RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,315
(the emperor of nothing at all, pt. SEVENTEEN)
It occurred to me once how the
Great Giver is also the Grim
Reaper. I guess we give God
a lot to do? I wanted to ask
Jack Stove about that one.
I also wanted to ask about
what his feelings were about
those things I mentioned in
the last chapter - about those
who change and alter landscapes
and places they inhabit. On that
last count, I actually did make
mention of it, questioning him
once. He said: 'Generally I
dislike people and the things
they do - especially those
headstrong types who think
their 'power' comes from
altering and re-arranging. I'm
a solitary type and never much
like being bothered. I think the
land and the living on it should
be serene, and stable. But there
are people who have to put their
mark on everything they touch.
When those other people there
began their house buildings
along that part of the road, at
first I was really angry, but that
just turned, later, to annoyance.
Now, I don't even think about
it, or them. They're so dumb that
they're invisible to me. I make
it that way. They put up their
homes in, mostly, the nicest way,
easy on the cutting and culling,
they put their service drive, and
septics and wells and all that,
in the right and the most considerate
places, for others not to be bothered.
Maybe that was all the doing of each
builder, not even the people who were
coming. What do I know? But then
once they got here, then they began
all that annoying stuff that people
do, right down to the most stupid
stuff - like the mailboxes. Along
the dirt road; it's not enough for
them to put some old RFD box on
a pole. Their tastes run to other
things : little plastic mailbox barns,
in red, no less. Cartoon characters,
animals. Stupidest, dumb shit in
the world - but that brings them a
form of happiness? How can that be?
That's a small example that I can make,
and I wonder what the rest of their minds
must be filled with if they end up with
thinks like that as their 'identity'. And
then, from that, there's some sort of
claim that takes over, even down here
in this deep-hole of a valley road.
Trimmings. Lawns. Flowers. Shrubs.
Everything wrong. We don't get that
sort of sunlight along here that warrants
all that, especially stupid is the idea of
a lawn. Lawns should be outlawed,
they're so damned stupid - all that
care and idle time, chemicals and
cutting, etc. A great wasted bunch
of everything. The shrubbery they
think of putting in? You wouldn't
believe the ornamental crap they
try to root here - Home Depot
imported, non-native crap; twisted
little things from China and Japan.
These people get it all wrong, don't
even have a right feel for the natural
life they apparently signed up for -
at least one go-round's worth anyway.
But everybody thinks they're a tom-fool
gardener and just keep going at it.
The damn kids are worse than the
parents - they run through here,
ripping off branches, cutting limbs
just for the fun. Leaving their crap
all around. I'd love to see then when
they're 50, all bent and grievous
about the junk they used to do. It
always turns out that way.'
-
I told him a little about my own
perspective - which I think he got.
How - as I was growing up - each house
was exactly alike, in small yards that
were postage-stamp sized and with
nary any real space (I used that word
to see if it would catch him. It didn't),
and how each Dad treasured and
cared for those tiny yards as if they
were the normal expanse of acreage
in these parts. Lawns and mowing
and fertilizers and all that which
he mentioned. He said, 'Yes, back
in Queens too, those houses were
like though, cramped together, but
with strips of grass, not really lawns,
and the same people got crazy with
that. I could never get it. What drove
them? Now, here, it's the same, in a
way, but with even far less reason.'
-
Trying to think of something to say,
sensibly enough, for myself I came
up probably with one of those stupid
statements that you immediately wish
you hadn't uttered. But it went over OK:
'A man tramps where he wishes to go,
I guess, not really taking in the totality
of place and what he's doing. He thinks
it's his place, and he's making it over.
The same tendencies of thought that
rule his life then rule his 'place' as well.
Straight cuts, the logics of linearity,
efficiency and 'neatness' seem always
to take over. Now one ever mows a
crooked path; they're always straight,
or haven't you noticed?'
-
We kicked it around a bit, and he
did end up saying, as I recall, a bit
about everything, at bottom, comes
down to being a part of a person's
personal pride, a self-image of how
they think and are living. He did
say he thought there wasn't anything
really 'wrong' with that, except for the
fact that it eventually causes all sorts
of problems that grow from it, and
then people get all crazy ruining the
world over the crisis-reasons they
themselves have caused : too many
people, pollution, chemicals, crowding,
disease and rancor between groups.
'I just wish people would leave things
alone. There's something about the
human mark that has to leave a stain
on everything or people just are not
happy.' It sure was odd to have him
end up like that, on the word 'Happy!'
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