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THE THREE MEN I ADMIRE MOST ARE IN LOVE WITH A RIVER CALLED
ACANDLEANDSOMETHINGELSE

[ a translation in progress, from a clay tablet in an unidentified apparently far eastern script found in an excavated granary in Turkey ]

Three women in veils.
A man leading a tiger under the arch on a leash.
The gatekeeper wears a uniform, ill-fitting but flattering.
Drug dealers have a stall by the dead tree. No watchmen come.
The magistrate is a drug user. All the bureaucrats are in
the timber trade. Forestry was the basis of the community
but the old skills are dying.

A HURRICANE EXHUMES THE BODY OF A WORKER [WOODMAN] IN THE FOREST BY THE ACANDLEANDSOMETHINGELSE RIVER

When a hurricane exhumes the body of a woodman in the forest
the master congratulates the apprentice woodman by/for the felled tree:
“You could learn to (be trusted to) go to buy horses in my stead”
In reality he is a horseman (fast rider). He (the workman?) imagines an alternative universe

a portcullis and serving-men - two chefs working in partnership; an enormous cooking-pot [philanthropy; Lord Bountiful] and knightly games (rituals or jousting - the quintain); [room to improvise] underworked servants going to the food store; flying kites; having an easy life.

He the king/buddha founding new forests; founding, and caring for, a new race/tribe/society/settlement

Collapse of structures; the gallows; a pile of logs. Lazy servants no longer flying kites. He himself the only one who now flies a kite and has an easy time.

He looks up through the new leaves. The clouds are a window to the sun. Trees grow and are cut down quickly [symbol of completion] He builds a condominium [communal living-house], feels bumble and acknowledges his great good fortune.

WAR AT SEA

1. A SINGLE SAIL, SAILING AWAY, WATCHFUL AND “HARD-ROWED”. A famous pirate. Cutlass Hero. A whole bunch of ships of all sizes in a melee. Rockets. Explosions. A calm (no wind). Many deaths (widows made). Ill fortune. Cutlass Hero (“famous pirate”) survives. Few others do. He tries to blow up the fortress but the commander makes his getaway. The trap closes empty, on only a log! They mock him to fury, he becomes red faced, overturns the castle/house (condominium). There are funerals (wailing, prayers, ashes). There is looting (“soldiers come, shoot, sit down” i.e. pillage). Snake-fangs, poison. No wind. The insane priest beats a drum. From the ruins (empty houses?) a little man builds a fighting-boat (i.e. the cycle begins again?)

2. The furious warlord shoots (into the air) and no-one has any fun. There are cats (? Or racing-camels) No wind (i.e. sails are, or remain, Furled) The/an explosion causes the magic lamp by the hearth to explode. There is a medium-sized explosion which may get bigger.

3. A tent/cottage/flimsy village. Dragonfly. Below “low-flying passenger kites - no ponies allowed” many pony-riders come. They prepare for battle. Ships are sunk. Ballroom (formal) dances in the street. Flags at half-mast. The furious warlord [Major-General] shoots into the air. He is serious. No-one has any fun. They prepare for battle. The village is deserted. The kite-flying ground is blown up. The riders return (depart). Shots are fired into the air. It may get worse.

4. Ships are sunk for no reason. Houses are put onto ox-carts. Wooden arches. Folding chairs in front of a flickering blue lamp in a corner of the desert. Listen to the Hero talking loudly to the whole community through the magic lamp on the hearth. A series of dramas “Zor-ro”. A rootless man chasing wild horses. The man builds a house. He is an inventor (“a cunning man”). He shoots well (trees are cut down). Prosperity/good fortune. A successful conclusion.

     Oxen walk abroad (=the fields grow larger). Fortification (of the flimsy houses) occurs. Here comes a (whole) phalanx of crazed Major-Generals firing into the air.

     The Major-General calms a little, though he still enjoys spoiling people’s fun and shooting into the air.

THE SHOP SELLING STATUETTES AND GOWNS

Forest cut down
birds fly away
togs in a pile
deer fight
floods follow

under the wooden arch
we commiserate
by the pile of logs
we lament together
the absence of hawks

the chess players
enjoy companionship
by the log pile
their houses are in ruins
All the village is in ruins

[no birds sing]
There used to be birdsong in the municipal zoo.
Now there is only a turnstile and some logs.
Even the spilled peanuts attract no sparrows
by the turnstile.

Bamboo; logs; caged tigers