Take More from the Top as More Settles to the Bottom

Yesterday I wrote:

Of course Glenn Beck is an asshole - it's just as "inappropriate" for him to hold Cracker March on August 28 at the Lincoln Memorial as it is for a Muslim community center to be built two blocks from Ground Zero - but he's well within his "rights..."

I clanged this duh a second time because I can't stop thinking about the width and depth of duh I clanged the first time.

• What Fox News will be screaming about this weekend. Assuming the allegations are false (or even if they're true), fuck Obama.
• UPDATE! Of course they're not true. Fuckers. Speculate amongst yourselves.
• The Old Tool defends Robert Gibbs, but what's interesting is the bottom RIPs for two lying crooks and a sack of shit.
• UPDATE! Colossal Asshole.
• The sell is the tell.
• UPDATE! Long month.
• How things work.
• An anarchist's guide to relationships.
• Notes on a scandal.
• The Bible keeps you stupid.
• I confess I've never heard of Coleman Dowell. Good thing I have access to a university library's stacks. (Too bad I don't have more minutes in a day.)
• I dutifully read the New York Trilogy and every novel through Leviathan because I thought I was supposed to, then decided I really didn't need to read Auster ever again.
• Serendipitously, within a month of mentioning Kundera here, a review of Unbearable Lightness of Being.
• Best books to read in your twenties?
• UPDATE! Have a John Cale song. (h/t)

RENDER, RENDER

Thomas Lux

Boil it down: feet, skin, gristle,
bones, vertebrae, heart muscle, boil
it down, skim, and boil
again, dreams, history, add them and boil
again, boil and skim
in closed cauldrons, boil your horse, his hooves,
the runned-over dog you loved, the girl
by the pencil sharpener
who looked at you, looked away,
boil that for hours, render it
down, take more from the top as more settles to the bottom,
the heavier, the denser, throw in ache
and sperm, and a bead
of sweat that slid from your armpit to your waist
as you sat stiff-backed before a test, turn up
the fire, boil and skim, boil
some more, add a fever
and the virus that blinded an eye, now's the time
to add guilt and fear, throw
logs on the fire, coal, gasoline, throw
two goldfish in the pot (their swim bladders
used for "clearing"), boil and boil, render
it down and distill,
concentrate
that for which there is no
other use at all, boil it down, down,
then stir it with rosewater, that
which is now one dense, fatty, scented red essence
which you smear on your lips
and go forth
to plant as many kisses upon the world
as the world can bear!