Daily Archives: September 13, 2012

Commentary on Religion, Commentary on the news, Politics

All The Perfumes of Arabia Will Not Sweeten This…Hand

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Lugnasa                                                                  Garlic Planting Moon

The events in Libya call to mind Shakespeare’s Macbeth:  …a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.  A video, which itself may or may not exist, played by actors who say they were duped, causing “spontaneous” eruptions of religious anger in two different countries at the same time with the same target, US consular buildings.  The fury, as in Macbeth, will require hand washing, but not hand washing that will work, also like Macbeth, for “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this…hand.” Macbeth Quote (Act V, Sc. I).

This is the rankest madness, throwing over thuggery the veil of religion and that of religion scorned.  No world can contain those whose beliefs are so weak that even crude humor can sully them.  They will never rest, never find peace.  And if, as I suspect, this was not religion scorned but a moment seized to justify murder, then the world can contain those even less.

It’s time for all sane citizens, no matter their religious conviction, no matter their national or tribal affiliations, to say enough.  Let’s stop this.

Writing

Revision

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Lugnasa                                                            Garlic Planting Moon

I have a rhythm now.  Get up, eat breakfast, go down stairs and revise.  Revising, I’m learning, is as much work as writing.  Harder in a way since it requires re-thinking, re-imagining.  But, more fun, too, since the whole can begin to weave back and forth, the end influencing the beginning.  Consistency problems ironed out. Larger themes both seen and reinforced.

It’s a problem, this rhythm.  Mornings are my good time, the time my brain switches on, ready to plunge right in.  Afternoons, not so much so.  But still outside work needs to get done.  And I’d like to do Latin, too, in the afternoons.  Not all figured out.

I’m making progress, a light touch on the content.  Correcting.  Amplifying.  Excising.  The end, I know, has to be stronger.  And, I’m considering putting a chunk of the end in the beginning.  Characters need fleshing out sometimes.  A habit or mannerism, perhaps.

This is new for me.  It feels as if I’ve gone one more step on the ancientrail of creativity, of writing the long piece.  Feels good, too.  But, it’s surprisingly tiring.