3WW CXCX

Dear Gentle Reader,

This week the 3WW writing community received these three words to ignite inspiration: drink, feeble, and predict.

I find these three words difficult, but, I proffer three haiku (OK, senryu), each with an American Sentence title.

So, without further ado... drink, feeble, and predict....

Drinking in her honey pot is better than in your cups, but, beware...

Drink in her curves, but

I predict her tequila

laced honey's feeble...

**A paraphrase of the title could be "If you are going to get drunk, make love not war, but, be careful..."

For English as a second-language readers, a honey pot can be an attractive woman, but, really, it is a synecdoche as the honey pot itself refers to the salty-sweet sexual centre of a woman.

To drink in a honey pot could mean to gaze at a beautiful woman. It could also be something more visceral, more graphic.

The second half of the title, being in your cups, refers to drunken fighting (from the Apocrypha, I Esdras 3:22 "And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little after draw out swords:").

From there, after a title exhorting us to, when drinking, make love, not war, is a warning to be careful of the company that too much alcohol may bring...

Sneering command to the old to stand aside and die, ignored, forlorn.

Fade, senescent shade--

predict thine obsolescence;

drink feebly to death.

Leary never dreamed of chemical precogs, but fascists did, with glee.

Drink the future! Pre-

-dict, -pare, -judge, -kill. Keep: future

crime feeble; us safe!

**Timothy Leary (1920-1996) was a futurist and an American countercultural icon who is best known in the popular press for his advocacy of LSD (it was legal when he started his experiments in consciousness-raising with LSD) and for the phrase, that he popularized, "Tune in, turn on, drop out".

Though Dr. Leary was anti-establishment, the establishment took note and undertook its own tests on hallucinogenics to see how they could manipulate patients' understanding of reality.

This poem looks at the concept of a class of chemically-induced precognitives (precogs) and the use that they could be put to in search of pre-crime investigation, enforcement, and punishment.

Tschuess,

Chris

And... ...the music for today is...

Click to hear Jean-Pierre Rampal, on flute, and Lily Laskine, on harp, play 'Kojo No Tsuki' ('Moon over the ruined castle') from 'Sakura - Japanese Melodies for Flute and Harp'.

Amazon, to buy the same...

Tschuess,

Chris

To return to the Monday Poetry Train click here.

To return to 3WW click here.

Postscript about Haiku and American Sentences

First, technical definitions of the poetic forms I play with.

The English language version of the haiku is grammatically stricter (though semantically looser) than the original, Japanese form of this poetical form.

English Haiku are usually required to have three lines with 5 syllables on the first line, 7 syllables on the second line and 5 syllables on the final line.

The American Sentence is a poetical form structurally closer to the Japanese haiku format in some ways. It requires 17 syllables in one sentence and was created by the American poet Allen Ginsberg.

Yes, I know that there are content issues regarding what topics are permissible in Japanese haiku (Yes, I know that I write senryu, not haiku, subject-wise.) and that Japanese poets don't count syllables as they are generally understood in English.

I am not overly concerned.

If you are, I am sure I have discussed it sometime before. Check the haiku topic listing and have fun.

Chinese wages, fashion and factories

Dear Gentle Reader,

Last Friday I posted about the cost of going to a high-end, fashionable beauty parlour in rural China.

I wrote about how an hour and a half visit to a high-end beauty salon to get a full hair wash, cut and styling, blow dry, and an obligatory head and neck massage, all with the latest fashion styling trends costs a client the princely sum of 13 RMB (renminbi), also known as 13 yuan.

Which is approximately 1.47 euros.
Or 1.91 USD.
Or 1.98 CDN.
Or 2.03 CHF...

Which should help explain why Western factories have flocked to China over the last 30 years, and, simultaneously, why Chinese workers are, now, starting to strike.

I don't know exactly how hair salons are run in China, but, I assume that they are run similarly to how they are run in the West.

In the West, the salon owner builds the salon and markets the salon.

Stylists (barbers) then rent a chair from the salon; the rental price usually is half the price of services rendered by the hair stylist.

I suspect that the same system is in place in China.

If this is so, the hairstylist at the high-end beauty salon I profiled on Friday takes home half of that 13 yuan charged for each hour and a half (approximately) that the stylist spends on a client.

That amounts to 6.5 yuan.

Which is approximately 0.74 euros.
Or 0.96 USD.
Or 0.99 CDN.

Or 1.02 CHF...

Let us assume that the stylist gets ten paying clients, back to back, in a day.

That means that for 15 hours work the stylist would keep 65 yuan...

...approximately 7.35 EUR.

Or 9.55 USD.
Or 9.85 CDN.
Or 10.15 CHF...

(The rates for 1 1/2 hours, one client visit, were all rounded up.)

...Of course, clients are not lined up out the door for the most exclusive beauty salon in town...

...Stylists might spend the whole day at the salon...

...At least 15 hours...

...But, only one of the seats had a client getting a haircut when your humble scribe poked his head in; the other chairs were empty...

...So, these hair stylists were living on much, much less than 65 yuan for a day's work...

And, please remember that they have to buy all of their own supplies out of that gross amount.

Stylists need to supply their own scissors, hair dryers, shampoo that they use on clients, hair supplies, et cetera...

And, as this is a high-end boutique, the hair stylists have to look upmarket and buy fancier clothes so that their clientele know that they are truly visiting an upmarket salon...

This is why Western industrialists shifted production to China.

It costs less to live in China, if you live life according to average Chinese standards.

For comparison, the 2010 federal minimum wage in the U.S.A. is $5.15 USD/hour.

If our hairdresser worked for a salary in the USA, and received the federal minimum wage for that 15 hours work, then our hairdresser would make $77.25 USD for 15 hours work in a day, assuming no overtime pay.

Again, for comparison, our hypothetical Chinese hairdresser could make a maximum of $9.55 USD for that same 15 hours of back to back work on ten clients in China...

These 'cheap' 13 RMB haircuts are not actually cheap to Chinese workers; these haircuts are only cheap to foreigners who receive far more than the unobtainable $9.55 USD for 15 hours of work.

As workers do not make a lot of money, prices can remain depressed--including the price of labour in China.

But, the Chinese factory workers, who have been making the baubles and the necessary items for the wealthy West, have become more keen to be able to afford and possess these same baubles and necessities for themselves.

And, they have become jealous of the Chinese factory owners who have become rich off the sweat of their bodies.

And, Gentle Reader, this goes a long way to explaining why we are finally starting to read about strikes in Chinese factories.

Strikes have been going on for years, but were always kept controlled, and hidden--even during the Asian Economic Crisis (1997-1999).

But, worker discontent is so widespread that strikes cannot be hushed up anymore.

Besides, the existence of strikes (and their possible recurrence in the future) are useful for applying pressure on foreign companies during future negotiations regarding future investments... ...and regarding future technology transfer agreements for access to cheap labour...

...Especially if the state guarantees to keep workers more in line, in the future, as workers have been kept in check in the past...

Now, however, Chinese factory workers want and expect to receive more for their blood, sweat and tears.

Otherwise, those factory labourers will turn their backs on their foremen, and on their employers, and head back to their originating villages...

Which is happening now.

Which is why cheap labour is flooding into southern China from neighbouring countries in South-east Asia....

The bright side of the coin for the foreign firms who have invested in Chinese factories is that if they start paying factory workers more then that mythical Chinese market of over one billion consumers will finally start to become a reality... ...and the factories will be able to sell to Chinese, not just to overseas markets.

...So, the music for today is...

Click to hear Dumbfounded's remix of Aloe Blacc's 'I Need a Dollar'

This song is available from Dumbfounded's website, here...

Tschuess,

Sepiru Chris

What to do on a sultry day...

Dear Gentle Reader,

OK.

I am trying to get back into the e-swing of things.

Baby steps.

Even shaky babies can walk.

Eventually.

So, how does that connect with the title image today?

It's advertising.

I'm advertising my shakiness, at least as regards to posting reliability.

And that girl is advertising her beauty.

Which you can get, too.

From a tiny little hairstylist's place of business, in a rural town--Kaifeng, China.

...

...Hair stylists for her...

As you can read, they offer a full wash, cut, blow dry, and the obligatory head and neck massage, all with the latest fashion styling trends.

The head and neck massage, at least twenty minutes long, is so obligatory that it's not even listed.

But, it's there or this business wouldn't be since all of their competitors offer it.

And all this for the princely sum of 13 renminbi, sometimes known as 13 yuan.

Which is approximately 1.47 euros.

Or 1.91 USD.

Or 1.98 CDN.

Or 2.03 CHF.

...You are going to the top hairstylist in town, after all...

(That's real red brick; not some cheap linoleum facade.)

...Hence the high price...

Now, I could discuss the other commercial aspects of hairdressers throughout Asia.

How barber poles with rotating spirals mark out places to lose your tension... ...after letting it build a bit first...

But, maybe I'll leave brothels for another day.

After, all would need to figure out what the going rate is these days...

That post would, however, put a whole new spin onto the idea of a barbershop quartet.

...Wicked, torrid thoughts... (obedient sin--for Murat)...

Tschuess,

Chris

Ah... and the music for today, being a warm summer day, is...

Click to hear 'Cicadas' by the Cowboy Junkies

Amazon.com

Tschuess,

Chris

3WW CXCIX

Dear Gentle Reader,

It is 3WW and, after a four month absence, I am back.

Hopefully, for a while.

This week the 3WW community received these three words as prompts:

abuse, cramp, and hatred.

As usual, I proffer three haiku, each with an American Sentence title.

So, without further ado... abuse, cramp, and hatred....

Runner's cramps felled her, felled her dreams; she blamed her trainer, not her drinks

cramps hit her mid stride

crampled she crumpled, bellowed

abuse, wild hatred

Heshiveredinthedarkcrevasse, searched for his wits, way out and ice axe.

Abused crampons cracked,

slid off... ... Red.Redhat.Hatred...

Blooddripswet,freezes.

**A stunned climber who fell down a crevasse might work his way from red, red hat, hat red to realising he has a bloody head. Or, at least, a bloody hat...

'Papa' gave kids balloons, then injected death straight into their small hearts.

Hot hatred cramps thoughts;

cold hatred cramps grace, begets

horrific abuse.

**Oswald "Papa" Kaduk was a butcher before the Second World War began.

He became a totally different butcher before that war had ended.

Oswald joined the SS, fought on the Eastern Front, and, injured, ended up at Auschwitz-Birkenau as a guard and moved 'up' the ranks.

The Final Solution was the Nazi plan to rid the world of the "lebensunwertes Leben", those considered by the Nazis to be unworthy of existence. Nazi ideology included gypsies, homosexuals, mentally handicapped people, and, of course, Jews in the list of peoples undeserving of life.

As part of the "Final Solution", 85% of the Jewish population of Europe in Nazi controlled lands were to be murdered as quickly as possible. The other 15% were to be worked to a point just before death and then murdered.

Infamous Auschwitz and lesser-known Birkenau were significant cogs in the Nazi "Final Solution".

Auschwitz warehoused around 30,000 victims being worked to death at any given point in time; adjoining Birkenau warehoused around 100,000 more victims.

Men who survived, after arrival, the selection of the 'lucky' 15%, statistically, survived for six months to a year. Women who survived selection generally survived for four months.

Children almost invariably were not selected and would generally die within an hour of arriving at the camp.

Almost a quarter million children were slaughtered at Birkenau.

Oswald Kaduk (1906-1997) was nicknamed "Papa" because of his 'love' for kids.

Papa gave children who arrived at Birkenau a balloon.

Then Papa would inject a needle, and phenol, through their chest and into their heart.

Papa did this ten times a minute; one child murdered every six seconds.

All for cold, calculating, racial hatred.

Tschuess,

Chris

And... ...the music for today is...

Click to hear Min Hui-Fen (閔惠芬), play 'Song Of Birds In A Desolate Mountain' on the erhu, the classical two-stringed Chinese folk violin.

OK. I couldn't find Min Hui Fen on Amazon, but this website sells other cds and tracks by Min Hui Fen...

Tschuess,

Chris

To return to the Monday Poetry Train click here.

To return to 3WW click here.

Postscript about Haiku and American Sentences

First, technical definitions of the poetic forms I play with.

The English language version of the haiku is grammatically stricter (though semantically looser) than the original, Japanese form of this poetical form.

English Haiku are usually required to have three lines with 5 syllables on the first line, 7 syllables on the second line and 5 syllables on the final line.

The American Sentence is a poetical form structurally closer to the Japanese haiku format in some ways. It requires 17 syllables in one sentence and was created by the American poet Allen Ginsberg.

Yes, I know that there are content issues regarding what topics are permissible in Japanese haiku and that Japanese poets don't count syllables as they are generally understood in English.

I am not overly concerned.

If you are, I am sure I have discussed it sometime before. Check the haiku topic listing and have fun.

Blue skies and bike seats

Dear Gentle Reader,

Blue skies are apparently ahead.

Which would be good, as storm clouds have raged, or, worse, droned for a while.

For anyone who actually ever checks over here, yet another mea culpa.

The past couple of years have been a bit trying, medically, as interesting diagnoses come and go.

Parkinson's disease one day.

Multiple sclerosis, another.

Fortunately, both of those were rejected after extensive testing.

Unfortunately, the underlying conditions were ultimately described as a syndrome; diagnostic shorthand for "we know what symptoms you present, and they are real, but we have no idea what the underlying cause is, or how, ultimately, to treat you".

Great.

Really.

I really didn't want Parkinson's, or MS, true.

And I really didn't want the underlying conditions, either.

Another set of conditions were ultimately resolved in a similar way--by calling them a syndrome, again.

Which was all sort of fine.

Ish.

Until, rather recently, there was another concern.

Doctors thought that I might have pancreatic cancer.

And pancreatic cancer is really not good.

Whilst life is terminal (we ride a sinking boat from birth, to paraphrase some Buddhists), pancreatic cancer tends to accelerate the submersion like a torpedo hitting amidship.

Pancreatic cancer led to an extensive pharmacological diet aimed at whacking me in the belly--amidship my ship.

Now, for your humble scribe, pharmacological diets can be rather interesting, and not just amidship. My upper decks and command centres take hits of their own.

Fermented sugar, alone, has interesting effects while stronger pharmawonders tend to bend the hues of the spectrum and provide organic whammy bars to your humble scribe's sensory interpretation systems...

(Your humble scribe hallucinates, visually and aurally (hypnogogic hallucinations), upon taking Tylenol 3s, which my Southern Cousins would call Tylenol with Codeine... ...most people take Tylenol 3s with much less ado simply for pain relief.)

...But, my big pharma anti-pancreatic cancer diet held new combinatorial side-effects for my pleasure and enjoyment...

...such as autodigestion of my cartilage and tendons...

(...mmm...)

...and total-body tendonitis...

(...woohoo).

And then, just before I took off to India, I was told that pancreatic cancer was not, in fact, a concern.

Presumably a new syndrome diagnosis will be offered to me to replace the diagnosis taken away from me but, again, I am rather fine with this.

I still have a pharma diet, which is a much reduced pharma diet from my 'peak', which is good (ish) though I've only managed two non-pharma meals in the last seven days...

(And yet those love handles still persist!)

(...Do you actually have to want to be an ascetic (rather than being forced into asceticism) to get those sveltish lines of Siddhartha Gautama, post his "Great Departure" (when he left his Father's kingdom, and luxury, to live life as an ascetic)?)

Anyway.

All this is by way of an explanation for my absence, as I had promised a few people that I would write, ages ago.

And then broke those promises.

Now you know why.

Anyway, enough whining.

I've been gone a rather long time; I am trying to get back onto the saddle.

I hope to write more soon, and maybe even read.

Till then...

Tschuess,

Chris

Click to hear The Be Good Tanya's 'The Littlest Bird' from their album 'Blue Horse'

Amazon.com