The Little Owl Who Brayed

Wisdom’s little owl brayed:
“How beautiful is rot’s decay.”
A pine grove bleated low:
“Come on, easy does it now.”

A serpent hissed: “I love graveyard’s bliss.”
A flower extolled:
“Where ambitions pit your soul?”

Pines gushed: “Wise up.”
Flower hissed: “Let it stink.”

“You should never, it’s true,”
calls motherland insistent,
“in twilight’s advancing gloom
be the least resistant.”

Pines shot: “Reason rots.”
Flower shrieked: “Beauty reeks.”

Serpent hooted: “The graveyard
is paradise, so tranquil and muted.”

You should never, I cry,
in our nation’s interest
beneath twilight’s grimace
ever have to resist.
Dig in. Resist. Persist…

— Václav Havel 1977 (translated by D. Celone, with Liba Hladik and Paul Wilson

ANTICODES

Poetics

-------

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

bird bird bird bird

bird bird bird

( = 4 2 birds)

to

t

and

p

( = poem to the poet)

I am

YOU

WAR

-----

peace peace

peace! !peace

peace! ! peace

PEACE !! !! PEACE

PEACE!!PEACE

!!!MMÍÍRMR

m I mrmr R

m Í ííí rMíRR

!! m í RR mr

M! R!! I!

! m ! !

r!!!

!!

!

=E=mc2mc

c2E=mc2E=mc2Eĺ

E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2

E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2E=

E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2E=mc2

mc2E=mc2E=mc2E=m

c2E=mc2E=m

E=mc2

E=mc2ĺ

E=mc2

life life

life life life life

life life

xxxxxxx

xx

xxxxxx xxxxxx

x No x

xxxxxx xxxxxx

xx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xx

x HUNTING x

xx

NOTHING

SOMETHING

SOMEONE

SOMEWHERE

SOMEONE

SOMEWHERE

SOMEONE

SOMETHING

NOTHING

SWEETSPI

Don't cry.

Papyrus

Drink

Churey

Speak

Course

Don't be angry.

Learn

Don't fight.

Don't lie.

Be ashamed.

Work

Don't flamboyant

Love

Get married

Earn money

Don't drink.

Nurture

Don't fuck around.

Apply yourself

Eliminate

Cancel

Admit it

Don't get in the way.

Go away

Have fun

Don't be shy.

Churey

Drink

Papyrus

Don't cry.

SWEETS

CULT OF PERSONALITY

--------------

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0000000000000000

0000000000000000000

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0 0

00000000000

0 0

0 1 0

0 0

00000000000

0 0

SS

VV

FREEDOMFREEDOM

BB

FREEDOMFREEDOM

DD

AA

PHILOSOPHER

-------

!!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!!

!

!!! !!! !!! !!! !!! !!!

DIALECTIC SYNTHESIS

-------------------

After a millennium

they claimed wrongly

some say others say

EGGS

it was before it was before

than the chicken than the egg

And only we

who we contemplate

this question

from a historical point of view

of economic development

EGGS AND CHICKENS

we know that

EGGS but at the same time

there used to be a HEN

than the hen was before

than eggs

And that only in deep inner unity

these two historical facts

the truth is about

EGGS and CHICKENS

ANTICODES II

POLITICAL-HISTORICAL CONSIDERATION

--------------------------

...if they were, they could have been...so they couldn't

...if they couldn't, they should....then they would be..

..so that they didn't have to, they could...the mistake was that they didn't-

It was...so that it was...if it wasn't, it could have been.

...if they could, they could too...if they had been me-

if on time, they could have done it earlier...they shouldn't have even...if they could

..they shouldn't...they had to do it this way so they wouldn't have to..

...they didn't have to, they could...if they didn't want to, they could-

hey...they would have to...if on the contrary......then

would.......and if they were...they wouldn't have been....

...but they would have been....if they weren't....they could

......and they wouldn't have to....

It is I who must begin.

Once I begin, once I try –

here and now,

right where I am,

not excusing myself

by saying things

would be easier elsewhere,

without grand speeches

and ostentatious gestures,

but all the more persistently

– to live in harmony

with the “voice of Being,” as I

understand it within myself

– as soon as I begin that,

I suddenly discover,

to my surprise, that

I am neither the only one,

nor the first,

nor the most important one

to have set out

upon that road.

Whether all is really lost

or not depends entirely on

whether or not I am lost.