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Archive Number 2481

Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 14:38:07 -0700
From: Bobby Avstreih
Subject: Andre's poem





Andre
I appreciated what you said about the process of your poem-story about John.
I will be blunt, as usual, since I find it hard to be subtle on computer
without the ebbs and flows of voice-music and body-dance, but I beg your
indulgence and hope that you find the concepts stimulating and not
oppressive. I find it ironic that, as the one who set off the firestorm over
Elisa'a suggestion of "That Is Good" for dealing with chronic pain, I now
criticize the opposite extreme of "wasted" life. Maybe Henry Kissinger lived
a "wasted life" in that he had both power and intelligence and still could
not do "good", but as for your friend John???
I only know that in some social communities, such as the blues musicians, AA
friends and African-American communities with whom I have shared parts of my
life, lives are spoken of as lived, not wasted. "Waste" is a judgement,
almost a condemnation: a demand for more than that person had to give.
Loss, longing, sympathy, anger, sorrow and regret...or maybe, "there but for
the Grace of God go I"... but those communities of long-time suffering and
unfulfilled promise have taught me to be more grateful, humble and outright
sad than to think in terms of "wasted".
Hope this came across to you OK, and without too much judgement from my
"voice". Bobby





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