Monday 14 January 2013

Word whimsy, or, The Dubya/Kerry Debate Moirail poetry slam

This shouldn't have been a surprise, after all, my moirail and I are no stranger to co-creating the weirdest English associative masterpieces ever. But more recently, we've been far more focused on analysis and elucidating patterns, and silliness has mostly fallen by the wayside. 

One of the marks of a remarkable connection with another, I feel, is the ability to slip seamlessly into thinking or working together with almost nothing being said, where the next part of the sequence of events emerges naturally and creatively, where one role flows seamlessly into the other - as my French polisher friend might say, 'You can't see the join.' I can count on the fingers of one hand the people I can do this with, and Ari has always been one. 

Don't get me wrong - what Ari terms the 'hive mind' is no Borg mind. Seamless teamwork means thinking together, not thinking as one - and this is an essential difference. Knowing what the other is doing or about to do is not the same as defining it. As I said to her, 'We operate/grab the same principle, but within that principle, we operate individually.' So: when Ari rhymed, we both grabbed the rhyme principle, agreed upon it, but operated as ourselves within it, communicating any evolving changes naturally.  So each person is actually operating in two versions of flow: their own and the combined flow to achieve the common goal.  Therefore, though you will see that we're operating by a common set of principles and objectives, our individual essences glow through each one of our contributions - and the whole is more than the sum of our parts.

This was the second time in 10 days I've been blessed by such flow, but as ever, when it comes to Ari, it was nothing expected, and something whimsically weird, that set us off: her parsing of the Dubya/Kerry 2004 debates. 

It began with an innocent enough email:

John Kerry in the third Kerry/Bush dubate from 2004:

'It's against the law in the United States to hire people illegally.'
I... I would never have guessed....


Me: Me either. Shocking, isn't it???

Ari: Yes!! God, it's totally given me a different perspective on... on everything.

Me: Like, TOTAL GAME-CHANGER, YOU KNOW? WOW.

Ari: IKR??? Everything I thought I knew has just been flipped over. I mean, SHIT.



Me: Like, as upside down as Purim. V'nahafoch hu.

Ari: My mind can't even take it in, you know? This is not the world I thought I knew!

Me (thinking, and informing Ari by gchat, 'SHIT, we're rhyming): How do you even begin to cope when NONE of what you've always believed is true?

Ari: I... I don't think I can cope. I'm going to have to start anew.

Me: I might have to sue...



Ari: Fuck, you too???

Me: I'm afraid 'tis true...may even have to lie down in my pew.

Ari: O woe, that the folly of our times should have gotten even to you...

Me: It is even difficult to find joy in the letter 'q'...

Ari: The horror, the horror! One more reason that the election of Dubya over the profound sagacious Kerry was an event to rue!

Me: That, but even more the result of the 2000 election, just...blew.

Ari: 'Twas a dark day indeed, a harbinger of bitter years to come. They say that September the eleventh was our nation's loss of innocence, but for me... that travesty was when I knew.

Me: The darkest of days - songs of hope fell silent, brave hearts trembled and angels held their breath - when one moment set the whole world askew.

Ari: Aye, that was when it became apparent to all that dire portents were starting to brew.

Me: ...and festering hatreds really started to stew. Alas, moirail, 'tis time for me to leave work, so I must bid you adieu! Do carry on if you wish to continue!

Ari: Eight years later, a new direction was long overdue. Farewell, farewell, and may the post-work frivolities ensue! I love you.

Me: It truly was, that joyous day, when winds of hope blew through. I promise they shall, dear moirail, and I love you too! < <3>

Ari: < <3>


(Note: <> is the symbol for moirail, which most closely resembles a heartsister/heartbrother, with the added component of balancing each other. Ari and I have modified it to essentially mean 'moirail hug' by the addition of a heart in the middle.)