Tuesday, October 10, 2006

From Donald Barthelme's Snow White (Commonplace Book)

Then we went out to wash the buildings. Clean buildings fill your eyes with sunlight, and your heart with the idea that man is perfectible. Also they are good places to look at girls from, those high, swaying wooden platforms: you get a rare view, gazing at the tops of their red and gold and plum-colored heads. Viewed from above they are like targets, the plum-colored head the center of the target, the wavy navy skirt the bold circumference. The white or black legs flopping out in front are like someone waving his arms over the top of the target and calling, "You missed the center by not allowing sufficiently for the wind!" We are very much tempted to shoot our arrows into them, those targets. You know what that means. But we also pay attention to the buildings, gray and noble in their false architecture and cladding. There are Tiparillos in our faces and heavy jangling belts around our waists, and water in our buckets and squeegees on our poles. And we have our beer bottles up there too, and drink beer for a second breakfast, even though that is against the law, but we are so high up, no one can be sure. It's too bad Hogo de Bergerac isn't here with us, because maybe the experience would be good for him, would make him less loathsome. But he would probably just seize the occasion to perform some new loathsome act. He would probably just throw beer cans down into the street, to make irritating lumps under the feet of those girls who, right this minute, are trying to find the right typewriter, in the correct building.

6 comments:

  1. I would like to extend an invitation to you to join in on a collective blogging section of our upcoming winter issue of Reconstruction. The issue is the “Theories/Practices of Blogging.” In addition to the special section of posts on blogging there will be about a dozen essays on blogging.

    The deadline is October 27th.

    Our intent in this section of the issue will be to collect a wide range of bloggers and link up to their statements in regards to why they blog (something many of us are asked) and any statement they have on the theories/practices of blogging.

    If you already have a post on this you can feel free to use it, or, if you are interested, you can submit a new one.

    We will link to each statement from the issue at our site, with the intent of creating a hyperlinked list of statements on blogging that can serve as an introduction to blogging (or an expansion of knowledge for those already blogging).

    If you are interested please contact me at mdbento @ gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't understand the relevance. More than likely, because I haven't read the book; nor do I understand the context.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I actually think it works fine all on its own. Just a nice piece of sunshine. The similie "like someone waving his arms over the top of the target and calling, "You missed the center by not allowing sufficiently for the wind!" " is such subtle overkill, it's just perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just read it out loud a few times. Just the word choice and the syntax are hilarious.

    ReplyDelete
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