On Monday I worked on some ideas for my
essay. I was close reading a section from T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland that goes
“Elizabeth and Leicester / Beating oars / The stern was
formed / A gilded shell / Red and gold / The brisk swell / Rippled both shores
/ Southwest wind / Carried down stream / The peal of bells / White towers”.
This is what I got from it: Queen
Elizabeth I and the Earl of Leicester are having sex in a boat, or perhaps she
is the boat. “Beating oars” implies a sexual rhythm of copulation. The oar is a
phallus rhythmically penetrating the waters of both Elizabeth and the Thames.
To beat someone is also to conquer them and Elizabeth in this sense is a
conquest of Robert Dudley. Elizabeth’s behind, her “stern” is well formed; her
pubic fur is golden red like her hair. The brisk swell is Leicester’s quick
erection and upon penetration it rippled both shores, meaning both of their
bodies. The vocal sounds of pleasure sounds like the peal of bells. The white
towers are Elizabeth’s naked white breasts as she lies on her back.
The
Thames travels east through London. But Eliot’s accounts of sex in boats
travels upstream. The girl from Highbury, north of London Bridge, was undone in
Richmond at Kew Gardens. The trip from the bridge to the gardens is against the
current. Her clothes were undone and then she was undone. Against the current
and against her will till Kew where she willingly raises her knees, then the
trip is downstream until she raises her legs at Moorgate. Afterwards he weeps
but she resents nothing.
Continuing
the flow downstream we are at sea and then on the beach in Margate. It’s hard
to know if it’s the Highbury girl that is at Margate, since there are so many
characters speaking in this poem.
I was playing
Arcade Fire’s album, “Reflector” at midday, as I got ready to go to the
supermarket. I left it playing as I left and was surprised that the music still
sounded almost as loud from the bottom of the stairs by the exit.
I rode down to the
No Frills at Jameson and King because I was low on fruit and yogourt. It was
still slushy out after our recent storms but it was a quite a warm day. At No
Frills the beefsteak tomatoes were cheap, so I got one. I picked up a package
of blueberries. Their grapes were more expensive than the ones at Freshco this
week but I got a small bag anyway because I love grapes. I bought a pack of old
cheddar because starting Wednesday I’ll be stopping eating meat and dairy for
40 days, so I wanted to have a last taste of good cheese before my taste buds
starve. With that fast in mind I grabbed a jar of dry roasted peanuts and a
carton of coconut milk.
The
man in the wheelchair in front of me at the express checkout made a valiant
effort to reach for the divider stick to separate his groceries from mine but
his arm could only reach halfway across the belt. I thanked him and got it
myself. He apologetically but good naturedly said, “My arms are too short!”
Before the cashier had a chance to put my dividing bar on the side, the elderly
man behind me asked politely if I would pass it to him, so I did. He thanked me
very much and then said to the woman behind him as he put the bar down, “To
give you some space.” The express cashier, an attractive young woman of East
Indian descent and with a nose ring, had her nails done in a deep blue polish
and with very sharp points. She asked if I wanted plastic bags and I said I
didn’t, but asked if she had any of the large sized cloth bags. They only had the
small, so I didn’t get any. As I was packing my groceries an elderly woman at
the end of the next counter, said to the cashier that she’d just paid, “I know
your name! It’s Shasisti!” The cashier smiled and said, “That’s not my name.
It’s Shasistisia.” The old woman said, “I’m 83 years old. My brain is bad!” The
cashier said, “That’s okay!”
As
I rode up Jameson the cars backed up at the Queen light were too close to the
curb, so I got off to walk around the corner. A pedestrian dropped his empty PC
shopping bag and another man that didn’t know him called out in a teasing but
friendly way, “Don’t lose your bag! I’ll take that bag!” Then he looked at me
and winked. The warmer weather seemed to put everyone in a good mood.
When
I got home Reflector was still playing and it was only half done. I started it
again but there was static or rattling coming through on the bass. I might have
blown my speakers or I guess it could be a problem with the amp. The amplifier
is about twenty years old but the speakers were second hand when I got them at
least thirty years ago. I’m thinking that if it were the amp it wouldn’t
suddenly happen after playing at high volume, so it’s a better guess that I
have blown my subwoofer. I do have some computer speakers that I found a couple
of years ago, though I don’t know if they work and I don’t have time till after
the end of school to fiddle around with them to find out.
That
night I watched the season finale of Star Trek. It wasn’t particularly dramatic
for a story that was supposed to close things down till next fall. The war that
the Federation was about to lose was suddenly turned around and ended without a
single photon torpedo being fired, which seemed kind of lame. The previous
episode had quite a bit of action, which makes me wonder if the last two were
designed to be shown at the same time, just like it seems to me to have been
the case with the first two. The series was good but they didn’t begin or end
the season very well. The cliff-hanger for next season comes about when
Discovery is taking Serek back to Vulcan they receive a distress call from
another Federation ship that turns out to be The Enterprise, captained by
Christopher Pike. It’s left unspoken and we only see a look between Michael and
Serek to indicate it, but we know that serving aboard the Enterprise is the
young science officer, Serek’s son, Spock.
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