H

The new illustrated alphabet Part 8: H is for HOPE.

Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. To want something, somehow to be true. Hope is a bit on an abstract investment in an unclear future. The light at the end of the tunnel.

As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation." Seems reasonable to me.

It gets mentioned a lot in the Koran, Jewish and Christian Bibles, and other fictional accounts of the spiritual aspects of human history, not helpful but illustrative of how religion peddles "pie in the sky" as a reasonable explanation for the vague and unclear movements of a detached god who isn't actually there in any obvious form.

G

                         The new illustrated alphabet Part 7: G is for GOD.

In monotheistic thought, God is conceived of as the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith. God is usually conceived as being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and omnibenevolent as well as having an eternal and necessary existence, she/he's also considered by many to either not exist at all or be a bit of a raving cunt. People put god (and gods) into all sorts of things, candles, statues, books, paintings and also indulge in worship, blaming, cursing, sacrificing, praying and feeling obliged to obey godly utterances, rules and "scriptures".  God and gods in general are best avoided so try to live quietly somewhere far away* from the white noise, battles, hatred and warfare done in "god's" holy name etc.

F

                 The new illustrated alphabet Part 6: F is for FOG.

Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influenced by nearby bodies of water, topography, and wind conditions. In turn, fog has affected many human activities, such as shipping, travel, and warfare. Fog also affects the brain, particularly once you reach a certain age. That actual age remains a closely guarded secret and I'm not prepared to say anymore about it.

E

  

 The new illustrated alphabet Part 5: E is for  EXISTENTIALISM.

Existentialism is a form of philosophical enquiry that explores the nature of existence by emphasizing experience of the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.

Among other ideas existentialism explores the notion that the absurd contains the idea that there is no meaning in the world beyond what meaning we give it. This meaninglessness also encompasses the amorality or "unfairness" of the world. This can be highlighted in the way it opposes the traditional Abrahamic religious perspective, which establishes that life's purpose is the fulfillment of God's commandments. This is what gives meaning to people's lives. To live the life of the absurd means rejecting a life that finds or pursues specific meaning for man's existence since there is nothing to be discovered. According to Albert Camus, the world or the human being is not in itself absurd. The concept only emerges through the juxtaposition of the two; life becomes absurd due to the incompatibility between human beings and the world they inhabit.

This view constitutes one of the two interpretations of the absurd in existentialist literature. The second view, first elaborated by Søren Kierkegaard, holds that absurdity is limited to actions and choices of human beings. These are considered absurd since they issue from human freedom, undermining their foundation outside of themselves. Things can get a bit fucked up for you if you venture too far into this subject.

D

                        The new illustrated alphabet Part 4: D is for DRUMBEAT.

A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. In the video Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience illustrates "drumbeats"  practically with some fine playing, live in concert.

C

                                    The new illustrated alphabet Part 3 : C is for CITY.

1. A large or important town.

(in the U.S.) An incorporated municipality, usually governed by a mayor and a board of aldermen or councilmen.

2. The inhabitants of a city collectively:

The entire city is mourning his death. A million people maybe, or less or more.
Cities are always interesting places to visit but you wouldn't want to live in one (or would you?).

B

The new illustrated alphabet Part 2 : B is for BOY.

A boy is a male child, from birth up until adulthood. 

Homo Sapien. 

Humans are highly intelligent primates that have become dominant on Earth.

A

The new illustrated alphabet Part 1: A is for AMBIVALENCE.

Ambivalence is a state of having simultaneous conflicting reactions, beliefs, or feelings towards some object. Stated another way, ambivalence is the experience of having an attitude towards someone or something that contains both positively and negatively valenced components.

Trump Parade

I read the news today, oh boy ...

And I just had to laugh.

Bricked up

Walled up and sealed, looking into the bricked up window. Cemented through daylight and dusk. The ventilator is faulty. Smoke and fumes used to pass this way. Nothing to see now. Ceremony and conversation but the damp would always triumph as we tried to breathe the stale air. It was a social club, a venue, some usable space. There were a few good nights we all recalled. Busy on gala week too. 

The repairs were done, quick and dirty. Like the pies on a Friday evening. Warm beer, cigarettes and crisps. We played bingo some nights, the wives liked that. There was a serious side but I never really looked into it. Charity. We just grew old really, we died off, one by one. Nobody replaced us, it was sad really.

We were too dead even to go to the cemetery, it was full anyway. Full of the dead and no others we recognized. We were later, we came as a new generation, on the boats, in the distillery, down there with the Navy or up on the bridges and the railway. The old dignitaries are fossils now. Plenty of local work then, two good wars. We lived as friends and died too. That's the way it goes.

Mutant Algorithm

MUTANT ALGORITHM 

If only you all truly knew

What a simple mutant algorithm can do

You'd be very frightened too.

Weird Scenes at the Plantation

Is it all so long ago? Maybe they came from space, maybe from another time or dimension, maybe they were already here, always, and then just burst up through the earth when the time was right. The year was 1955. The memories were all mine but they might as well have been neanderthal for all the difference it could make. You could smell it in the air and I knew when the old man said that there was something very wrong with our lands that he was right. Now we suffer the consequences. The brown earth rises under what strange energy to pass on the message. Now we have historical perspective but little understanding. Under our feet, awake when asleep, never dead, never alive, simply eternal and it's not coming home because it never really left.

Scrap Collage

Industrial skies

Iron and rust

Industry cast offs

Reflected in the price

Of scrap metal.

Icy Blue Nowhere

Somewhere, beyond icy blue

A stream of thought awaits you

And all you have to do

Is clearly think it through

And all you'll have to show

Are the simple things you know.

Potato Sack

Don't worry about test and trace

Don't worry how to mask your face

Don't worry that the government tells tall tales

Don't worry our success is a list of fails

We're OK, we'll get back

We're beautiful

Here's Marilyn in a potato sack

See Marilyn in a potato sack

Don't stress at the daily brief

Don't fret don't suck your teeth

Don't cry when you get bad news

Don't listen if you get the blues

We're OK we're not slack
Rockin' the Corona snacks

Here's Marilyn in a potato sack

See Marilyn in a potato sack

Don't worry if we contradict

Don't worry if the facts don't fit

Don't worry you can't get a test

We'll beat the world and we'll be the best

We're OK soon in the black

We're makin' it

Here's Marilyn in a potato sack

Just like Marilyn in a potato sack

Marilyn in a chlorinated chicken shack

Marilyn's life is a life is a hack

Marilyn in the conga line at the back

Marilyn Monroe in a potato sack.

Birds

Birds building bird houses - for your soul of course.

Never really know

The driver promised her a car

Another backstreet cruise

Relax just like a movie star

There's nothing left to lose

Maybe there's a gun in her handbag

Or a tiny pack of coke

Cloned and poisoned credit cards

Stolen from some bloke

A mobile phone a side door key

Appointment card for surgery

A photograph of you and me

We'll never really know.

Still Short

Still from a film with a long commentary.

"I cleaned out the dishwasher filter, removed the gunge, fed the cats, 

(you know the chicken they are eating needs to be used up as it's past it's use by date).

MPs are not the same as experts. 

The shower should be unblocked.

Following a slow police van.

The laundry pretty much does itself itself. 

Black out Tuesday.

I've lost a sock.

Recycling by booking only.

I've three clean jiffy bags but nothing to put into them yet.

Black Lives Matter.

Sports laces on Amazon and an Arsenal birthday card.

Various types of fish.

Donald Trump doesn't know how to hold a bible.

I routinely check the temperature of the fridge, mostly it's making it.

There's a 61% chance of rain but only after 1700 this evening."

Some say some things happen.
Other's say that those things didn't happen.
Some know what is true.
Other's say that all depends.

Things of no consequence

And there they are, random and untitled, unlisted and unknown and without context, apart from being here.

Letter to Members