THE GREAT OSCILLATION :

.Destruction.Criticism.Renaissance.

ALLISON SYLVIA

To my Liberal.Arts.Degree,

many thanks.

LITERATURE, though not the first Art, was the first glimpse

into each unique conception of the human condition.

Whoever controlled the word, controlled the collective memory of the people.

Religion is the way of life of a People, based on geographical development of that Culture -

crystallized into literature.

My father is Jewish.

My mother was Roman Catholic.

She converted not for my father but for Faith :

Judaism better explained her World View.

Religion is just that - an intensely personal choice.

Everyone is entitled to their order : their beloved.balance : their solace : their faith.

I.for one.would only believe in a GOD who knows hOw to DANCE.

earth, SUN, mOOn, water, air - my only gods, since the dawn of this time.

Growth.and.Decay.

expansion, collapse.

If we consider the Cosmos,

we're but a tiny wave of EnErGy.

.BuT.you.goTtA.hAve.

Faith.ah.Faith.ah.Faith.

I.hAve.ABSOLUTE.fAith.

YOU

Let me recite what history teaches. History teaches.ThaT.iT's.GoT.tO. be OUrsTORy.

the Pendulum's about to swing...

POET :

Suddenly Self Aware

HOMER's Iliad

primary source of Western literature

explains history of a destroyed civilization

our only understanding of Troy is the Greek perspective

VIRGIL's Aeneid

needs to plant his craft on solid ground so reaches back to Greece

the imagined history of the Trojan poet as founder of Rome

DANTE's Divine Comedy : poet in exile

scathing comment on Roman Catholicism

includes contemporary writers, philosophers, artists

putS popes in hell

BUNYAN's Pilgrim's Progress

comment on Protestantism

exclusively refers to the Bible

the only contemporaries are the parables

WEST's The Dream Life of Balso Snell

comment on Modernity

the POET's progress

from Anus Mirabilis

to Coitus Victorious

DARWISH's Mural : poet in exile

from the outside, advancing the craft

the Alexandrian Poet

Clear the haze of war and animosity.

What has it been like to be.You.lately?

What have you been working on in your Collective Mind?

What do You want to Be when you Grow Up?

How many of us identify with that one Nationality? feel the Stability of Real roots?

Those that do, is it because :

you really are one.hUNdred Percent?

your family really has been.on.this.land since your Ancestors lanDeD?

you identify with the identity of your single Parent?

you look more one Thing than the Other?

We are Products of free love and peace and harmony and understanding.

The social.sexual.civil renaissance that began with the oldest of our parents made for fascinating combinations of Race and Creed before which had been IMPOSSIBLE.

Excuse me.Miss

.what bE.A.Utiful combination of.

.THINGS aRe.you?

We are a completely NEW Race of people.completely NEW faces the likes of which this world

has Never before sEEn :

WE ARE ORIGINAL

GodDammit.HaLelUia!MotherFucking.PrAise.the.lOrD!

We need to shed their rules - they no longer apply.

Let us square off.shake hands.and agree :

We are not so different, You and I.

Stop hemming and hAwing.

TorPedo through the M-i-l-e-s of Bullshit and get to the cOre :

Hello there. It's a pLeasure to meet you.

.we are the convergences of vastly different cultures colliding.combining in one

INDIVIDUAL.

That's quite a heavy load to bear.

It's a load we're meant to Share.sharing.is.caring -

We play these streets like a video game.

.but.what.if.we s.l.O.w.dOWn.

.take.a.look arOUnd.

- and.gO.with the flOw.

YOU've been saying it for years.

why don't WE just.do.iT?

HELL is other People.

.but.What.If WE're heaven?

.from.AFRICA-to-Troy-to-Greece-to-Rome-to-England-to-the.USA.

.Return - to - HOME.

I am.PrOUD. to KNOW.your

beautiful.BLACK.blOOd.

.courses somewhere.dEEp.in my veins.

There.is No.Flag.left to hide.behind.

There.IS.only US.

the ONLY one that.I'll

sTANd by is

YOUR Freak.Flag.

.so leT iT flY.

a Nation is as great as its ode.

So let's write anew.

Let this be our Code -

It's very simple : Don't be an Asshole.

: everyday.in.every.way Decide that You are Beautiful.

.our DESTRUCTION happened young.only old enough to Know.

WE were expected to be People much too soon.

WE felt bigger than our trajectory.trapped in their Legacy -

THE RESULT

will.all.the former EMO kids,

pLease.

.sTAnD.

.uP?

iT.is.NoT.OUR.faulT.

WE are the Students : shackled to the desk, staring only at the Forms on the PowerPoint

: taught by a false Light.

About writing papers - I feel like I had the Fear.of.God in me when I was eighteen.

How many of you can 'just sit down and write a paper'?

Or do you block out big sections and gradually fill in the small details.skip from section to section.highlight what still needs to be done.bright florescent pink.SO.when you sCroll you see your

Progress.

sCulPtural writing

we were taught to plan

we were taught to organize

we were never taught to

if prose is architecture.

.let poetry be sculpture.

AND

my fellow IMer

remember how we used to whi l e.

.away the hOUrs.

feel a panic risE in the space between replieS?

- WE -

instinctively.CreAted a NEW Language

that was highly referential.dependent on punctuation for meaning.

.we timed responses to.

.win.an.argument/out.wiT with.quotes.

we grew.knew each other's secrets fAster.

.felt brAver pressing -Enter- than we ever.would in.person.

when we would.have.had.to lOOk sOmeOne in the EyE

and SAY exactly what was on.OUR.mind

and then - all at once - the smoke cleared

and we started getting.in each.other's.Pants.

WELL.can I tell you a story?

you Can.

That's long since been established.

Why.not try.to get inside my mInD?

together WE can find

the answers that I'm sEArching for.

.so.here's to You

.every.single.QUEER.

who.really feels we.could.go

either.way -

hey.hey.hey.

.I love you in a.

.we.would.make.one.kickass.

FU.

.siON.

-HAH!-

.kind of way.

We already know we're headed toward.

.ze.end.of.ze.wORld.

I.ProPose.WE go.down singing.

.Oh sAy.can you seE.

.I.

.DeCLAre.

- INDEPENDENCE -

.the - INTERNET - is.OURS.

.and.it's Time.we TAke iT.Back.

.why.don't.we put.on our Big.Girl Panties and.Decide :

we are WOMEN. we are MEN. we are HERE.and.we are NOW.

iT.Is.Time.

that WE. - blinking - sTeP into the.sUn.

We fight along.about the equator.

We are too close.connect too fast.

We vibrate anxiously.

Friction to teNsioN to Violence.

Masculinity expended itself in all out war and easy sex.

HE.take.a.final.bow.perfected the art of killing and fucking.

Mankind - whose domination spawned the progress of human history - is Female - perpeTually

menstruating.

And let.me.be the.one to spoil the surprise :

no one of us is going to push the button, Mutual Destruction assures.

So let's come away from our guns and our tanks and our drones and know that there will never be another

TOTAL WAR

.we don't have much choice.

we're going to destroy each other.or.we're going to make.it.

My Fellow Man :

The Modernists exhausted the male psyche.

YOU.are transparent.

I.can.read you like.a

.BOOK.

YOU're.fRuStRaTeD.

everything is coming too e.a.s.i.l.y

your only violence is imaginary

.SO.why.don't you - TaKe.iT.ouT.

.on the dANCe floor

and show.me whaT.you've

GOT.

Always the mysterious.Other : WOMEN

: Earth's Best Kept Secret.

For the sake of Transparency :

We are each a microcosm of THE GREAT OSCILLATION.

Like the moon.we ebb and flow.foggy to Fierce.

Every month we experience Great Violence at the end of which we had better ride the wave of Production before two weeks later our brains start to sCrAmBle.

We forget where we left -

BUT.if only.if only,WoMen harness this tide,

we'll rock you to sleep.singing sOft lullabies.

And while you lay dozing.aT - lasT.WE will R.I.S.E

Thank you for saying that we should try for superiority.

I daresay, you might be right.

that's how project two concludes.

But FIRST

Equality Preludes :

.only preludes,

love.

only preludes.

WE need to Stand Firm on solid ground and Hear one another and

Become aware of Who WE are and How WE feel and how WE are going to run things when

WE are in Charge -

WE need to take the whEEL

Who among us will be ready to run for any office by the time we're 30?

Who will want to? Will we still be treading in debt? How can we not be?

.every.day.in.every.way they make damn.sure. that we.will.be.

So let's.move AwAy from.the BurDen of.their.eDucAtion :

their.FEAR

.and Congregate for a while. and puff.puff.pass a j. and shot.gulp.raise a glass. and dip.lick.roll.and dance. and love. and think. and feel.

and KNOW that WE are Exceptional.

.and then let's build - SomeThing - together.

.so.

.LET's geT.dOWn to Business.

.to defeaT.the

.Ones.

______________

The Proposal :

The digital age heralds the first crystallization of a creative force that is not

- by conventional standards - substantive.

We have disposed of the Object.

The Physical.Arts' response to this existential crisis has yet to be harnessed into

a successful commodity and thus continues to fly under the radar.

What have the Painters been up to? The Sculptors? The Architects? The Playwrights?

The Poets?

Where have you gone? What have you done as of late?

Let's temper this oscillation, shall we?

CREATION . criticism . CREATION

We need new Things to be subjected to our snide comments.

We need to give technology - once and for all - over to the Dreamers.

That was the Bronze Age of Modernity. Let us, finally.fully, enter the Digital Age.

TOTAL ART

we can work together

employ each other

make a collective Commodity

All we have to do is create.and.challenge.and.imagine.and.discuss.and BE.

All we need is you people.

.and.I.do.mean.

YOU, People.

But we need capital! - you cry.

I say :

Let's step out from under their blOAted CORPORATIONS, pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and BE cooperative CAPITALISTS.

YES

we CAN get successful Degrees.CAREERS

OR :

WE can have BEaUtiful lives.

.so.

.in the Spirit of Commerce -

let us start small

practictly

patiently

all building to -

I want to BUY a.Church.

An ULTIMATE Becoming :

ART finally.for art's sake.

Let us paint a new Sistine

put our mark on Permanence

and when its doors : they open wide

to spread the JOY

WE.refuse.to hide

we'll affix OUR plaque

Stating FACT :

___________

W E L C O M E

- to.the -

NEW WORLD

GOD save you, if iT.is.righT. that HE.should.Do.sO

it is, at long last, ABSOLUTELY uP.to

YOU

Let’s collaborate!

We inspire each other.