Weekly Zephyr #2: June 8th, 2017

Felix Vallotton, Last Sun Rays, 1911

That was a tall picture to start us off with

It is a tall picture, I'm not going to argue with you.

I love Felix Vallotton. I wanted to find something zephyr-ish to put up top there, and you could make a case that those trees are getting ruffled slightly by one of those, there in that fading light. And, uh,

god, how do I just jump in here    Is it on yet, by the time you're reading this? Is your TV on?

j A m E S c O m E y ' s t e S T i M o N y

"Thursday!" I said to myself. "I'll send this newsletter on Thursdays."

I had a request from a reader and friend. She said

Do you take requests? I need help living at half of poverty level with rising anxiety and maintaining the kind of momness my kid needs. Do you have anything for that? ~signed, Anxious Belly

First of all, I do take requests. Why not, you know? It's a weekly newsletter and god willing the future has a lot of weeks in it hahahahaha a haha *nervous laughter* and what are we here for? We're just hanging out. We might as well talk about whatever you need or would like to hear about. I can't promise I'll do it well and you might make a request about, I don't know

fuckin'

swallow-winged puffbirds or how global politics impact markets and trends and such, in which case you're hosed.   Fortunately and unfortunately, though, I know a bit about living at half of poverty level with rising anxiety while I attempt to mom in the way my kids need. Do I have anything for that? My first instinct is to get all Groucho Marx and

"If I had anything FOR that, I'd <mumble mutter eyebrow wiggle something>."

But I'm not going to make like I have entirely nothing for that.

Unless by "something" you mean "something practical", which...less so. I mean, I don't think you're looking for budgeting tips or to be led out of poverty by the similarly metaphorically blind.

Anxiety, though, and a deep kind of pervasive insecurity. Yes. Poverty on its own is a real specific problem  but again I'm sure that's not what you've asked the Weekly Zephyr to help out with.  Getting through the day and managing waves of tension and nausea and exhaustion and despair caused by that specific problem is more what you're talking about, correct?

(muffled voice): yes

I apologize in advance but me, myself—I have nothing other than the constant wielding of perspective, and the (erratic) deployment of gratitude. I apologize but I also don't. Those are only bromides if you're not actually doing them right. I am not trapped in rubble. I am not currently stabbed. I enjoy beans, rice, Saltines, La Croix. My children, there they are, un-lost at sea. None of that is small or fake news.

I had an acting teacher from Russia who used to yell at us mid-scene, "Astonishment!" It was a demand.

Truth: My driver's side mirror is held together by Scotch tape and actual bandaids. (If you have the thought, "Whoa, you should get that fixed," know that my ghost hand is traveling over to you and bonking you on the head.) One day I thrill to a small direct deposit in our bank account and I picture six days of freedom and carefree Dorito-buying and then four days later my stomach clenches to see red in the checking account and I hold my head in my hands.

I don't know, maybe I don't have anything for that. I'm not going to refer back to anything I already said in order to put a bow on this. Those things helped or they did not. It's not a small problem. I do love you.

DEMOCRACY'S TEETERING

WE'RE ALL VULNERABLE

NONE OF THAT MEANS WE CAN'T ROCK OUT

1.

From Pitchfork: Music Sounds Better in a Fast Car—Here's Why

Disclosure: I opened it, I looked at it, but I didn't really read it because you know what? I was just happy to know there was a why. I just kind of aww, yeahhhed to myself about the title, bookmarked it and drifted on with my day. Let me know what it says if it's any good.

2. THIS ON THE OTHER HAND

Cold Chisel: Houndog

please really go click that link and listen

  Hi, we're Ian Moss and Jimmy Barnes from Cold Chisel. Play our music in your fast car.

Australia's best! If you would have asked me a month ago who Australia's best was, I would have yelled AC/DC.

I WOULD HAVE YELLED IT.

But I've been listening to a lot of Cold Chisel this month since my husband has their CD "Circus Animals" in the car at the moment. It's a crime that this band didn't break over here. You can't listen to these guys and tell me it's not as good as any rock you know of. (You can but then we'd have to square off.) Dave used to listen to this song on perpetual repeat on a beat-up cassette in his car as a young man on the run up the east coast of Australia, surfing it out until he felt like returning to civilization.   Let's throw in Letter to Alan, written for their roadie who was killed in a car crash.

He got honored pretty hard, there, I think.

3.

From The Paris Review: Five Complaints About Poetry by Anthony Madrid

and from the same piece