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OLIVER NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2011, #2
THE EXPEDITION SETS OUT
DANGER LOOSE IN THE LAND
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GIVE A THUMBS-UP TO THE OLIVER ARTS AND OPEN PRESS
 ERIC LARSEN, FOUNDER & PUBLISHER
ADAM ENGEL, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
"The Nation's Last Truly Independent Press" 

THE EXPEDITION SETS OUT,

POETRY FROM ALAN SALANT, AUTHOR OF

ABLONG

Dip up a ladleful anywhere from this Man at Lathebroad pool of enigmatic yet plain and transparent words. What are these, you'll ask, these alluring strings of sounds and beguiling images? Well, they come from the workings of a wonderfully complex and adventurous mind--in fact, maybe they are the workings of that mind, the record of what that mind's possessor discovered in the "expedition" that we know, from the title of the book, just recently set out.

 

Alan Salant is many things: Student of philosophy, student of math history, and inquirer into the nature not only of human society but of existence itself. Like his thoughts, Salant's poems can be surreal, funny, deep, towering, while always wide-ranging and allusive, moving effortlessly, for example, from Dostoevsky, Gauss, and DNA to personal laundry. ("Sometimes that's what I think / And other times I have trouble figuring out / Which shirt to wear.")

 

For many readers, these pieces will be a wholly new kind of poetry, appealingly direct, philosophically nimble, a bit like an unexpected good conversation or chancing upon a wonderful lunch companion. Others will hear earlier voices in the poems ("I went to meet my instincts / And they came to meet me. / It had been a long time since we met") or will sense earlier sights and artists ("This committee should not only have people on it, / But swaying trees, and birds in the early morning, / Perhaps a few owls at night, / And some of those single-celled beings, / And bacteria that form a second self, / Making a cloud of life round every animal. . .").

 

Archibald MacLeish wrote that "A poem should not mean / But be," and people have been spilling ink over the point ever since. Some of us don't take sides on the MacLeishian dictum, however, since we think that a poem can both mean and be. That's also the position we hold about the poems in The Expedition Sets Out. They're much too full of observant, charming (and, yes, deep) argument not to have meaning. And they're much too witty and deft in the way they exist on the page not to give pleasure simply for their being.

 

Take this passage from "Calluses of Eternity." Test it to see whether the poem can be without meaning, or whether it can mean without being.

 

Don't forget: This is a test, so you've got to concentrate and be very, very serious--although, certainly, this test will be among the most curiously rewarding you'll ever take. Our recommendation: Buy the bookand prolong this wonderful exam.

  

I think the Twentieth Century said no.

(A schoolgirl told me it was back

When Hitler was preparing the Petri dish of existentialism

And Lenin, Stalin, and Mao devoted lives

To sullying the name of Community.)

I think the Twentieth Century said,

"I will show you horrors

That will silence your hopes,

So that all you hear is nothingness,

Breed a permanent silence.

And when the dust settles I will leave you with a deafening ideology

Suitable for corpses,

That it's everyone against everyone else,

And between naps and boardroom massacres

You'll puzzle over why you still can't love your neighbor

Two millennia after it was all explained, wasn't it?"

 

But we are in a new Century.

A new millennium,

And there is plenty of time for despair later.

For now, again we hope.

 

CLICK HERETO READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE EXPEDITION SETS OUT

CLICK HERETO BUY A COPY OF THE BOOK

 

ABOUT ALAN SALANT  

ALAN SALANT studied mathematics and literature at Princeton University. He is a writer--and a thinker--who wishes for a society that places a higher value on introspection and contemplation. He lives in New York City with his long-time domestic partner, Sheila Fallik, a social worker and geriatric care manager. Salant is author of the outstanding short novel, Ablong, published by The Oliver Arts & Open Press in the fall of 2010.  

 

 CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER:
ONLY TRUTH MUST BE THE FOUNDATION OF  POLITICAL POLICY
  

ALCHEMIST

December 19, 2011

For the past several days the National Defense Authorization Act has been in the news, and understandably so. Drafted by senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), the bill changes the nature of national life by aiming to declare all United States national territory a part of the "battlefield" in the War on Terror If the bill is passed, in other words, every place and every thing within the nation's boundaries--your front lawn, your dog run, your kitchen hallway, your stamp collection, the closet you keep your clothes in, the bed you lie down to sleep in--will be part of the battlefield--the battlefield where the so-called war on terror is being waged.

  

Now, if a person is on or in a battlefield, it follows that that person is on or in a place where the rules of battle pertain, that is, where military law pertains.   Suppose that the rules of battle were in place, say, at the intersection of 77th Street and Broadway in New York City. Would the rules of civil law also still pertain? Does anyone know? And does anyone know just exactly who would have the authority to make such a decision--the decision as to whether military law pertained or civil law pertained?

  

We at Oliver have been discussing questions like this one quite energetically, feeling them to be of immeasurable importance. None of us believes for a moment that the drafters of the bill themselves thought such questions all the way through, or that those drafters were fully conscious of them in the first place. The bill, after all, is not based on political or historical knowledge, or on responsible socio-cultural thinking, or on the desire of patriots or men of conscience to do what is best for a free democratic republic dedicated to liberty and governed under Constitutional law.

   

No, this is a bill born of and dedicated to the perpetuation of an enormous, obscene, and absolutely ruinous lie--the lie of 9/11 and all the subsequent lies that that lie has led to--and it is a bill therefore dedicated only to the well-being of those people and institutions that  can benefit from that lie, and, concomitantly, to the destruction of all other people and institutions. It is dedicated, that is, to the ever-growing profit of the military and corporate state while, as far as the nation's people are concerned, it is dedicated not only to crushing their political freedoms of every kind but also to destroying  the freedoms of conscience and of spirit without which any nation will die or, one way or another, eventually be destroyed.

   

Knowing the bill to be this destructive and pernicious, some on the Oliver staff were surprised and encouraged to learn that Congressman Jerrold Nadler (Dem., NY), in an interview with Keith Olbermann (see it here), had spoken publically and with conviction in opposition to it. This was a greatly interesting development. Some proposed that a meeting be arranged with Representative Nadler in order that a group could convey its support for his opposition to the bill. Who knew? Maybe even, given his thinking in this case, he would be open to looking at some of the major new scholarship on 9/11, like Dr. Judy Wood's Where Did the Towers Go-the Evidence of Directed Free-Energy Technology on 9/11, the all-important , paradigm-changing book that The Oliver Arts & Open Press has promoted--with good reason--fervently.

  

In short, Jerry Nadler had created a breath of hope--hope that maybe, conceivably, possibly, the right thing still could be achieved through the otherwise calcified, ossified, petrified, bought-and-paid-for institution of national elected leadership.

 

And so, what happened?  

 

What happened was that another staff member, Oliver's greatly valued assistant editor, "R.T.," who had been quiet (but obviously thoughtful) up to this point, spoke out.

  

He wrote an email and sent it to the rest of the Oliver staff.

 

Here it is, for those interested; and, with it, this communication will come to a close:

 

I smell a rat [R.T. wrote]. I watched Carl Levin announce on the Senate floor that those two amendments [asking that the bill be written so that arrestees not be treated as war criminals, since then they would be protected by the Geneva Conventions, but that they be treated instead as "enemy combatants," since then they would be protected by nothing whatsoever] were requested by the White House. After a time, I came to think of only three likely possibilities about this request: 1) it's an election year, and O'bomba [sic] wants to look like a hero and veto this bill because of these amendments (hoping that no one lets the cat out of the bag about the fact that he requested them), or 2) he's lying about vetoing it, or 3) he's delaying the bill via a threatened veto, because he's against it, but for the reasons Ron Paul stressed: he wants every last shred of citizen protection out of the bill before he signs it.

  

White House officials are now saying that they will recommend he sign it, because: 1) either those protections will be removed when the two bills go to committee to be blended together as the final bill, or 2) his handlers can live with the bill the way it's written, because it fulfills the mandate they wanted, or 3) enough justices on the Supreme Court have secretly seen the final bill and a majority are on board to either refuse to hear a challenge or have agreed to side with the White House lawyers' interpretation of it, should it come before them. In fact, this is where it could actually get more damaging. If the White House lawyers make an argument that expands the provisions to include even more dangerous language, and if the court agrees with the bill, and if that language changes, becoming even more clearly Constitution-shredding,  then we could get even more screwed. We have to get real. These black robed devils are now our Inquisitors in the American Toledo led by our own Torquemada. What the Pope says is law, and their jobs are to enforce Papal doctrines.

  

My guess is that this Congressman from NY [Nadler] is trying to look clean by protesting this bill. Then why didn't he filibuster it? Why didn't any of them filibuster it? Why did Rand Paul in the Senate fight the bill and then vote for it? I don't know enough about how these houses run, but I would have made a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington scene. None of these "patriots" has ever done that in the last thirty years. What Congressman or Senator has openly called anyone that votes for this kind of Enabling Act stuff traitors? Where is the word "treason"  mentioned in Congress? Where? Where are the red faces, the righteous outrage, the body-tensing anger, the screaming rage? Politeness is a virtue? It's death. I read once that a Dutch Jew forgot to lock his house when he was rounded up and got permission to go back and lock it. This is the kind of delusion that surrounds us on all sides.    

 

The American political class are all frauds, all of them. What would it take for one of them to finally use the word "traitor": the allowing of the military to shoot to kill suspects on the streets? Allowing  the rape of small children of "terror" suspects as a message for other would-be terrorists? Where is the fight against this? There isn't any because they don't give a damn. I think, personally, that this guy [Nadler] wouldn't pay you any attention about anything you brought to him. I don't trust him. I don't trust any of them. Why should I? What ground is there for trust? Even the quality of his suit [the suit he was wearing on the Olbermann interview] tells me he's been at the trough too long. He doesn't buy his suits at the "buy one get one free" Men's Warehouse. I guarantee it. Why didn't Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich filibuster this bill in Congress? They're all full of purest baloney. This bill is likely the end for people like us. This is obviously the biggest danger since Woodrow Wilson jailed anti-war protesters during WWI. Eugene Debs simply made a speech against entry into WWI and was jailed under the Espionage Act of 1917. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Lucky for him, Harding pardoned him after three. Wilson was a weakling. Ten years? Ha, that's nothing. We won't make that mistake today. A measly ten years. No, we want them to rot and die, so just keep 'em in there forever. Where are the anti-SB 1867 Congressmen or Senators in their home states? Why aren't they going on the big network television stations in their states and organizing rallies against Obama's signing the bill, and why aren't they asking the citizens to organize as to which eligible traitors in "government" are to be recalled? But not a peep, only silence for us all, only silence as we get sold into militarism and tyranny. Where are the Stop Obama protesters? Forget about Wall Street. This new anti-Wall Street game is a fake, it's a set up. They should have been sitting in at both Houses and the White House where the real danger is located. Congress enabled these criminal protest-activities on Wall Street. The state is the source of our trouble. This Occupy bowel movement came along at just the right time to point the crowd in the wrong direction. Is it an accident that politicians are supporting the Occupy movement? Of course, they want them focusing away from themselves. It's perfect. "Don't look at us making Nuremburg Laws, look over there at those new suits with the leather briefcases. They're the guilty ones!" Where are the blind Democratic Party supporters? My big fat tub-of-lard cousin, if she's still alive, would totally ignore this outrage. I can hear her now, "Oh, he's such a nice black man. I worked for his campaign here. We need a black president. A black man will follow through on his promises. Black folks just need a chance to show us how good they are." Yeah, just like women are more gentle and peace-generating than men, except for Hitlery Clinton, Margaret Thatc.... Where's this Soros-funded "MoveOn?" They are as silent as death after the echo of the bullet fades out on Gunsmoke. A vote of 93 to 7. It's unstoppable. You don't get in the way of a juggernaut or you will get crushed to death. We're on our own, spectators inside a movie that someone else has written, a nightmare from which we can't wake. The Grimm Brothers and Iron John can't give us advice. You can't warn the captain of the iceberg-ship when his boat is already sinking, settling down toward its final grave. It's an old story, a story repeated down the ages. We're just the latest evolution of it. We're harboring a delusion if we think that we're different from those older generations. We aren't. Scientists tell us the 5,000 year-old iceman in the Alps was just like us. Maybe his name was Cain, and he had a brother named Abel who shot him in the back with an arrow. Nothing has changed in all those years. What did the indigenous people on this continent do? They survived. That is our job, our mission, our religion, our guiding star. To stay alive, to survive, even this, when the light is fading like a guttering lamp.

 

RT 

 

 SQUARE OF DARKNESS-02 

 

 


OLIVER'S FIRST BOOK WAS

IN AUTUMN 2009

THIRTEEN TITLES NOW IN PRINT

MORE ON THE WAY

  

The Oliver Arts & Open Press has been in Dancing Fools

existence now just over two years and has brought out thirteen books, with more coming soon. Celebrate with Oliver--buy these books, give them as gifts, read them with pleasure and reward. Experience the rigor, honesty, independence, and energy of titles from "The Nation's Last Truly Independent Press." Spread the word. Tell others about Oliver. Urge friends, colleagues, relatives, in-laws, distant uncles to join Oliver's mailing list.

  

And, from us to you, very best wishes for the holiday season, and may we all find health, peace, and prosperity in the New Year.

  

OLIVER'S LIST 

 

AUTUMN 2009

 

Timothy V. Gatto, From Complicity To Contempt: An American Writer And Veteran Speaks Out Against American Lies

 

Eric Larsen, Homer For Real: A Reading Of The Iliad 

 

Adam Engel (As A. Stephen Engel), Topiary, a novel 

 

SPRING 2010

 

Timothy V. Gatto, Kimchee Days: Or, Stoned-Cold Warriors, a novel

 

Gregory Marszal, I Am Not Dead, poetry

 

AUTUMN 2010

 

ADAM ENGEL, I Hope My Corpse Gives You The Plague: My Life in the Bush Era of Ghosts, essays

 

ALAN SALANT, Ablong, a novel

 

WINTER 2010

 

Alen Silva, photopgrapher, Afghanistan: A Window on the Tragedy 

 

SPRING 2011

 

Eric Larsen, The Skull of Yorick: The Emptiness of American Thinking at a Time of Grave Peril-Studies in the Cover-Up of 9/11

 

Adam Engel, Cella Fantastik: A Book of Proems 

 

Barbara Mor, The Blue Rental: Texts 

 

WINTER 2011

 

Han Glassman, Autumn Lamp in Rain, poetry

 

Alan Salant, The Expedition Sets Out, poetry

 

 

 

COMING NEXT FROM
THE OLIVER ARTS & OPEN PRESS

Forge  

 

THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY, a novel by Eric Larsen

 

LISTENING TO THE THUNDER, poems by Helen Tzagoloff


THE CROW'S DREAM,  poetry by Douglas Valentine

 

TRANSPARENCIES, poetry by Gregory Marszal

  

DANCE WITHOUT STEPS, memoir by Paul Bendix

 

FROM CONTEMPT TO OUTRAGE, essaysby Timothy V. Gatto

 

 

  
IN THE MEANWHILE. . . 
 
A NOTE:

Working without assets, endowment, or reserves, The Oliver Arts & Open Press aims to publish works of high merit and significance that are ignored or suppressed by mainstream publishing. If you care about this cause and are able or would like to help with it, we at Oliver would be enormously grateful, as would the authors whose work we seek to celebrate and make known.

 

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