Six Levels of Internet Conversation

Coversation on the Internet runs a wide gamut from placid to heatedly adversarial, as usual polite norms of face-to-face personal conversation are set a side in greater or lesser degree. The following is my summary based on observation and personal experience after a number of years. I hope nobody is personally or specifically offended -- moderators and admins especially. It is a dangerous topic to write about and no insult or criticism is intended,...

Must-reads for the coming year are already stacking up here:

Possession by A. S. Byatt. Finished in January.
Your Face Tomorrow (3 vols) by Javier Marias
The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa
The Original of Laura by Vladimir Nabokov
Verdun by Jules Romains
Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
Who Killed Jesus? by John Dominic Crossan

January
1/3 Possession by A. S. Byatt
1/18 2666 by Roberto Bolano. A reread....

Nightmare

Two nights ago I was sitting in my office at work, whiling away the minutes, when the receptionist rang and said the applicant had arrived.
I went down to the reception area and met the most stunningly beautiful young woman I had ever seen. She was sleekly dressed in an exquisite business suit, had designer-cut and coiffed hair, and was beautifully made up with eye-shadowed doe eyes, blusher, the works. She looked as if she had come straight from the cover of Vogue...

Just Stop

My Muse rebuked me
just this morning
as she woke me
from my nightmare

Stop being
so all-consuming
wrapped up
in your own self
your own wants
your own thoughts
your own doubts
your own fears
your own horrors
your own agony
your own
nightmares
just
stop

Modern Cities Disguise

Modern cities disguise
within their gleaming aluminized walls
and silver blinded aqua windows
reflecting back the heat and light of day
with mirrored views of cloudless sky
plains of horizontal tops of desks
with legs beneath torsos above computers on
between the vertical sinews of shafts and cables
and tendons of steel and cubicle walls
connected aloft by aetherized conversation
segments...