{"id":5089,"date":"2009-07-17T10:53:13","date_gmt":"2009-07-17T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=5089"},"modified":"2009-07-17T11:07:50","modified_gmt":"2009-07-17T15:07:50","slug":"looking-glass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/looking-glass\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"T<\/span>his week, a little something different: Usually, I start my Friday post by pulling something at random from the last seven days’ selections at whiskey river<\/em><\/a>. Then I go on to include a handful of poems, quotations, film clips, and\/or songs to which the whiskey river<\/em> snippet led me (by whatever inscrutable chain of thoughts).<\/p>\n

Today, I’ve already got some poetry which I encountered elsewhere<\/a> (scroll down to see #4<\/a>)<\/em> in the last week, poetry which I really liked.<\/p>\n

With that already rustling in my head, then, I stopped by at whiskey river<\/em>‘s archives, called whiskey river’s commonplace book<\/em>, and just started to browse.<\/p>\n

From whiskey river’s commonplace book<\/em><\/a> (no specific link; it’s about halfway down the page):<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over a dock railing, I watch the minnows, thousands, swirl
\nthemselves, each a minuscule muscle, but also, without the
\nway to create current, making of their unison (turning, re-
\ninfolding,<\/span>
\nentering and exiting their own unison in unison) making of
\nthemselves a<\/span>
\nvisual current, one that cannot freight or sway by
\nminutest fractions the water\u2019s downdrafts and upswirls, the
\ndockside cycles of finally-arriving boat-wakes, there where
\nthey hit deeper resistance, water that seems to burst into
\nitself (it has those layers), a real current though mostly
\ninvisible sending into the visible (minnows) arrowing
\nmotion that forces change —<\/span>
\nthis is freedom. This is the force of faith. Nobody gets
\nwhat they want. Never again are you the same. The longing
\nis to be pure. What you get is to be changed. More and more by
\neach glistening minute, through which infinity threads itself,
\nalso oblivion, of course, the aftershocks of something
\nat sea. Here, hands full of sand, letting it sift through
\nin the wind, I look in and say take this, this is
\nwhat I have saved, take this, hurry. And if I listen
\nnow? Listen, I was not saying anything. It was only
\nsomething I did. I could not choose words. I am free to go.
\nI cannot of course come back. Not to this. Never.
\nIt is a ghost posed on my lips. Here: never.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Jorie Graham [source<\/em><\/a>])<\/p>\n

Not from whiskey river<\/em>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Mirror Poems<\/strong>
\n(excerpts)<\/em><\/p>\n

Prologue:
\nIf she could only break the glass —<\/span>
\nthe silver is already peeled back like first skin<\/span>
\nleaving a thin<\/span>
\ntransparent thing that floats across the ground<\/span>
\nin front of her: this white shadow.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. what a mirror thinks
\na mirror thinks it has no self<\/span>
\nso it wants to be everything it sees<\/span><\/p>\n

it also thinks everything is flat<\/span><\/p>\n

put a bunch together<\/span>
\n& they think they see<\/span>
\nthe back side of the moon<\/span><\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

6. the mirror & time
\nthe mirror IS NOT immortal<\/span>
\nin fact it only has nine lives:<\/span><\/p>\n

the first one is a thief<\/span>
\nthe second a baker<\/span>
\nthe third plays the harpsichord<\/span>
\nthe fourth lives in the iron-bound<\/span>
\nsection of newark &<\/span>
\neats pork sausage<\/span>
\nthe fifth predictably drinks<\/span>
\nthe sixth goes into the convent<\/span>
\nbut the seventh (this gets better)<\/span>
\nmarries her father<\/span>
\n& humps up like a camel<\/span>
\nthe eighth cries a lot and ZAP<\/span>
\nchanges into a writer<\/span><\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

8. the mirror & the new math
\ninside the mirror<\/span>
\nopens up like the number zero<\/span>
\nyou swim around in there<\/span>
\nbob up<\/span>
\n& drown<\/span>
\nlike the rat in Wonderland’s flood.<\/span>
\nyour tail would like to hook a reason,<\/span><\/p>\n

but you keep coming<\/span>
\nface to face<\/span>
\nbreast to breast<\/span>
\nwith yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

you fall backwards & away, even<\/span>
\nthink that you are lost<\/span>
\nIn Oceanic O,<\/span><\/p>\n

but you are still<\/span>
\npinned to an inverse.<\/span><\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Epilogue:
\nAlways straining toward her image, the girl<\/span>
\nlet go.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tentacles of light<\/span>
\nunlocked<\/span>
\nlike hooks of parasite<\/span><\/p>\n

& she came back<\/span>
\nin dark so dark,<\/span><\/p>\n

she cannot see by sight<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(by Toi Derricotte [source<\/em><\/a> (the whole thing is worth reading; that’s the only place I could find which included them all)]\n

O<\/span>kay, now, about that image at the top right: It shows a mug in front of a True Mirror<\/a>\u00ae. The True Mirror is a commercial variation of what’s called a non-reversing mirror. To make one, you join two mirrors along one edge, at a 90-degree angle. If you do this close to perfectly, the resulting image will show no seam down the middle of what the eye sees: the object of the reflection as it would be seen by an observer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you think of your face as more or less symmetrical, you’re in for a shock the first time you see it in a True Mirror. Which ties, as it happens, to a theory developed by the True Mirror’s inventor and his sister: the “hair-part theory<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

A left hair part draws unconscious attention to the activities that are controlled by the left hemisphere of the brain, i.e. activities traditionally attributed to masculinity. A right hair part draws unconscious attention to the activities that are controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain, i.e. activities traditionally attributed to femininity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This has led the Walters to infer, for example, that how a politician parts his or her hair can influence the outcome of a Presidential election.<\/p>\n

F<\/span>inally… Once I’d settled on the theme of this post, I thought, You know, you really ought to include something about identical twins<\/em>. I took a couple detours — okay, several — and stumbled across an odd little bit (you never know where your mind will lead you) about a classic Japanese B-grade horror film, Mothra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"If you don’t know the movie, there’s plenty of information about it online (including, duh, at Wikipedia<\/a> and IMDB<\/a>). But the specific bit I want to focus on here isn’t the giant moth or the destruction it wreaks. No, I have my mind on the events which lead to the moth’s feeling destructive in the first place: the abduction of the two singing, moth-worshiping girls from the island.<\/p>\n

The girls in question were actually a pair of twins, a Japanese “girl group” called The Peanuts. Here’s what one page<\/a> says about them, in reviewing an album of their music:<\/p>\n

…the singers, Emi & Yumi Ito, known as The Peanuts, are the same twins that appeared in all the early Mothra related films as the twin fairy’s [sic<\/em>] also known as Shobijin. In the Mothra films you either loved or hated their singing. I’m one of those that enjoyed the simple, pleasant, harmonies of the Mothra songs they sang.<\/p>\n

Born on April 1, 1941 in Aichi prefecture, Emi Ito (Birth name Hideyo Ito) and her twin sister Yumi Ito (Birth name Tsukiko Ito) were known as the popular singing duo The Peanuts. They were discovered by Watanabe Pro founder Sho Watanabe when he first saw them performing at a club in Nagoya as the Ito Sisters, and in 1958 brought them to Tokyo, where they were dubbed The Peanuts. Their records were very popular in Japan during the 1950’s & 1960’s. I’ve been told they even appeared here in the U.S. on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. They also appeared in several films including several Mothra and Godzilla films. The duo retired from performing 4 April 1975.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Much to my surprise, YouTube includes a video with clips from the film as The Peanuts (here called “the Mothra Twins”) sing their song summoning their caterpillar god — with English-language lyrics provided in a voiceover:<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

As an aside, Mothra<\/em> itself actually got a semi-favorable review<\/a> from The New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

For several seasons now the Tokyo studios have been turning out this kind of diversion, with some kind of monstrosity terrorizing the country and rattling the screen in an overpowering blend of scenic effects, ranging from obvious to striking.<\/p>\n

This one is different, if not exactly superior. There’s that color, as pretty as can be, that now and then smites the eye with some genuinely artistic panoramas and d\u00e9cor designs… [The] picture also contains the outest [*] set of twins (the Itoh [sic<\/em>?] Sisters) any monster ever roared into town to rescue. That’s the plot, and basically it goes back to “King Kong” and it’s the best one since “Konga,” not long ago.<\/p>\n

As tricked up here (cleverly, too), the twins are exactly one foot high, have been stolen from their island home (presided over by a giant egg) and put into a Tokyo show. In any case, Mothra cracks that egg, slithers into town as a giant caterpillar and finally flies the girls out. It’s as touchingly bizarre a climax as we’ve seen in years. Fantastic though the plot may be, there are some genuinely penetrating moments, such as the contrast of the approaching terror and those patient, silvery-voiced little “dolls,” serenely awaiting rescue. Several of the special effects shots are brilliant, such as the sight of a giant cocoon nestling against a large city’s power station tower.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah, the innocence of 1962…<\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

<\/strong>* I know: outest<\/em>? No idea what that means. In 1962, the odds that this referred to anything at all about gayness were vanishingly slim. All I can think of is the construction “out<\/em> there,” meaning “really far from the norm,” but even that seems a stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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