Nonsensical: Lewis Carroll & Jonathan Swift & Ogden Nash Would Be Proud

I know I am taking literary licence, suggesting Carroll and Swift and Nash would, if alive, give faint notice to what Seattle's taxi industry is facing.  I mention the English Carroll (1832-1898), given his madcap poetry and Alice stories where politics of the day were turned about their absurd head. The Anglo-Irish Swift (1667-1745) took societal satire to new heights that to this day remain unsurpassed.  The American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971) enjoyed cheerfully poking fun at life's idiocy, wanting everyone to understand that normal people live insane lives.  What I do believe is that all three would understand just how distorted the current crisis is, nothing making sense while entities like the City of Seattle and Uber shout it is all perfectly clear. 

This also reminds me of American poet John Ashbery's poem of about 1976, inspired by the Francesco Parmigianino painting, "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" which suggests to me anyone thinking a bent and broken reality is cohesive and whole need another set of eyeglasses if not new eyes altogether.  This quote from the tail end of this rather long poem says much about the situation:

"There is no other way, and those assholes
Who would confuse everything with their mirror games
Which seem to multiply stakes and possibilities, or
At least confuse issues by means of an investing
Aura that would corrode the architecture
Of the whole in a haze of suppressed mockery
Are beside the point."

One response might be is that Seattle's City Council doesn't realize how poetic they are, but of course I am joking, humor perhaps the best response to blind insults.

Roughly inspired by Carroll, I will add,

"Kings and Queens sat in judgement, not for a moment asking why,
telling everyone without telling anyone why the taxis must die,

dryly commenting it is all for the public good
progress leaping forward embracing a new day

the executor's face hidden behind a black and opaque hood,
a sharp ax slicing off the head minus any final say!"

I also thought of having two frazzled professors entering the council chambers
shouting "Demand, Demand, Demand!" but that's too obvious, isn't it?

Taking hints from Swift,

"In the Land of Winter and Thaw,

  No one cared nor heeded, no, not at all

 When big Shoes trod upon compliant meek,

 Ignoring their death knells, final pathetic, despondent squeaks

 Knowing that what is good is always best

 Not understanding that one day even they too will be called upon

 To confess!"


Or, "In the Land of the Big and Tall, the Mighty decide what is Real and what is Law!

Anyone familiar with Ogden Nash knows he has a lighter and kinder hand.  And in that light,

                                        We all gathered in a room
                                        worried and wrapped in gloom
                                        listening to Operational Society
                                        debate our fate in tones not nice
                                        ignoring our pleas and lament
                                        corralling our argument inside a fence,

                                        knowing we are unhappy,
                                        feeling run over, feeling crappy
                                        telling us our death is the best of health
                                        hidden somewhere within our future wealth
                                        so don't complain, don't cry
                                        as everyone lives, you also die!

Did You Know?

That of the 200 more or less Flat-rate for hire licenses only 57 are held by individuals.  What about the rest?  Ha Ha Ha!  More upon this subject later but the implications are many.

That Uber is funding a referendum asking Seattle voters to condone illegal activity.  I have decided my next cause will be to do the same for Seattle's shoplifters.  Think of how happy Macy's will be when after the vote anyone can enter their stores and steal to their heart's content.

Much more of course later!