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Sunday, November 25, 2018

suffering through a bout of schadenfreude

suffering through a bout of schadenfreude

fiction
edward w pritchard

Once there was an imminent painter suffering through a bout of schadenfreude who was executed post mortem by holy inquisition for in each portrait painting he completed whatever the actual appearance of the sitting patron he made the ears unusually large sticking out grotesquely like a  1950's good white boy early rock star. Of course no one noticed the unusual ears at the time as it wasn't till later upon reflection that the matter was re examined and noted.

freedom from want

freedom from want

fiction
edward w pritchard


Once I walked a while with Jesus one day on a man made path called a canal tow path north to the end of the trail at an inland sea called Lake Erie. I remember the path was closed for construction
about a mile or two before it reached the Lake and some workers had made a turn around to send you back South from whence thou had started. The sign was missing that said trail closed ahead.

It's very important to me to try and remember what Jesus had said. The written  verses others had compiled and wrote down of sayings of Jesus can be misleading. So I strain to remember. I seek the unedited version. authenticity is experience

Big girls don't cry sang Jesus. When once he put a hand on my shoulder he said thou seeker of truth stay focused "much learning is to no avail. Still children suffer, abominations are everywhere and the money changers always have their way. Fear the bureaucrats more than one thousand crack Roman legions for no friend or family finishes the path with one's self. there might of been more he said

I am a disciple with no name and no destination. Having achieved freedom from want sometimes when I sit on a night train in the dark in the middle of the gloom headed west to Chicago I scan the hands for the nails holes caused by the hammer driven nails that held Jesus to the cross on the youth riding the train and listening to their Walkman. My purse is empty but I clutch it tightly to my chest.

Early in the morning before other disciples awake and become industrious some times I pray for Virginia Wolf the writer. When she went to the river to be baptized she filled her pockets with rocks so she would sink. What must it have been like for Jesus when he was a boy working in his father's carpentry shop straightening twisted nails for further use to know the future of what would happen to Him at the hands of the Roman soldiers concerning stout nails? What must it have been like for Virginia Woolf walking about the riverside to search carefully for proper rock ballast to hold and support her soul as it carried her back to the lighthouse of her memories?

When I told Jesus about Virginia Woolf he took a small plastic packet from his pocket and handed it to me to keep. It was a tightly folded shroud of Turin with the imprint of his face on it. He said everyone mentioned in this story including Virginia Woolf, big girls who don't cry, children, bureaucrats, Roman legions, persons on trains, friends, family and me and you will need a shroud to wrap us in one day when we are cold, wet and still. Strange but I took no comfort in that though I knew he was speaking truth. I forgot to ask Jesus what happen to the rocks that were in Virginia Woolf's pockets and if money changers are entitled to be wrapped in Shroud's of Turin after their deaths.

Friday, November 23, 2018

old age is a ghost

old age is a ghost

fiction
edward w pritchard

Old age is being a ghost while you are still alive; at least alive sort of.  Everyone has heard of the old ghost in the machine but until you endure old age yourself you cannot imagine being nearly invisible  most of the time to most of the people about you. One of the reasons the young don't like the old and merely see through them is the elderly don't follow the mandatory requirement of being absolutely irresistible looking in what ever scenario they find themselves occupying. Old people just be they don't worry about what they are becoming anymore.

Where goes thou? Old age is a ghost.

On a practical note when you are a ghost it's a good time to be a voyeur in the good sense of that term. You can watch and judge because no one notices a ghost and who cares what you think anyway.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

first there is a mountain then no mountain then there is a mountain

first there is a mountain then no mountain then there is a mountain

fiction
edward w pritchard

First there is a mountain then no mountain then there is a mountain.[1]

When I first traveled to far away places I was amazed and delighted at the diversity of the world external to myself.

When I later traveled to  marvel at places far away I was cynical and skeptical finding unusual philosophies to justify my need to stay put where I was born and need for solitude.

Now I am myself where ever I am and my philosophy is more interested in if or if not I myself have changed with new sensations and locales or if I do in fact, have a permanent self.

[1] attributed to the singer Donovan