{"id":30499,"date":"2023-07-28T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T00:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/?p=30499"},"modified":"2023-12-22T14:41:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T19:41:31","slug":"not-ready-for-the-paris-review-i-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/2023\/07\/not-ready-for-the-paris-review-i-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Ready for The Paris Review [I-IV]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I. TOGETHER OR ALONE<\/h2>\n

We take our breaths<\/p>\n

Together or alone<\/p>\n

Just two breaths<\/p>\n

betray the difference<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I step, you step<\/p>\n

we practice our sidesteps<\/p>\n

to avoid brushing arms<\/p>\n

to avert linking eyes<\/p>\n

to divert our attractions<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I speak, you speak<\/p>\n

we whisper cheek-to-cheek<\/p>\n

you hold harmless myths<\/p>\n

I claim to know truths<\/p>\n

we agree to not disagree<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wish, you wish<\/p>\n

we wish upon the clouds<\/p>\n

to sweep away the shroud<\/p>\n

that hides the last clue<\/p>\n

the brass locket of life<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I fall, you fall<\/p>\n

we both reach for a hand<\/p>\n

we both hope it is strong<\/p>\n

Is the hand really out there<\/p>\n

or does our empty grasp<\/p>\n

imply the bleak answer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I pass, you pass<\/p>\n

together or alone<\/p>\n

my breath, your breath<\/p>\n

exhaling<\/p>\n

private untold tales<\/p>\n

at very last<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

II. UNCLIMBABLE<\/h2>\n

Oh!<\/p>\n

Staggering rock<\/p>\n

Your heaviness weighs on me<\/p>\n

Your mountain soul has edges for\u00a0ledges<\/p>\n

Your mean terrain offers no hope of\u00a0rescue<\/p>\n

How did I get stuck here, how did I luck\u00a0out\u00a0here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then! from your grim granite face emerges a\u00a0bear<\/p>\n

Its dull-eyed stupor only heightens my\u00a0panic<\/p>\n

Blank rocks, blank bear, blank\u00a0fear<\/p>\n

My escape paths turn to crusty\u00a0shale<\/p>\n

Advance or retreat, defeat<\/p>\n

A step falters…<\/p>\n

Oh!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

III. H\u00c9DIARD, PL. DE LA MADELEINE<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>The sidewalk storefront of Hediard grocery, Paris, April 1995.
\nHediard was in business from 1854 to 2015.<\/p>\n

\n

IV. AESOP’S TED TALK<\/h2>\n

Hello, my hipster listeners!<\/p>\n

How best may I address you?<\/p>\n

Cunning foxes? Steadfast turtles? Timid mice?<\/p>\n

No, among the many creatures whose personae I devised,<\/p>\n

I would say you, my TED<\/span> audience, are… Ants!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, industrious, entrepreneurial Ants!<\/p>\n

A bit self-righteous, according to fable,<\/p>\n

and sometimes sharp of tongue<\/p>\n

(we know that Ants have one!)<\/p>\n

but otherwise you comprise one of the finer families<\/p>\n

of the Animal Kingdom!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now that I have sufficiently flattered you,<\/p>\n

stroked your antennae, so to speak,<\/p>\n

I was invited here to recite one of my best-known tales…<\/p>\n

You’ll like it, as Ants have a prominent role therein.<\/p>\n

But mmmm… now that the lights have dimmed,<\/p>\n

I believe I see some Grasshoppers amongst you.<\/p>\n

Which is fine, there’s a lesson here for everyone.<\/p>\n

So let’s jump in, with all sixes!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ants were taught their ways in Ancient times…<\/p>\n

to gather the Goods that befell them,<\/p>\n

to preserve their gains and consume them judiciously.<\/p>\n

Ants were also bestowed with powerful jaws<\/p>\n

to give them an edge in Matters of Law!<\/p>\n

Thus Ants were granted a smooth climb to the Top!<\/p>\n

So it seems to me, your friend, Aesop.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now I myself have had a small taste<\/p>\n

of what it is like to be an Ant:<\/p>\n

Like most of you attending this talk,<\/p>\n

I worked many Summers (when others did not)<\/p>\n

to collect enough grain from the rugged terrain<\/p>\n

to nearly fill my own cavernous cellars!<\/p>\n

Not to share with others but to demonstrate<\/p>\n

my stupendous talent to accumulate.<\/p>\n

(Oh sure, I ate a few! Wouldn’t you?)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One day, a Grasshopper showed up at my door.<\/p>\n

I originally wrote, Lazy Grasshopper, but!<\/p>\n

Blanket statements about personal industry<\/p>\n

would not endear me to this diverse audience.<\/p>\n

Your friend Aesop considers himself lucky<\/p>\n

that TED<\/span> would even allow a worn-out fabulist like me<\/p>\n

to address you, illustrious Ants!<\/p>\n

…and assorted Grasshoppers.<\/p>\n

That said, let’s return to the tale,<\/p>\n

as I’m running short of both time and esteem!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I was about to say…<\/p>\n

One day a Grasshopper came to my door.<\/p>\n

(Not visibly lazy – more forlorn.)<\/p>\n

The Grasshopper had spent all her Summer singing<\/p>\n

but, though her legs were long, nimble and bare,<\/p>\n

she was not the Taylor Swift of the Grasshopper clan<\/p>\n

and by Fall she was hungry and near penniless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ms. Grasshopper had heard of my ancient fame<\/p>\n

and the modest wealth that I had attained<\/p>\n

so hence she hopped, to find your friend, Aesop,<\/p>\n

and possibly get some advice<\/p>\n

if not sustenance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While I was pleased to receive a visitor,<\/p>\n

especially one so down with my renown,<\/p>\n

it was clear that Ms. Grasshopper wanted more<\/p>\n

than a t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate with an old tale-teller.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless I invited her to take a seat<\/p>\n

Which she took, awkwardly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ms. Grasshopper didn\u2019t want to sing anymore,<\/p>\n

she confessed, her long barbed legs extending<\/p>\n

well beyond the modest cushions of my banquette,<\/p>\n

ready to jump, it seemed, at any sign of threat.<\/p>\n

Her day-to-day struggle, she struggled to say,<\/p>\n

was finding a way to be both Grasshopper and Ant<\/p>\n

– performing and thriving –<\/p>\n

when traditionalists like me stood in her way,<\/p>\n

having insisted one can’t.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is so sinful about music and dance<\/p>\n

being one’s great purpose in life! she cried.<\/p>\n

If I were, say, in the ballet,<\/p>\n

You would be not so dismissive! she ventured.<\/p>\n

Ants would have pleasure and I would be treasured!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hmmm! I said aloud, as I considered how she<\/p>\n

might have soared gracefully in venues<\/p>\n

like the one in which I now address you!<\/p>\n

Were her ambitions all that different from mine?<\/p>\n

My lectern more hallow than her chorus line?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was time for Aesop to resolve this dilemma…<\/p>\n

Should I do what The Ant did so long ago:<\/p>\n

Insult the poor Grasshopper and tell her to go!<\/p>\n

Or should I act in a more enlightened way<\/p>\n

more befitting how things are done today<\/p>\n

and set aside my time-honored Moral?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suprisingly, it turned out to be<\/p>\n

Ms. Grasshopper who enlightened me.<\/p>\n

She would share not just my dinner<\/p>\n

but, as it turned out, her whole life with me!<\/p>\n

She is in the audience now, in fact,<\/p>\n

and I would point her out, but if I did<\/p>\n

my own eminence would surely be eclipsed,<\/p>\n

which your vain friend Aesop could not endure,<\/p>\n

a traditionalist to the bone in that respect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So the moral of this story, dear Ants,<\/p>\n

is that it takes a hard shell<\/p>\n

to protect you from Love.<\/p>\n

Thank you for listening, TED<\/span> friends.<\/p>\n

Good night, and rhyme well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I. TOGETHER OR ALONE We take our breaths Together or alone Just two breaths betray the difference   I step, you step we practice our sidesteps to avoid brushing arms to avert linking eyes to divert our attractions   I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-verse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30499"}],"version-history":[{"count":185,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31795,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30499\/revisions\/31795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chcollins.com\/100Billion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}