the spirit in the empty glass
life rx 29 apr 24
the hanged man, and a passage from Jared Joseph’s Rose Mask:
"The fried chicken for this young child teenager"
"Those are two different things"
"And for us, we'll share the brussels sprouts, the burrata, and the fried chicken"
"Sounds good"
"And I got this drink from the Tasting Room over there. What was the spirit in this drink?"
"In the empty glass?"
"Yes what was the spirit in it?"
"I don't know. I can't know"
the aleatory
People are often confused about the meaning of the hanged man. (In the conventional tarot, the hanged man is a guy who is suspended by one ankle from a tree, but he seems essentially fine with it.) Why is he upside-down?* Is he OK?** Did he do it to himself?*** Is he there on purpose?**** Whose victim is he, and who is his enemy?***** Is it a good card, or a bad one?******
I have always found those questions kind of funny. Maybe it’s because I spend a lot of my time upside down—a better word would be “suspended.” Writing will always be essentially an act of suspense. The time that exists while I’m writing this is somehow also the time that exists as you’re reading it. And there is also an undisclosed volume of time between one and the other.
You could also break the rules of our mutual linguistic agreements and just read the word
spirit
on its own line like that, and close your email.
Which you have probably done.
But I am still here, and I will hold the door open for you to come back.
See what I mean?
What is the spirit in the empty glass? You don’t and can’t know.
Is there ever a moment when every copy in the world of Crime and Punishment is closed? And, I wonder, how silent it is in the halls of that book when it happens? And has anyone ever been trapped inside?
That’s the kind of question the hanged man doesn’t ask.
the assignment
Be not yearning for certainty.
writing prompt
Absolutely do not write down a word until you have already heard it in your head. Listen closely. Do not write any words that you have not already heard in your head. Don’t try to help anybody understand anything.
a chune
“Something on Your Mind” by Karen Dalton
It worries me a little that every time I hear some song for the first time and go OHHHHH YEAHHHHH the biography of the person who wrote it is something like, “The reclusive genius who died broke, with spiders in her brain, suffered from alcoholism and homelessness but was also obviously one of our prominent angels upon the earth. She made records for the twelve people who could see her when she stood sideways in the dime store.” because I’m like, shit. Oh yeah.
credits: small spells tarot deck by Rachel Howe
Rose Mask by Jared Joseph
“Something on Your Mind” by Karen Dalton
Dear diary, do you have a book or song coming out soon that you would like to promote in a very roundabout way to a deeply engaged, elusive band of readers? Some of them got spiders in their brains but they’re all right for the very most part. I would love to tell them all about you. Please click here if you are interested in seeing your work featured here. X S
* Sometimes you gotta be upside down. Nothing personal
** Oh yeah, he’s fine
*** He did it to himself by virtue of living in a realm of duality. (No blame in it.)
**** Yes, although the purpose isn’t his
***** He is his own victim, but only if he resists. His enemy is whatever he can’t make peace with
****** More of a problem play than a good or bad anything