Thursday, July 16, 2015

TRIAL BY JOURNEY.



If A = B and B = C then A = C, according to Gertrude Stein;

Stein labored as a modernist mathematician, singlehandedly endowing the Transitive Property of Woody Perennials by famously contending, “Rose is a rose is a rose”;

This relationship is not lost upon forward political observers, who apply it to G.O.P. = G.O.P. = G.O.P.;

The formula continues to apply despite the frequent attempts by said Grand Old Party to gerrymander our fair sward of concrete strip mall, i.e., deli, bagel, and karate America;  

O, it gerrymanders, he gerrymanders, they gerrymander, y’all gerrymander, she it;

Similarly, if we let A = George H.W. and B = W and C = Jeb, then we get A = W = Jeb, ergo, Bush is a Bush is a Bush;

“Duh = Duh = Duh”, [overheard], therefore Duh = Duh;

“You can all me Al” [overheard] + “Al dente” [overheard] + “Dante’s Inferno” [overheard] = “You can call me Al Dante’s Inferno” (Duh);

Meanwhile, an indifferent, villainous, remotely-sympathetic character in a novel by Albert Camus practices some calisthenics while awaiting his execution in a North African prison;

He completes a Someursault, he completes several Someursaults, but this is not the point, no;

The Stranger calls to mind several inconsistencies faced by Meursault in the legal system;

Namely, one ought to receive a trial by a jury of one’s pears, not to mention other shrub species and pomaceous fruits;

If you’ve really screwed up, like the protagonist in the Camus novel, then you ought to face a Trial by Journey, but however it goes:  

Don’t stop believin’ / Hold on to that feelin’ / Streetlight people. . . . 


9 comments:

mark wallace said...

Journey is one of the most heinous bands ever. Who is more heinous than that band? Okay, REO Speedwagon. Okay, Styx. But not many more, I'm telling you. Okay, Triumph. But not many more.

Anonymous said...

Molly Hatchet, Kansas, and Rush (Ayn Rand's favorite band) are all measurably worse than Journey. I don't remember Triumph being all that bad, but I'm sure they deserve a place in the conversation. -- Casey
PS: Don't misconstrue this as a defense of Journey. They are truly heinous. But other bands, such as the above-mentioned, might have a higher quotient of heinousness.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

"Heinous" like they all wore Hanes undergarments?

Styx, REO Speedwagon, Molly Hatchet, Rush, Motley Crue, Foreigner, I mean, urk.

I know that some will defend Boston, (the band), but I place them in this "heinous" category.

"Heinous" like the body part? I mean, we all have a heinous. . . .

------------B.A.

mark wallace said...

I actively like Rush, myself. Kansas has a varied sound that is sometimes bearable. Molly Hatchet wasn't around long enough to soil things as much as they might have. But we won't argue about it, I'm sure.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

I mean: Eddie Money, Loverboy, .38 Special, Night Ranger, Survivor, Billy Squier. . . .

The soil is considerable. . . .

The heinous is widespread. . . .

"Widespread Heinous & Other Poems". . . .

But I digress. . . .

ba

mark wallace said...

Remember when rock and roll was supposed to save us, instead of bury us? Yeah, me neither.

"Rush to the Journey of Triumph: An Obituary, and other Poems"

Ted Zook said...

Your essays are always a delight!

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

Thanks, Ted!

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

Mark,

I wonder just what Journey is promising us with "Don't Stop Believin'" -- I mean, first of all, who are the promising anything to? Dudes in mullets in the arena parking lot trying to crush beer cans on their foreheads? The promise may be deciphered in the lyrics: "For a smile they can share the night / It goes on and on and on and on...." I've tried that -- smiling at a "small town girl / livin' in a lonely world" but all she did was flip me the bird. I guess I wasn't "a city boy / born and raised in South Detroit." Ah, well. I just don't know how those two had train fare in the first place. I just, in the end, couldn't quite believe this "tone poem" by these chaps who call themselves Journey.

---------------BA