RUDIMENTS

RUDIMENTS, pt. 820 (is this how it went?) Whenever I reached a place where I felt all things were fraying, I stopped; sensing I was far enough along and running towards destruction. That's a big key, knowing when and how to recognize that. 'You can't undo the moment,' was one of those catchwords that got stuck to my mind early on and never left. In a very basic sense, it's quite true  -  yet, in other senses, things actually can be atoned for, repented of, etc., so that the 'moment' actually does get undone. But that's different too. - Just before an aircraft breaks the speed of sound  -  the 'sound barrier'  -  sound waves become visible on the wing of the plane. Now, I don't know if that's high physics, basic science, or some mix of both by conjecture, but  what I can attest to is that, as a young kid, at school, in 2nd grade and beyond, I can recall that massive momentary...

RUDIMENTS, pt. 819 (well, until it's over anyway) I sometimes like to think that death will be nothing but a re-run; akin to re-visiting old memories, the things you yet think you can barely remember, have but a faint recollection of, but aren't even sure about. 'Did that happen?' In a stop-time of death's way, and time, you'd re-enter those pasts and places, like a peeled-back layer of something, given back to what you were, for a moment or two. It all makes little sense now, but would then, fine. That's what this is all about. We run taut circles around the forms we once thought we knew. That's like; 'that's what all the people say. Riding high in April. Shot down in May.' - One time, about 1990, a cousin of mine, whom I'd seldom seen and had little contact with, sent us an invitation to a combination birthday party (hers) and Halloween Party - dress and costume optional, you...

RUDIMENTS, pt. 818 (President Insurrection meets War Secretary Riot) It always amazed to learn that the entire Cherokee nation, all through Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and the hills of Carolina, made their peace with, and joined, the Confederacy, as bands of fierce fighters. They were known to be vicious warriors, even in their Johhny Reb greys. I used to think,'Boy that must have been some grudge!' I guessed that inasmuch as they had nothing to lose, they also had nothing to gain. If they thought it to be anything but a temporary marriage of convenience, they must have been crazy. Those southern folk, and all those southern fighting boys, hated them as much as did anyone else. North or south, there was no convenience to be made. I dug around a little bit, and found out lots of interesting things. - I often tended to get quite preoccupied with what I was doing, in the sense of getting lost to the work and forg...

RUDIMENTS, pt. 817 (learning on the fly) It's always a 'hard-tell' when you're doing stuff and there's no one to stop you  -  which is what being on your own is pretty much about. Sometimes, with mistakes and incorrect intentions, that's how guys end up in prison. Jails and prisons are filled with missionary types; just going on and on abut wrong  things. It's a misnomer to say a wise man is wise  -  sometimes they too are simply stupid. It takes a catch-word and a basin of good sense to bring people to their senses. That's what I've found anyway. I've also found, lots of times, that when I begin writing something, all of a sudden there it is! Right before me, and built into what I've just written  -  the catchword or the sentence needed to pull someone back from some brink of infamy or other. I just hope they get it. - In NYC, I used to know guys who would stroll past a pi...