"If this superstitious fear of spirits were taken away, and with it...false prophecies by which crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted than they are for civil obedience."

Thomas MF HOBBES, "Leviathan", p. 15
Published in 1651

Whatever this is, is not America.

"Let's put our heads together/and start a new country up/our father's father's fathers tried/to erase the parts they didn't like."
- Cuyahoga, REM

I finally listened to "Music from Big Pink" by the Band for the first time tonight, and it is without question one of the greatest albums of the 20th century.

Every one of the members gone now, and had drugs not taken many of them early, we could have had so much more.

Some cool finds today at Jack's Music in Red Bank...

Dear Diary - Today I went up to the attic, and Zora and Anne were there. Zora by the window and Anne sat near the bookshelves. I told them both they were safe and could read whatever they liked. They both looked strangely at me then - a mixture of hope and then pity.

I fucking love kale.

I just realized that Melania Trump looks exactly like one of the crows from Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy feature.

Fitting.

After reading about Proud Boys marching in D.C. during the Inauguration and Elon Musk doing Nazi gang signs from a Presidential podium, I attempted a palate cleanse by starting "Measure for Measure" by Shakespeare.

Which is a play about despots imprisoning pregnant couples on dubious charges.

Pretty prism on table leg. Day Three of COVID No. #3

Started reading The Diary of Anne Frank for the 1st time last night.

FUN FACT: My wife and I visited the Anne Frank Museum several years ago in Amsterdam. My wife mentions that Anne Frank dies in hiding, and I blurt out loudly while in line, " She dies!?!"

Best way to visit that museum.

Finally started reading "The White Album" by Joan Didion this week. Her prose feels so deeply removed while simultaneously being as vulnerable as you can in writing. It's like reading on the windy ledge of a 50-story skyscraper at midnight.

@mattweiland.bsky.social

Still vibe-ing from Dayswork.
What impresses me most is how the authors wove all the themes together so well without advertising it to the reader. Wonderfully subtle and in parts, devastating powerful. I ADORE this book.

Finished the exquisite "Dayswork" prose poem by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Haber today.

And now I'm rummaging my nightstand and attic library to get to titles I put off last year

A small sample...

Reading "Dayswork", by Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel - it's a gorgeous prose poem/story about marriage, the pandemic, feminism and the writing life. A MUST-READ, especially if you're a Herman Melville fan/scholar. Easily a Top Ten for Best of 2024, and it's only January.