solitary confinement
Writing about anything else but the crisis in southern Lebanon these days is trivial and superficial. Half a million displaced. Countless wounded, how many dead? And yet, here I am. Finding myself unexpectedly with spare time on my hands I spent time over two documentaries this weekend. One is The Human Face narrated by John Cleese and Elizabeth Hurley which I realized would be a second viewing, and the other a Charles Bukowski reading at Bellevue.
Alligators have no facial expressions or facial muscles because they are solitary animals. Humans have 90. We are optimized to communicate, and we are social creatures. That is why, John Cleese reminds me, solitary confinement is an acute form of punishment.
Charles Bukowski’s name was netted within my peripheral vision when browsing Bound Together, on Height street in San Francisco. Easily remembered due to recognizably Polish last name I didn’t hurry to discover his work first hand, having read that he was controversial, a misanthrope, disputably a poet. Being appreciative of spoken word and literary readings, the documentary seemed promising as performance and for the opportunity to observe the author in person enunciating his own work.
Prejudiced by earlier criticism, I was initially put off by the disinterested, monotonous tone. It seemed disingenuous. Then I listened in…
Of course! How else would one seethe insulting epithets.
The images are painterly Caravaggio-like, discordant.
I enjoyed “My father was…” and “I think of the Little Men”. Here is “Another Day”:
having the low down blues and going
into a restraunt to eat.
you sit at a table.
the waitress smiles at you.
she’s dumpy. her ass is too big.
she radiates kindess and symphaty….
I was smiling. Instead of attending Laughter Clubs a dosage of rasp, micro depiction of humanity, of myself, the things I touch, the thoughts running through my head daily, is what I’ll take.
Introspection catalyzes artistic expression as in this solitary confinement art example. Interaction brings about laughter at best.