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iggy lopez - gator springs gazette editorialsTECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES EDITORIAL we are experiencing technical difficulties. please grab a nice cold one while we try to figure out which end is up. this is not supposed to be happening, but what else can a fictional staff do when the brains behind the business decides to bugger off to the hospital for surgery when there is a paper to get out? some of us are skilled in the art of telepathy, but not many of us can type without fingers, read without eyes - you get the picture. one of our contributors has suggested that the timing for ms berry's operation in light of this month's theme is merely a bit of performance art - how could we possible comment! with or without our fearless leader (who is now home and recovering impatiently) we just about make deadline. please enjoy that beer and settle down to an issue showing how some folks cope with those technical difficulties life throws their way. iggy lopez 2002 LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS ELEPHANTS AND BLIND MEN i am iguana. to type your words is timeful and key pairs beyond reach so i ask for help from bcc, the one most in tune with mind. he laughs. Yes, iggy. it is kind of funny, don't you think - a blind man channelling a lizard poet? Let me hear what you have to say and I'll give it the dragon treatment before it goes to press. I don't know why the others can't communicate with you telepathically - maybe because they're so distracted by visual stimuli they can't focus on subliminal signals. I ain't the best typist either, but the voice recognition software isn't too bad. OK, my mind is open - engage: Is anyone better equipped to address the kaleidoscope of human experience than an iguana? I am reminded of the story of the six blind men who set out to satisfy their curiosity about an elephant. Reduced to its essence, one blind man leaned against the elephant's side and deduced that the animal must be very like a wall. The others, each exploring a different part of the pachyderm, argued that the elephant was more like a spear, a snake, a tree, a fan and a rope, respectively. The bright ones among you will be way ahead of me in seeing that these men were blinded more by limited perspective than lack of sight. It is interesting to note that elephants have notoriously bad eyesight, often using their trunks as a blind person might use their fingertips, to draw their own sensory conclusions about the world in front of their faces. I wonder how the elephant saw the six seekers. The title of this issue is LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS, truncated from the title of the Hemingway short, Hills Like White Elephants. In this story a young woman makes small talk about hills off in the distance which look to her like white elephants. The story is about something else entirely. This issue is not about white elephants either but it is a cool title, don't you think? I am intrigued by humans who show such a fascination for things animal, without ever really understanding us. Humans wolf down their food, trade stock in bear and bull markets, pussyfoot around and call their useless possessions white elephants. They delight in the anthropomorphism of those outside their species yet never quite connect with the powers all creatures of conscience hold within them. Like the blind men with the elephant, they only ever see part of the picture. I seem to be more telepathically in tune with writers than other humans. Perhaps because they seem better able to reduce the millions of word choices to their essence, enjoying the process as they do. There is something remarkable about words in their own right, the way the clips and strokes of sound bounce off each other and balance in mid air, saying one thing and meaning quite another at times, painting a tonal picture for each of us to interpret slightly differently. There is as much magic in the shaded chiaroscuro as in the stark yin and yang of the extremes. Rich colors add to the experience, often flowing freely outside the lines. At its best, language can sing with sensuality, communicate with contrast and explode with energy. The stories and poems of this issue celebrate language in broad strokes with bold colors to explore the human condition. Some animals have also been invited to join in. No white elephants were harmed in the production of this issue, though a few lice probably bit the dust. © iggy lopez 2003 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT LIZARD OR FLY?
lizard poised on rock offers transcendental tongue fly becomes lizard fly is first course, keyboard is obstacle course. please lend your mind, bcc. It is my pleasure, iggy, to channel you once again for the good folks, and a rare treat to see such poetic words typed by your own artistic claws - or did you use your nose? I know for a fact you have been working on the telepathy thing with Wanda, so I am flattered that you have asked me to do it again, even though I can't type very well either. Guess I can pick up on your thoughts better with one less sense to distract me. Let's go, then, and I will plug it into the Lizardspeak software later. ~bcc. The graphic delicacy from Elizabeth Glixman was rich and warm - quite literally, in fact, after absorbing the afternoon sun on the windowsill where I usually take my siesta. Rather than trouble anyone to move it, I just settled myself on top and, before I knew it, my mind was off to one of the rocks in the field through its kitchen window. That's when the haiku came to me. The last line reminded me of an old poem by Walter de la Mare:
It's a very odd thing ----- As odd as can be --- That whatever Miss T. eats Turns into Miss T.; Porridge and apples, Mince, muffins and mutton, Jam, junket, jumbles ---- Not a rap, not a button It matters; the moment They're out of her plate, Though shared by Miss Butcher And sour Mr. Bate; Tiny and cheerful, And neat as can be, Whatever Miss T. eats Turns into Miss T. I couldn't find a better verse to illustrate the sentiment of this issue, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. I can't help but wonder, applying this hypothesis to my own haiku, how fly I am! Dare we take this any further, bcc? I say let's get these readers stuck into the next course as soon as possible. Bon Appetit! © iggy lopez 2003 visit iggy's fandango
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