenting that pole dancing and house cleaning are the only two ways young girls can make half decent money around here. and I was wishing I was young so I could do one of those two things and it's not cleaning other peoples houses

Anonymous said...

CENTRIST, adj. - Politicians at their best while on the campaign trail

k. riggs gardner said...

Funny Pia's comment reminds me of W. Somerset Maugham's book The Razor’s Edge. According to Wiki "Its epigraph reads 'The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard' taken from verse in the Katha-Upanishad".

W. Somerset Maugham's book, in turn, reminds me of AC/DC's 1990 album The Razor's Edge. The first stanza of its lyrics (All songs written and composed by Angus Young and Malcolm Young) proclaim:

There's fighting on the left
And marching on the right
Don't look up in the sky
You're gonna die of fright
Here comes the razors edge ...

###

quilly said...

Of course it's about a brothel. Centrist is Sin Tryst deliberately misspelled to divert the attention of the right- and left-wing moralizers.

TLP said...

Pia, I hope girls get more money for pole dancing than for house work. I worry that the pole isn't sanitized between dancers.

cooper said...

ok, but I really like my fringe on both sides, I assumed everyone did.

k. riggs gardner said...

Finally. The diva has arrived. It's just like "Olivia" to hold the entire production hostage.

(psst...i've heard she drinks heavily behind closed doors)

sauerkraut said...

do you wear your fringes in leather, cooper?

Jamie Dawn said...

Hello, Douglas! I'm not into fringe, but I am into sparkles and a touch of glitter.

Centrist: A well-proportioned racist.

Today is my baby brother Jason's b-day (42 years young), and tomorrow is Keith's 50th b-day (He's ancient). My dad is here and has two weeks left of his 6-week visit. We've been dieting, going for rigorous walks, and dropping some pounds from our rotund bodies. I've got a major Chandra hankering which I hope to satisfy sometime this summer. If I go there, I'll let you know, and hopefully you can come along too!
:-)

tsduff said...

...perhaps fence-sitting on the border...

Who knows? Crows don't take sides.

Ariel the Thief said...

Crows are the true centrists then. I knew it.

Doug The Una said...

TLP, it isn't too late. Do you play piano?

Amoeba, it's my favorite.

I have that impression, TLP.

Funny, Pia.

Between the primary and the general, Thom, yup.

Karen, that was quite a tour of empire.

Quilly, that was well done but there's no easier way to sin than with the attention of moralizers.

TLP, you would.

Cooper, you do not.

Karen, I've always hoped so.

Sauerkraut, that was a good question to think to yourself.

TLP, you know I'll be up for it. Happy birthday to Brother Jason and Reverend Keith.

Nope, crows are good that way, Terry.

Crows and buzzards, Ariel.

Anonymous said...

oh,that
picket fence
though
a bed of
nails
quite relaxing

Peace