"Looking", part 2: for you who are old or think you may be some day

A guy who bunked with me at Ft. Ord used "peering" for "looking," as I have used the term. Every leave day, he would declare his intention to go out "peering at girls."

I had not heard "peer" used in that way. My only recollection of the word is from Pirates of Penzance:

Ladies, do not shun me!

This evening I renounce my vile profession;

And, to that end, O pure and peerless maidens!

Oh, blushing buds of ever-blooming beauty!

I, sore at heart,

I, sore at heart,

Implore your kind assistance.

I have not heard "peer" used as my comrade used it since. I thought it touching. I find the whole "looking" or "peering" matter delicate and touching.

But I digress, though digression without a theme is -- well -- play.

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This painting

by Paul Cadmus reminds me of Stare's No Exit, a play. "Hell," Sartre says, "is other people." Unfulfillable desire [and how many of you haven't experienced it?] is nearly as painful as vain regret, but more delicious. Bah! Abolish both!

So must we stand with Sophocles, when all we can do is look? [Plato, The Republic, Book l]:

Cephalus: . . . I was present . . . one time when someone asked the poet Sophocles: "How are you in regard to sex, Sophocles? Can you still make love to a woman?" Hush man, the poet replied, I am very glad to have escaped from this, like a slave who has escaped from a mad and cruel master." I thought then that he was right, and I still think so, for a great peace and freedom from these things come with old age . . . .

And I still like to look.

Sophocles overstates: sex, when couple with intimacy, is the greatest sensation the human animal is capable of achieving. When looking is all that is left us -- even when eyes fail and looking must be done with the mind's eye, I would not stand with Sophocles.

So be it when I shall grow old
Or let me die!

Of course Wordsworth was thinking of rainbows while I think of Rainbows (local joke) -- while I think of guys, but no difference that I can see.

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Sophocles' observation that "a great peace and freedom from these things come with old age" is interesting and deserves a separate treatment, which I'll give it later, unless one of you beats me to it.

"Looking", Part 1, from a gay perspective

Oh yeah. As if you haven't.

Some of these are imagined . . .

. . . .some posed . . . .

. . .and some aren't.

Looking normally implies some sexual excitation . . .

. . . sometimes mere curiosity is at play.

Some, posed or not, express the heart's deep longing.

This one

tugs at my heart strings.

The Youngman being peered at

reminds me of Botticelli's Primavera

Many of my women friends,, when we were younger, pattered their style of dress after "Spring" in this painting. Many a man, for 500 years, spoke highly of Spring, while peering covertly to the left of the painting. I did so myself, wen I was young. Being closeted is not a good way to be.

I've been here, too.

Some solicit glances . . .

Others work hard to get one.

These guy are definitely, defiantly NOT looking. . . .

End of Part 1

Poor little rich boys: young Saudi princes at play

Womanless young Saudi men at play. These images are from the New York Times, and I am grateful to The Times for allowing me to capture them for you. I've wanted to show them to you for a long time now.

You should know that these young men are not allowed any contact with women until thy are married. Even the department stores have special days for men to shop and other special days for women to shop.

In spite of their evident wealth, I think these pictures sown some of the saddest folks on Creation.

We we keep sending them billions of oil dollars.

Thanks, Tea Partiers.

Dada and 'Paraphysics

DADA

Dada artists aimed to shock, and in the repressed atmosphere of the first half of the 20th Century, they did.

The images are no longer shocking . . .

. . . or even very interesting [this was an anti-war poster] . . .

. . . except to art historians. Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase survived in posers well into he 50s and perhaps later, possibly because of the title.

'PATAPHYSICS

The most interesting connection with Dada (unless Dylan Thomas is a Dadaist, which surprises me), is 'pataphysics, introduced to me by a polymath, Roger Shattuck, at the University of Texas. 'Pataphysics changed my life, for the better. The peculiar way 'pataphysicians see "reality' continues to influence me by, for example, enclosing "reality" in quotation marks.

'PATAPHYSICAL FISH

the fish moved to france.

but once upon a time,

pataphysical fish were swimming through the galleys...

An example of contemporary 'pataphysical art. If this doesn't please you in some undefinable way, you are not a 'pataphysician.

Literature is the best way to experience 'pataphysics, and a way into 'pataphysics is through the Evergreen Review, which I discover to my astonishment is still being published. There is even an on-line version. I recommend it to those with eyes to see. See if you can find editions published in the late 50s.

There are also lively discussions of matters 'pataphysical on the web. See, for example, Heather McDougal's blog.

I read every issue of the Evergreen Review until I went off to War; and when I came back, it was to law school -- a different kind of war less suited to my temperament -- and I forgot about my love of 'pataphysics, until I started to write this blog.

I'm not much for words anymore. For words, I refer you to the inestimable Wikipedia. The definition I like best is "'Pataphysics is as far beyond metaphysics as metaphysics is beyond physics."

I have found these images:

In honor of a grandson

I guess this isn't 'pataphysical, but it caught my eye and I want to share it with you.

Most contemporary 'pataphysical art is not representational, so I don't like it; but I like the colors in this one, which is entitled Rising Landscape with Pataphysical Investigation.

This is not a Beetles' creation, but it might have been.

This is entitled Vibrating Shakespeare.

And this, of course, I like.

By and large I'm not a fan of pataphysical art. Go with the literature, you who can. I love the memory of it.