• Bodhisattvacharyavatara
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    • Lapping Reflections [Deep Within Waters]
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mlewisredford

~ may the Supreme and Precious Jewel Bodhichitta take birth where it has not yet done so …

mlewisredford

Tag Archives: Steve Englehart

Doctor Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

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2012, avoidance, change, comics, conventional reality, Dr Strange, Edward Hopper, ellipsis, encounter, eyes, Gene Colan, hands, humanity, life, living, moment, quotidian, reality, seeing, skyline, step, Steve Englehart, streets, time, trees, walking

 

 

 

                                                              I

                                the always-aslant encounter
                                                              of humans and street
                                              making their lives
                                                              in the grounds they see
                                making their lives in the grounds they are given
                                                                                 constant encounter
                                              as variable as the daily

                                                                                 for those who see
                                elliptical to the happenstance –
                                                              the skyline to the treeline
                                                                                 the glide to the cobble
                                              the palm to the point
                                                              the both-step-aside to avoid each other’s path
                                                              and collide –
                                                                                 Hopper saw it
                and Colan saw it and Strange had already
                                                              stepped into it
                                                                                 stepped through it stepped out again

                                              moment

                                                                                 but now
                                his pupils are that much more round
                                              the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street
                                                                                 the face in the orb implied
                                that everything had changed and that
                                                              things
                would never be the same again

 

I am psyched that the first trailer for the Doctor Strange film has just been released; I think this is going to see me lose my 56 year old jaded-cool; I am more excited about this than I was for the Batman movies, even though Batman is my character (oh, sorry, didn’t you know?), (in fact, I envisage Batman, ideally, as more akin to Doctor Strange, the character should be more mystical than he is generally presented); I am glad to see the trailer dealing with kaleidoscope-reality, this has a lot to go for it from the start; Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One is a genuinely creative piece of casting but I hope she is not as ‘explainey’ and active as this trailer suggests (or even as dynamic as she was Gabriel in ‘Constantine’, a female sage should have more devastating effect but with less of the door-slamming); (and talking of door-slamming: I was disappointed that the trailer starts of with the ubiquitous iron door slam portending dire catastrophe for gawp-eyed Humanity, I was hoping Doctor Strange, at least, would approach tale-telling differently, but I suppose superhero movies have hit their formula now, no one’s going to play with it with that much money going in … mind you, Stark’s humour, and the first Avenger’s humour were interesting innovations, I might hope for something innovative in Strange, not humour, so much, as power through deft and understatement, rather than grunt); the round loft-window gave me The Smile at the end; Cumberbatch has a Good Walk as he broaches realities, he has the right eyes to see-through fingers for the part as well; I once hoped that David Lynch might write and direct Doctor Strange … that would have been interestingly different and so right … it was not well-received (have a look in the comments section of https://longboxgraveyard.com/2012/11/28/76-superhero-greenlight-doctor-strange/) … actually, dab’n’abbit, here is my tender, but I’ll settle with what this film seems to promise:

Dr Strange operates in worlds which are ‘mystical’ in the sense that they function within natural laws and forces which are alternate to our own – they are worlds which we just don’t get and it would be better for us that we didn’t know about them so we can continue functioning ourselves.   And yet Stephen Strange is of and from this world – he is all too human but has mastered the Mystic Arts.   He therefore lives between the two worlds – the physical/political and the occult worlds – or rather he lives amid, at the same time.   He is ‘strange’ because he bridges these two worlds, and this is the central pull of the character for me.   In comics the ‘occult’ world was depicted fantastically (the floating-island footsteps of Ditko, the swirls of Colan) because it was a visual medium meant for younger audiences (growing up); but the occult world doesn’t so much ‘look’ strange (like a childishly re-arranged physical world), in fact it isn’t even a different world it is the same world ‘seen’ (and ‘heard’ and ‘felt’ and acted in) differently.   What was equally attractive about Dr Strange (and under-used in the comics) was the depiction of the character in ordinary, recognisable surroundings but knowing he was actually operating in a world out of the space-time continuum.   I would conceive that Strange’s ‘battles’ took place while he was strolling through a park, while walking on the street, in the blink of an Eye (herm).   I once heard David Lynch talk about how he achieves perspectives in his work by ‘filming through the eye of a duck’ meaning that he doesn’t just film ‘lineally’ he films simultaneously/alternately – he shoots a scene/whole films which physically depict one narrative but which affectively show an alternate landscape in which they play out.   What better ‘mise-en-scene’ist than David Lynch to depict the life of a character who has ‘mastered’ the arts of living bridged across two worlds-in-one?   No need of CGI, no need of costumes, not even much need of action!   I know, I know, not the ingredients for your standard superhero blockbuster money-maker.   But they have been done and will continue to be done under their own momentum.   Dr Strange has always been a peripheral character because he is so … strange.   Perhaps this would be time to make a different take on the comics-to-film translation formula …

Anyhoo, I wrote a series of poems tracking Doctor Strange through a key set of issues written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Gene Colan; (Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976)); these issues are some of the best comics I have ever read; they were also seminal in shaping me to become the significantly un-noticeable writer I have become to this day; I posted them in 2012 and then re-posted them again in 2014 because I thought the film was immanent – it wasn’t; but, dammitall, I like these babies so I’m going to post them again, spread out until November 4th …

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

change wormhole: top table
comics wormhole: Poewieviews
Dr Strange & Gene Colan wormhole: Dr Strange VII – the madness of Mordo
Edward Hopper wormhole: New York, New Haven and Hartford, 1931
eyes wormhole: b / r / e / a / t / h / i / n / g
hands wormhole: really
life & reality & streets & time & walking wormhole: 1964
living wormhole: dash
seeing wormhole: rhymed
skyline wormhole: miss / ad / venture – poewieview #22
trees wormhole: like ink – poewieview #23

 

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Dr Strange VII – the madness of Mordo

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

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2012, being, comics, death, doing, Dr Strange, dream, earth, existence, Gene Colan, madness, rebirth, Steve Englehart

 

 

 

                                              too late
                                planet Earth is no more
                                              for all my fighting and struggle
                                I have achieved only
                                              the madness of Mordo
                                              the whole span and play of existence ssspunnn
                                                              to its opposites:
                                death                                                                being
                                              ovum                                rebirth
                                                              everything
                                                                                 is the same as it ever was but
                classic classic comicbook
                                              it was all just a dream
                                                              it is everything that is dream

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

being wormhole: between
comics wormhole: four-colour pulp into cinematic di[gital]pix[el][live ac]tion so easily makes for semantic palava (if you read what I mean) … the foredreading of Dr Strange
death wormhole: ‘a spark from the empty light socket …’
Dr Strange & Gene Colan wormhole: Dr Strange VI – to hold my face to the world
doing wormhole: darkness
dream wormhole: 1959 –– MANHATTAN –– 2012

 

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Dr Strange VI – to hold my face to the world

30 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

2012, 5*, doing, Dr Strange, eyes, faces, Gene Colan, identity, life, lifetimes, self, Steve Englehart, world, writing

 

 

“I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together …” (Lennon)

 

                                the twinkle
                becomes my eye
I see my life from inside the many faces I have worn
                                as I contrive power
                                              and plan escape
                over/from/death/life vainglorious
                                              compulsive
                                petulant
                and failed
                                every time I act
                                              [and conjure
                                                              and compose]
                                the more I do
                                              the less I get anywhere
                and the more my selves multiply and reside here
                                I could lose
                                              the whole world
                                through my
                asides and schemes my power and play
                                all of the ellipses spinning
                                              to conjure my face spinning
                                                              fit to vortex

                to hold my face to the world

                                              and the more I am a sorcerer supreme the more
                                I am grotesque
                the more I gestate the mad messiah-killers in the backrush and tail-
                                              spin
                                I hadn’t thought
                                              I hadn’t given
                                                              I hadn’t laughed
                                                                                 I hadn’t loved
                                                                                                            another

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

doing wormhole: where the real action // always is
Dr Strange & world wormhole: Dr Strange V – all the words of all the times of all the worlds speak
eyes & writing wormhole: just words wiped across a line
faces wormhole: new year’s eve 2014; train up to London to / walk the bridges across the Thames, and / listen to the voices say it is, and was, like, / but get back home before the fireworks / obliterate it all in the emptying twilight
identity wormhole: I am a solid block of stone
life wormhole: Woolwich Central – making life better II
lifetimes wormhole: the edge has come …

 

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Dr Strange V – all the words of all the times of all the worlds speak

19 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

2012, 6*, autumn, buildings, communication, compromise, Dr Strange, Gene Colan, humanity, knowledge, moon, others, Paul Simon, sharing, sky, speech, Spring, Steve Englehart, summer, time, winter, words, world

 

 

 

                                ‘communication
                has undone you; you know of all others’ success and see
                                                              only your own failure
                                              you will not
                                                              have
                                                              ignorance
                                you would have all knowledge …’*
                                                              and build your ignorance to the skies

                all the words of all the times of all the worlds speak
                                                              and from each word you draw more closely in
                                              upon yourself unable
                                to settle on shared or compromise

                                                                                 they
                                                              ‘… stand on their differences
                                and shoot at the moon’** ‘each man must win
                                                              so all men must lose’*
                                                                                 all expansion
must take the turn of contraction, you cannot have
                                sustained growth only, ‘first comes spring and summer;
                                                              but then we have fall and winter,
                                                                                              Ben’***

 

* Steve Englehart, Dr Strange#10, Oct 1975, from p.15-16
** Paul Simon, Cars Are Cars, Hearts and Bones, 1983
*** Being There (1979), dir: Hal Ashby, Chance the Gardener

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

autumn wormhole: Eglinton Hill
buildings wormhole: never there
communication wormhole: Plumstead – Woolwich 121114
compromise wormhole: which is worse
Dr Strange & Gene Colan wormhole: Dr Strange IV – ellipses
knowledge wormhole: we’re born // to die
moon wormhole: knees
others & world wormhole: tong // len
sky & speech wormhole: Plumstead – Woolwich – Plumstead 290508 – / the breath of London
spring wormhole: no hat
summer wormhole: Jean Miller kissed Salinger
time wormhole: Christmas
winter wormhole: Tulips by Sylvia Plath – How Far To Step Before You Raise The Other Foot
words wormhole: – sigh! –

 

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Dr Strange IV – ellipses

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

2012, 6*, being, doors, Dr Strange, ellipsis, Eternity, eyes, Gene Colan, humanity, identity, Nightmare, samsara, sky, society, speech, Steve Englehart, time

 

 

… time comes when the whole universe needs to be in on the discussion, as if it were never integral to each happenstance in the first place; coincides with Dr Strange actually arriving on the scene – funny that

 

                                                              there are ellipses, yes
                                but Strange has long known – they are doorways too

                                he can step through them all
                in the twinkle
of anyone’s eye

                                              he can see the aches
                                of option and perspective
                he can see the nightmares of polarity and stasis

                                                              bounding eternally towards him
                                              but never approaching
                                me                                ME

                                                                                 his own speech
                                                              becomes the twinkle in his eye
                                              he steps

                                and with a flourish
                                              the sky takes a form of the whole universe
                                                              to talk:

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

being wormhole: a gift
Dr Strange & Gene Colan wormhole: Dr Strange III – the needs of billions
doors wormhole: Jean Miller kissed Salinger
eyes wormhole: Plumstead – Woolwich 121114
identity & speech wormhole: – sigh! –
samsara wormhole: Dr Strange II – … things are the same again
sky & time wormhole: hint
society wormhole: 20th century / schzoid man

 

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Dr Strange III – the needs of billions

18 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

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2012, 6*, Clea, consumerism, Dormammu, Dr Strange, father, Gene Colan, generation, Have, head, humanity, life, mother, society, son, Steely Dan, Steve Englehart, time, words, world, yellow

 

sequel to Dr Strange II – … things are the same again and Dr Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street respectively; Dr Strange appears in this episode, but at a receding measure of size rather than distance; what ever is ‘strange’ about the character is that he plays an infinitesimal part in the build-up of events, but is nonetheless the essential hinge in the whole business for the events to not matter: an ersatz-ordinary human in an en-maddening world who is nevertheless the only sanity in the whole experience when he sees through his own ersatz

 

 

                                              a colossus
                strides effortlessly across canyons and generation
                                fed by the needs of billions
                                              engorged enough to consume
                                              itself nucleic
                                it speaks with flaming head
unstable
                                too much
                                                              too much that
                                              it will disperse itself even as it reaches,
                the needs of billions
                                              flooded through a world of veins
                                                              like pumped yellow fat
                the mother is bound the father is blind
                                              and only all the words of worlds
                                                                                 will speak
                                                              all while Strange and Devotion
                                              expand through dimensions
                grown alarmingly through the stages of their lives
                                              quick for to get there

                                                              wanting
                                                              it      all
                                                              the son
                                sits ‘by the blackened wall
                                              he does it all, he thinks he’s died
                                                              and gone to heaven’*

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan
* Steely Dan, The Royal Scam, The Royal Scam, 1976

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

Dr Strange & Gene Colan & society & world wormhole: Dr Strange II – … things are the same again
father wormhole: letters to Mum I – a walk / and talk
Have & life wormhole: Matildenplatz / & Luisen
mother wormhole: letters to Mum V – carrying on in duty and love
time & yellow wormhole: Plumstead – Woolwich 121114
words wormhole: letters to mum II – family // like a grate

 

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Dr Strange II – … things are the same again

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems

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2012, 20th century, 6*, anatta, beauty, change, chaos, conventional reality, Dr Strange, ellipsis, emptiness, Gene Colan, life, occult, power, samsara, society, speech, Steve Englehart, time, ultimate reality, world

 

sequel to Dr Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street; evincement of “[Dr Strange] … lives between the two worlds – the physical/political and the occult worlds – or rather he lives amid at the same time.   He is ‘strange’ because he bridges these two worlds … I once heard David Lynch [who I think should direct the upcoming Dr Strange film] talk about how he achieves his perspectives in his work by ‘filming through the eye of a duck’ meaning that he doesn’t just film ‘lineally’ he films simultaneously/alternately – he shoots a scene/whole films which physically depict one narrative but which affectively show an alternate landscape in which they play out.” (from four-colour pulp into cinematic di[gital]pix[el][live ac]tion so easily makes for semantic palava (if you read what I mean) … the foredreading of Dr Strange); Dr Strange does not appear in this segment of the Dr Strange heptaptych, but then again, he does[n’t] … thing is, it’s strange

 

 

                … things are the same again
                                always have
                                always had
                                              the second half of the twentieth century
                incorporated it
                                              you either had it or you wanted it
                                either way it fed the corporation
                                everyone fed the corporation
                                                              by wealth by health
                                                                                 by belief
                                              this is the way things are
                                                              dwelt at the very heart of the world
                                                                                 turning growing fiery
                there comes a time
                                when the power and the beauty
                                                              become elliptical
                                                              to each other
                                              to themselves
                                                                                 then chaos will come
                                you mark my words
                thinks the aged Genghis high on the edge of the world
                                              aged enough in life
                                to see beyond the self:                     there is nothing there
there is nothing there

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

20th century wormhole: ‘like a piece of ice on a hot stove / the poem must ride on its own melting’
beauty wormhole: the utter beauty of giving when receiving
change & Dr Strange & Gene Colan & world wormhole: Dr Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street
emptiness wormhole: rainbow
life & samsara wormhole: born again
power wormhole: Vajrapani
society wormhole: thinking wide enough
speech wormhole: letters to Mum V – carrying on in duty and love
time wormhole: poised patiently for / hours

 

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Dr Strange I – the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

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Tags

1975, 2012, 6*, being, change, conventional reality, Dr Strange, Edward Hopper, encounter, Gene Colan, hands, horizon, humanity, Klaus Janson, life, occult, passing, seeing, skyline, Steve Englehart, streets, trees, ultimate reality, world

 

 

 

                                              I

                the always-aslant encounter
                                              of humans and street
                                making their lives
                                              in the grounds they see
                making their lives in the grounds they are given
                                                              constant encounter
                                as variable as the daily

                                                              for those who see
                elliptical to the happenstance –
                                              the skyline to the treeline
                                                              the glide to the cobble
                                the palm to the point
                                              the both-step-aside to avoid each other’s path
                                              and collide –
                                                              Hopper saw it
and Colan saw it and Strange had already
                                              stepped into it
                                                              stepped through it stepped out again

                                moment

                                                              but now
                his pupils are that much more round
                                the trashcan tilted the better to see now the street
                                                              the face in the orb implied
                that everything had changed and that
                                              things
would never be the same again

                                              continued …

 

askance from: Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

being & seeing wormhole: scattered
change wormhole: letters to Mum I – a walk / and talk
Dr Strange & world wormhole: four-colour pulp into cinematic di[gital]pix[el][live ac]tion so easily makes for semantic palava (if you read what I mean) … the foredreading of Dr Strange
Edward Hopper wormhole: tag cloud poem VI – anyone’s eyes
Gene Colan wormhole: quest in brown
hands wormhole: is she / looking at me?
horizon wormhole: Jean Miller kissed Salinger
life wormhole: thinking wide enough
passing wormhole: just
skyline wormhole: a maturity
streets wormhole: the long road
trees wormhole: tag cloud poem VII – form new freedom:

 

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four-colour pulp into cinematic di[gital]pix[el][live ac]tion so easily makes for semantic palava (if you read what I mean) … the foredreading of Dr Strange

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by m lewis redford in announcements

≈ Leave a comment

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Batman, comics, David Lynch, Dr Strange, film, Gene Colan, genre, occult, reality, Steve Ditko, Steve Englehart, translation, transliteration, world

Hello everyone.   Batman is a special character for me (because I cannot be certain if I am not Batman), and, I didn’t particularly like the recent Nolan trilogy of films!!!   They had the elements of the character all there but made him way too blatent in delivery.   It just all read wrong.

The translation of character and story from one genre to another takes SO MUCH more than just transliteration!   Everything that grew and worked and contextualised in four-colour panel, everything that filled that form and then manipulated it to reach beyond itself to become transformative [art], everything that emerged during the 1960s (and there is a whole, American history that nurtures the bloom of Marvel and DC during this decade and the next); all this needs to be deconstructed and re-realised to make it anything more than a literal, phonetic transliteration which doesn’t enable anyone in any way to speak a different language … anyway, I digress,

I hear that another seminal character of mine is being put to film – Dr Strange.   I once put a pitch about filming Dr Strange to the Longbox Graveyard but he laughed me back into the box (if you make the link you can read his ripost – I like the guy, but he has dollar signs as pupils).   I still like the pitch, however:

Dr Strange operates in worlds which are ‘mystical’ in the sense that they function within natural laws and forces which are alternate to our own – they are worlds which we just don’t get and it would be better for us that we didn’t know about them so we can continue functioning ourselves.   And yet Stephen Strange is of and from this world – he is all too human but has mastered the Mystic Arts.   He therefore lives between the two worlds – the physical/political and the occult worlds – or rather he lives amid at the same time.   He is ‘strange’ because he bridges these two worlds, and this is the central pull of the character for me.

In comics the ‘occult’ world was depicted fantastically (the floating-island footsteps of Ditko, the swirls of Colan) because it was a visual medium meant for younger audiences (growing up); but the occult world doesn’t so much ‘look’ strange (like a childishly re-arranged physical world), in fact it isn’t even a different world it is the same world ‘seen’ (and ‘heard’ and ‘felt’ and acted in) differently.   What was equally attractive about Dr Strange (and under-used in the comics) was the depiction of the character in ordinary, recognisable surroundings but knowing he was actually operating in a world out of the space-time continuum.   I would conceive that Strange’s ‘battles’ took place while he was strolling through a park, while walking on the street, in the blink of an Eye (herm).

I once heard David Lynch talk about how he achieves his perspectives in his work is by ‘filming through the eye of a duck’ meaning that he doesn’t just film ‘lineally’ he films simultaneously/alternately – he shoots a scene/whole films which physically depict one narrative but which affectively show an alternate landscape in which they play out.   What better ‘mise-en-scene’ist than David Lynch to depict the life of a character who has ‘mastered’ the arts of living bridged across two worlds-in-one?   No need of CGI, no need of costumes, not even much need of action!   I know, I know, not the ingredients for your standard summer blockbuster money-maker.   But they have been done and will continue to be done under their own momentum.   Dr Strange, as you mention, has always been a peripheral character because he is so … strange.   Perhaps this would be time to make a different take on the comics-to-film translation formula …

Anyhoo … I would like to steal some of the hype and hollywood on the project by publishing a series of poeviews on the character taken from a run of issues of Dr Strange from the mid-1970s written by Steve Englehart and drawn by Gene Colan … they’ll be falling like leaves over the next few weeks

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Dr Strange #6-13

08 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by m lewis redford in poems, poeviews

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

1975, 2012, 9*, being, change, continuity, doing, Dormammu, Dr Strange, dream, Edward Hopper, elipse, emptiness, Eternity, Gene Colan, Have, humanity, Nightmare, Paul Simon, reality, society, Steely Dan, Steve Englehart

Dr Strange #6-13 (Feb 1975-April 1976); Marvel; writer: Steve Englehart; artist: Gene Colan

 

 

 

                                I

            the always-aslant encounter
                                of humans and street
                      making their lives
                                in the grounds they see
            in the grounds they have been given
                                           constant encounter
                      as variable as the daily

                                           for those who see
            elliptical to the happenstance
                                the skyline to the treeline
                                           the glide to the cobble
                      the palm to the point
                                the both-step-aside to avoid each other’s path
                                and collide
                                           Hopper saw it
and Colan saw it and Strange had already
                                stepped into it
                                           stepped through it and out again

                      moment

                                           but now
            his pupils are that much more round
                      the trashcan tilted
                                the better to see now
                                           the street
                                                       the face in the orb implied
            that everything had changed and that
                                things
would never be the same again

                                continued …

                                II

            … things are the same again
                      always have
                      always had
                                the second half of the twentieth century
            incorporated it
                                you either had it or you wanted it
                      either way it fed the corporation
                      everyone fed the corporation
                                           by wealth by health
                                                       by belief
                                this is the way things are
                                           dwelt at the very heart of the world
                                                               turning growing and fiery
            there comes a time
                      when the power
                                and the beauty become elliptical
                                           to each other
                                           to themselves
                                                       then chaos will come
                      you mark my words
            thinks the aged Genghis high on the edge of the world
                                aged enough in life
                      to see beyond self:             there is nothing there
there is nothing there

                                III

                                a colossus
            strides effortlessly across canyons and generations
                      fed by the needs of billions
                                engorged enough to consume
                                itself
                      it speaks with a flaming head
unstable
                      too much
                                           too much that
                                it will disperse itself even as it reaches
                      the needs of billions
                                flooded through a world of veins
                                           like tumbling yellow fat
                                                       the mother is bound
                      the father is blind
                                and only all the words of worlds
                                                       will speak
                                           while Strange and devotion
                                           expand through dimensions
            growing alarmingly through the stages of their lives
                                quick to get there while
                      wanting it all
                                a son sits ‘by the blackened wall
                                           he does it all he thinks he’s died
                      and gone to heaven’*

                                IV

                                there are ellipses yes
            but Strange has long known that they are doorways too
                                           he can step through them all
                                in the twinkle
                      of anyone’s eye
                                           he can see the aches
                                of option and perspective
            he can see the nightmares
                                of polarity and stasis
                      bounding towards him
                      but never approaching
                                           me             ME

                                his own speech
                                becomes the twinkle in his eye
                                           he steps
            and with a flourish
                      the sky takes a form of the whole universe
                                to talk:

                                V**

                      ‘communication
                                           has undone you
                                you know of all others’ success
            and see only your own failure
                                you will not have ignorance
                                           you would have all knowledge
                      all the words of worlds speak
                                           and from each word
            you draw more closely in upon yourself
                                unable to settle on shared or
                                           compromise ‘… stand
            on their differences
                      and shoot at the moon’ ***
                                each man must win
                                so all men must lose
                                           all expansion
                                                       must take the turn of contraction
                      you cannot have
                                           sustained growth
                                ‘first comes spring and summer
                      but then we have fall and winter … Ben’ ****

                                VI

                                the twinkle
                      becomes my eye
                                           I see my life
            from inside the many faces I have worn
                                as I contrive power and plan escape
                      over/from/death/life
                                vainglorious
                                                               compulsive
            petulant

                      and failed every time I act
                                [and compose]
                                the more I do
                                           the less I get anywhere
                                and the more
                                                               my selves multiply and reside
                                I could lose
                      the whole world
                                           through my asides and schemes
                                                       my power and play
                                all of the ellipses spinning
                                           to conjure my face
            spinning fit to vortex to hold my face to the world
                                           and the more I am
                      a sorcerer supreme the more
                                I am grotesque
                                           the more I gestate the mad messiah-killers
                      in the backrush and tail-
                                           spin

                                                       I hadn’t thought
            I hadn’t given
                      I hadn’t laughed
                                I hadn’t loved
                                           another

                                VII

too late
            planet Earth is no more
                      for all my fighting and struggle
            I have achieved only the madness of Mordo
                      the whole span and play of existence
                                           ssspunnn
                                into its opposite:
                                                               being
            death
                                ovum
                                           rebirth
                                everything
                                           is the same as it ever was but
classic classic comicbook
                      it was all just a dream
                                it is everything that is dream

 

 

 

* Steely Dan, The Royal Scam, The Royal Scam, 1976
** Steve Englehart, Dr Strange#10, Oct 1975, from p.15-16
*** Paul Simon, Cars Are Cars, Hearts and Bones, 1983
**** Being There (1979), dir: Hal Ashby, Chance the Gardener

 

————w(O)rmholes________________________________|—–

being wormhole: what comes first … // the poem or the content … // the shamatha or the vipashyana … // the posture … // or the sitting?
change & Dr Strange & & Edward Hopper Gene Colan wormhole: Dr Strange #6 (Feb 1975)
doing wormhole: writing is not a container of reality / it is being the reality / itself
dream wormhole: dream / 150910
emptiness & Have wormholes: poessay IV
reality wormhole: the bottom line
society wormhole: poessay II

 

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