Chance, happiness
which don’t exalt me,
arriving unexpectedly, in calm,
I saw them radiating, gently, from their simple exuberance.
and I said of laughter,

“I am laughter—to the extremity of outburst—
so much that it is superfluous to laugh and out of place.”

In the wood, the sun rising, I was free, my life rising effortlessly and
like a bird flying through the air: but infinitely free, dissolved and free.

–excerpt On Nietzsche, by Georges Bataille, Trans. by Stuart Kendall p. 186

Need I say anything?  Amidst life, circumstances presented variously as anguish, one is surprised by the hilarity, the absurdity of things.  Go ahead, laugh out loud!  How-the-fuck did I get here?  There is no reason, and the truth is plain to see.  The truth: there is no reason.

Here I am at Starbucks reading, considering these words by Bataille, a philosopher-poet.  I could be a soldier, living in a muddy, frozen bunker on the front lines in Donbas, Ukraine.  There, I’d have one thing foremost in mind: staying alive.  Or I could be a woman in labor…

Allow your imagination to supply your own story.  Then laugh out loud!

Merry Christmas!

We cannot do without a song.  This one is strong enough to carry us through!

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

By Darlene Love

The snow’s coming down
I’m watching it fall
Lots of people around
Baby please come home

The church bells in town
All ringing in song
Full of happy sounds
Baby please come home

They’re singing “Deck The Halls”
But it’s not like Christmas at all
‘Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year

Pretty lights on the tree
I’m watching them shine
You should be here with me
Baby please come home

They’re singing “Deck The Halls”
But it’s not like Christmas at all
‘Cause I remember when you were here
And all the fun we had last year

If there was a way
I’d hold back this tear
But it’s Christmas day
Please please please please
Baby please come home
Baby please come home
Baby please come home
Baby please come home
Please come home

Lyrics by Jeff Barry, Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich