11 March 2017

My point is—don't judge. He imagined a Valentine's day card, himself ascending to heaven on wings, leaving his lover earth-bound. Scared himself so he walked to the store, bought a card and a STAY CALM mug. In class, we talked about the difference between “mug” as signifier and signified. My mug melds into lug and luggage and engage and wage and always at the end there's war. Steve Bannon wants to “deconstruct the administrative state” and, while I want to say Derrida didn't use the word that way, I figure it's trivial, such mid-course correction. If we use them, we're “enemies of the state,” the one that's imploding like a building sinking into its own dust. The children love it, confusing dump trucks with one that killed a major league pitcher, he who sang so sweetly on the mound. They release pigeons, don't they? She wonders how to listen to Trump supporters without judgment, declares she can't. Tim says they tried back, suggesting he join the Log Cabin Republicans. Our former president paints portraits of the wounded, tells us how important it is to talk things through. The sergeant's face frames one dark eye, one aquamarine.

--11 March 2017