JAN’S DAILY FRESH NEWS

                      © 2001: Jan Cox
                                       *****************************************************

September 12, 2001.
 

 
                                                                         Front Page News
 
 

                            THE CITY & THE MAYOR
                                 __________________
 
 

Beneath the pavement lies the sewer system, the electrical cables,
and the city’s communication network;
above the pavement resides the mayor --
who nominally directs the city’s minute by minute operations,
and its longer range plans for its future.
 
 
 

    PEOPLE FORGET WHERE EVERYTHING COMES FROM
            ____________________________________________

Even the mayor, as he eats his breakfast, forgets that:
milk does not come from cartons; potatoes from bags,  nor meat from delis.
 
 

 
                                         TIME
                                        ________

Beneath the pavement, there is no time;
only the mayor deals in the commodity,
and all he proclaims, pertinent thereto,
rolls unheard,
out the gutters of the sewers down below.
 
 
 

                 THE OVERLOOKED ROLE OF PLEASURE
                        _________________________________

The reason people will pay unnecessary costs for life essentials,
(food at a restaurant; a bed to sleep on; sex/pornography) is that
they are so pleasurable that costs related thereto seem downright irrelevant.
The mayor continually tries to “create” new zones of pleasure,
but for some reason (political, no doubt)
insists on labeling them as, “good for you”.
 
 
 

 EVERYTHING HAS A COST; NOTHING COSTS ANYTHING
            _________________________________________

Beneath the pavement, everything is self sustaining,
but the mayor pretends (for political reasons, no doubt)
that were it not for his direction, the city would fall apart.
At times the mayor is of assistance to the health of the city,
but his impression of his role is larger than the facts warrant.
Such pretense in the city costs no one anything;
that is one of its singularities.
 

              COMPENSATION & THE ILLUSION THEREOF
                                 _____________________
 

Beneath the pavement, salaries do not exist;
only the mayor insists on compensation,
and requires not anything tangible, (like food),
but settles for farts-in-the-wind   --   fame --
...a little recognition now & then…
even though few of his activities deserve same,
but he gets his desired due since it costs the below ground nothing.
 
 

 
                             PRIDE OF PROFESSION
                                 ___________________

Besides farming, what job is honorable?
For what other service can a man un shamefully charge?
Even the mayor feigns disinterest in this,
(not surprising, based on his proclivity for nepotism --
...not to mention his total impotence in so many areas).
 
 
 

                                  FONS ET ORIGO
                             _________________________

The city’s existence depends on that which is
beneath the pavement;
it was there from that the city originally arose,
and was then from the city that the mayor appeared,
but being a late arriver, he forgets his roots,
assuming the mantle of, “self-made” -- his own horn he toots,
as if always up for reelection in a place of no opposition.
 
 

                    DE RIGUEUR & DE EMBARRASSING
                           ___________________________

The city is totally dependent on the world beneath the pavement;
most of what transpires above seems intent on denial of same,
(the mayor being the mouthpiece of the movement).

                      It is Good to be mayor  --
you can think of yourself & your city however you please.
 
 

                                        * * *
 
 
 

                          Second Section: Sports & Entertainment.
 
 

There is an automatic flow to things which makes things work;
it makes them run efficiently beneath the pavement & also above.
Most people automatically accept the automatic flow,
a few are born with a unique trachea
which causes the upper flow to stick in their throats.
The slight, resulting discomfort drives them to seek relief,
but in applying all of their attention to  the above pavement,
automatic flow,
they ignore its origins, (beneath the pavement),
an oversight that dooms their efforts.
The situation is complicated by the fact that if this is mentioned to them they will immediately say that they are fully aware of it,
and then proceed full speed in their ignoring of it.

All that the city feels is dependent on the world beneath the pavement,
yet all declarations of how the city feels come from sources
above the pavement,
and having no competing voices,
the descriptions are fully subscribed to.
This presents no distress --  unless
you are one of those who chokes on the upper, automatic flow.
The general population accepts that they feel
how their voices say that they feel  --  “Big deal!” (they think,
regarding the few), “What’s you guys’ problem?!”

Automaticism is the true life’s blood of this universe,
and of your city  --  in its normal entirety,
and if you do not like it --  then do something about it!
And you can do something about it.

You, as would-be mayor, can only whine & be distracted by
the activities of yours & everyone else’s city
by being inattentive to where everything comes from:
from beneath your feet;
anything that does not,
is simply something that your present mayor
(who is what is really sticking in your craw)
pretends he has in his pocket.

Sports & entertainment help pass the time for those, not farmers,
but to free yourself from the meaningless, illusionary plows
present only above the pavement,
you must constantly be attentive to the distinction between the two realms:  one substantive   --   one,  dream-sweets,
the mayor pretends to have in his pocket.

             Everything seekers-of-the-secret search for
                          is beneath their feet.
 

                                    J