i cAn't TakE IT anymore

lawrence ferlenghetti wrote...
Christ climbed down from his bare tree this year.

Bottom line, ferlenghetti felt christ would be appalled at what we have become, all wrapped and packaged and tied up in debt, meaninglessness, trapped by our trappings. Or, maybe christ would have gotten tinselled in the process.

I Love Ferlenghetti, for his "dogs walk freely in the street," for his influence on John Lennon, "How about them dog kickers, ain't they bums, kickin' them puppy dogs in they bums..." but, before LF, there was ee cummings, and in speaking do death, he asked, "How do you like your blue-eyed boy..., Mr. Death?" (that was about Buffalo Bill)

Apart from ee cummings line, i think ferlenghetti's line about Christ climing down from his bare tree, is the the most poignant. I really love those beatnicks. They had the time to envision, "What if?"

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" - Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor is one of my favorite writers. She grew up in a small town, and - maybe because of small town characters, or maybe because of small-town happenstance, she realized that anything could happen. A criminal meets a small town family dominated by a mean-spirited grandma. Whooo-wee, Helzapoppin. The crazy grandma leads her family into a confrontation with a criminal who has nothing to loose. Everyone has an awakening, but too late. The criminal can't leave it alone, as he wants to make his punishment "fit the crime." The grandma, well, her awakening comes a bit too late. She realizes (convienently after she has led her family into a death trap and destruction that...)well, when she recognizes that the criminal could have been her, "Bailey boy," I love this story, especially the part where she smuggles her cat into the car.

Flannery O'Conner. She was born before her time.