{"id":5807,"date":"2013-08-15T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T15:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=5807"},"modified":"2013-08-15T11:10:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-15T15:10:57","slug":"drifting-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/drifting-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Drifting Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DriftingApart_585x585\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Miles would go into temporary retirement before the end<\/p>\n

Of 1975, citing health problems, drugs, booze, and spiritual<\/p>\n

exhaustion.\u00a0 But as this last document before the break suggests,<\/p>\n

he was also at the end of a musical cycle.\u00a0 Having brought so<\/p>\n

many strains together with this busy sometimes noisy, sometimes<\/p>\n

relentless band, he returned to that quality for which he\u2019s always<\/p>\n

been celebrated: his use of space and silence.\u00a0 For five years, as<\/p>\n

listeners everywhere waited for his next note, Miles chose silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2013Kevin Whitehead<\/p>\n

Liner notes from Pangaea<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

1.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Words collapse into movement.<\/p>\n

Collisions of purpose.<\/p>\n

Seashell mountains.\u00a0 Shallow sea on the brain.\u00a0 Bitter protozoan pools.\u00a0 Fractured lives.<\/p>\n

Room for all.\u00a0 Nameless together.\u00a0 Shift together in namelessness.\u00a0 Drifting apart. Shifting plates atop mantle.\u00a0 Drifting amnesiac world that does not fit.<\/p>\n

Sun\u2019s unfiltered poisonous rays.\u00a0 Crusts of Algae scum.\u00a0 Slow amoebic waves.\u00a0 Bubbling magma of words.\u00a0 Pushing and scraping underneath.\u00a0 Movements across hemispheres.\u00a0 Past sediments in amnesiac trenches.\u00a0 Word movements across many hemispheres.\u00a0 Grunting.\u00a0 Eroding.\u00a0 Magma movements.<\/p>\n

rub rub rub<\/i><\/p>\n

Joints cracking.\u00a0 Stinking Smoking choking movements.<\/p>\n

Constant drift.<\/p>\n

Not quite perfect fit beneath our surface. Why words collapse into amnesia.<\/p>\n

Imperfection begets movement.<\/p>\n

Blind purpose.\u00a0 Undertow.\u00a0 Blind to what moves them.<\/p>\n

Imperfect feelings about ourselves.\u00a0 Consonant chaos.\u00a0 Drifting apart to assemble.\u00a0 Fifty million inches from now.<\/p>\n

rub rub rub<\/i><\/p>\n

Drifting together.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t crowd.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pre-Cambrian<\/b><\/p>\n

Can’t stop us.<\/p>\n

Sudden sparks of life. Possibility of purpose.\u00a0 Equatorial Eden of creeping feelings. Stimulating poisonous sun.\u00a0 Nameless in smoky hemispheres.\u00a0 Separate fools of land.\u00a0 On plates of imperfect consciousness.\u00a0 Hence the word movements to anywhere.\u00a0 Tectonic titans of rock are we.<\/p>\n

rub rub rub<\/i><\/p>\n

Leading to rubble.<\/p>\n

Imperfection begets movement.\u00a0 Pushed by word magma. Drifting farther and farther apart. For a purpose.<\/p>\n

To meet.<\/p>\n

To come together.<\/p>\n

Purpose of a surface existence. This movement of words.<\/p>\n

To be one.<\/p>\n

A plot of earth.<\/p>\n

Maybe as we once were.<\/p>\n

Before being moved by words. Always seeming to start over.<\/p>\n

No one remembers.<\/p>\n

2.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rubbing.\u00a0 Scraping.\u00a0 Shaping.<\/p>\n

Through ejecta and haze.\u00a0 Finding outlines of others.\u00a0 Overcoming waters.\u00a0 Don\u2019t crowd.<\/p>\n

Movements father than words spoken.\u00a0 Older by the inch.\u00a0 Emotional sparks in all hemispheres.<\/p>\n

But what moves us (asked Antarc)<\/p>\n

Who is speaking down there (asked Eury)<\/p>\n

Asi does not turn at the sound of a voice behind but feels something creep beneath the shelf.<\/p>\n

We weren\u2019t properly introduced (said Asi)<\/p>\n

You\u2019re Asi (said Eury)<\/p>\n

You\u2019re Eury (said Asi)<\/p>\n

Cementing word movements.\u00a0 Nameless no more.<\/p>\n

What happened up there (asked Austral)<\/p>\n

Backed into a relationship (cracked Antarc)<\/p>\n

Like us (said Austral)<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been side by side since the haze lifted (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

How do you explain it (demanded Austral)<\/p>\n

Hurrying up to position ourselves (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Eury and Asi.\u00a0 Knitted spinal mountain.\u00a0 Blind only to each other.<\/p>\n

You will never tire of my beauty (said Eury)<\/p>\n

Punished by never seeing it (said Asi)<\/p>\n

Antarc quakes sardonically.<\/p>\n

We will all be joined (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

Why (asked Antarc)<\/p>\n

A matter of when (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

Tethys closes in beside Eury and Asi.<\/p>\n

All of us meant to be together (proclaimed Asi)<\/p>\n

What moves us toward each other (asked Eury)<\/p>\n

Our wanting to be together (answered Tethys)<\/p>\n

Not I (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Who doesn\u2019t (asked Asi)<\/p>\n

Someone who can\u2019t stop it (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

Antarc measures the word movements above.\u00a0 They might be going somewhere.<\/p>\n

How close are the others (asked Eury)<\/p>\n

Afri, Pantag, and Indi glide southward.<\/p>\n

Close enough to want to be closer (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

3.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What about me (cried Indi)<\/p>\n

Afri and Pantag creep toward Antarc and Austral.\u00a0 Miles of earth crushed underneath.\u00a0 Memories rubbed in Tethys closes on Eury.\u00a0 Asi continues to look away.\u00a0 Calm of concern.\u00a0 Sandwiched, Eury doesn\u2019t like the arrangement but has no say.<\/p>\n

Magnificent magma pushed me here (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know what we are doing (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

How can you say that (said Austral)<\/p>\n

We\u2019re being taken (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

What does Antarc know down there (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

Afri swivels and corkscrews its landmass toward chilly Antarc.\u00a0 Afri\u2019s curves, its magnificent cape, distract Antarc.\u00a0 Antarc can\u2019t say what it sees.\u00a0 Mating ritual of swerve and avoidance.\u00a0 Can\u2019t fight attraction.\u00a0 Sudden purpose clouds Antarc\u2019s thoughts.\u00a0 Get closer to Afri.\u00a0 Cementing thoughts.<\/p>\n

What about me (asked Indi)<\/p>\n

Antarc contemplates Afri\u2019s approach.\u00a0 What moves Antarc to feel something for Afri. \u00a0Their lands rub rub rub<\/i>.\u00a0 Collision of caresses.<\/p>\n

Still friends (Austral asked)<\/p>\n

Side by side we have drifted forever (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Why had Antarc not seen Afri earlier?\u00a0 All the wasted movements.\u00a0 They now drift together.\u00a0 Irresistible desires.\u00a0 A slide southward.\u00a0 Embraced.\u00a0 Afri tilts eastward to avoid the cooler air.\u00a0 Gorges fold upon themselves.\u00a0 Love within their grasp.\u00a0 More tightly Antarc embraces.<\/p>\n

Indi rushes into Afri and breaks Antarc\u2019s grip.<\/p>\n

Where have I been (asked Indi)<\/p>\n

Fool (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

We\u2019re supposed to be together (said Indi)<\/p>\n

Afri and I were together (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

We three are together (said Afri)<\/p>\n

I am more a part of you (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Not as much as Asi was a part of Eury (said Indi)<\/p>\n

Did I ask you (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Afri and I share more shelf (interjected Pantag)<\/p>\n

Afri\u2019s mine (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

What does Afri say (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

We are all together (said Afri)<\/p>\n

Antarc sees Afri\u2019s coastline of affection rotate onto Pantag.\u00a0 Perhap Antarc had rolled too far southward.<\/p>\n

I imagined us as lovers (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Pantag, Afri, Antarc, Indi, and Austral become more firmly bonded.\u00a0 Less caressed.\u00a0 More rubbing.\u00a0 Finally grinds to a halt.\u00a0 In their own time and way, Tethys, Eury, and Asi unite and drift together southward.<\/p>\n

You captured me (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

You overestimated the pull (said Afri)<\/p>\n

Antarc desires renewed caresses, not touches blown cold.<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t see Pantag (said Austral<\/p>\n

I could have avoided Afri if I had known I was not really wanted (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

You just happened to be there (said Austral)<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t crowd (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Why will you not want me (asked Austral)<\/p>\n

We have always been attached (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Pantag purrs below.\u00a0 Movements slow.\u00a0 North and south lamds close in Blind to what slows them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.<\/p>\n

Paleozoic<\/b><\/p>\n

A brighter world takes shape.<\/p>\n

If you really look, Antarc, you and Afri aren\u2019t so tight (said Austral)<\/p>\n

If only I wasn\u2019t drawn to Afri\u2019s long shelf (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll forget (said Indi)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s your fault (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t separate you from her (said Indi)<\/p>\n

Afri\u2019s still there (said Austral)<\/p>\n

Indi distracted her from me (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help arriving when I did (said Indi)<\/p>\n

Did Asi send you (said Antarc)<\/p>\n

Afri lurches, quakes, grinds, roars atop Pantag.\u00a0 The continentally inflected pair rub rub rub <\/i>in deep troughs of pleasure.\u00a0 Pantag hauls its lower horn beneath Afri and grazes Antarc\u2019s lower shelf.\u00a0 Antarc deeply aches with love\u2019s lost caress and feels the mantle giving, crunching.<\/p>\n

Then pretends to be apart from Gondwana.\u00a0 Ignores its billion years-long attachment to Austral.\u00a0 Its land sinks slightly.\u00a0 Ignores Pantag\u2019s and Afri\u2019s geologically tantric grinds.\u00a0 Ice accumulates tremendously on Antarc\u2019s brow.\u00a0 Weight of Gondwana keeps Antarc from the sun\u2019s warmer rays.\u00a0 Longer nights.<\/p>\n

Stationary agony.\u00a0 Frosted hell.\u00a0 Afri remains a blank slate of mind toward Antarc.\u00a0 Gondwana rubs wrongly Antarc\u2019s want of caress.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tethys Eury, and Asi drift toward the others.\u00a0 Imperfection begets unity, oneness, purpose.\u00a0 To exclude and evade the seas.\u00a0 Together for how long?<\/p>\n

A glorious time has come (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

We always knew it would be (said Eury and Asi)<\/p>\n

Antarc wants to lose them.\u00a0 Austral like a chip on its shoulder.\u00a0 The magma of words trickles inside Antarc where it cannot be seen.<\/p>\n

Won\u2019t Antarc join us in our celebration (said Eury)<\/p>\n

And spoil the occasion (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

Antarc will drag us under (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

Leave us then (said Asi)<\/p>\n

I would if I could.<\/p>\n

What about me (asked Indi)<\/p>\n

Antarc\u2019s always unhappy (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

Since you stole Afri (said Austral)<\/p>\n

Afri came to me (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

How do you know Antarc\u2019s unhappy (asked Eury)<\/p>\n

I heard its cries in our earliest basaltic dreams (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

What does Pangaea mean?\u00a0 That I have to listen to insults?\u00a0 Triumphant philosophers.\u00a0 We move, therefore, we speak about purpose.\u00a0 They think that the seas have retreated, that seas fear our movements, that seas can be forgotten, that seas will never rise again and swamp this dream.\u00a0 Happiness as Pangaea.\u00a0 On a side of life we cannot see lies remorseless oceans.<\/p>\n

Can we let Antarc take us any further south (asked Pantag)<\/p>\n

What do they know?\u00a0 They see a hemisphere of untied continents.\u00a0 I stick to silent Afri, intruding Indi, foolish friend Austral.\u00a0 I know nothing else.\u00a0 They are smart not to follow my track.\u00a0 I have no purpose.\u00a0 Most unrequited track.\u00a0 Worse than Afri neither loving nor leaving me.\u00a0 I blame Pantag for taking Afri\u2019s mind off me.\u00a0 But I will not abandon or love Austral.\u00a0 I say to them to ignore my blank messages of immobility.<\/p>\n

Less Pangaean than Gondwanan.<\/p>\n

Less Gondwanan than Antarc.<\/p>\n

Less Antarc than Afri\u2019s lover.\u2019<\/p>\n

Less Afri\u2019s lover than former aimless drifter.<\/p>\n

Less aimless drifter than aimless quiescent.<\/p>\n

Loaded with an ice desert.\u00a0 Beyond earth\u2019s imperfectly constructed surface.\u00a0 Undertow minimized down here.\u00a0 Fewer faults.\u00a0 Uncrowded form above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mesozoic<\/b><\/p>\n

The sun less potent here.\u00a0 Ferns and brute animals fossilized in glaciers.\u00a0 We are all<\/p>\n

terminally inert.<\/p>\n

Pangaea lords the supremely fulfilled.\u00a0 Continents pray to what moved them to this final resting place.\u00a0 Do they dare resist satisfaction?\u00a0 At the butt of Gondwana, can Austral be pleased with its destiny?<\/p>\n

Do they wonder what moves me when plate and surface do not budge?<\/p>\n

All I do is regurgitate old sediments into new thoughts.\u00a0 Tracks in my imagination are sole witness to an existence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No entrances or exits from Pangaea.<\/p>\n

Some straining from Tethys, Eury, and Asi.\u00a0 Gondwana\u2019s quiet.<\/p>\n

Why should they move?\u00a0 This is what they wanted.<\/p>\n

Keep me under.\u00a0 Tight to the surface.\u00a0 Plate stuck to the mantle.<\/p>\n

More tugging.\u00a0 Magma sputters.\u00a0 Renewed movements?\u00a0 Or had they never ceased?<\/p>\n

What is so suddenly wrong with this hundreds of millions of years arrangement?<\/p>\n

I could tell them, only I am stuck in thought.\u00a0 Purpose wears thin.\u00a0 On a bedrock of platitudes I now reside.<\/p>\n

Will they tell me I was right?\u00a0 That we weren\u2019t made for a purpose?\u00a0 Especially this purpose of being together?<\/p>\n

Tethys, Eury, and Asi cannot help themselves.\u00a0 The plates are fitted for separations as well as for coming together.\u00a0 No continent wants to believe it.\u00a0 Will Tethys find new resolve to understand why we must be apart?<\/p>\n

We will come together anew, don\u2019t fret (Tethys told Eury and Asi)<\/p>\n

They drift from Gondwana and can think what they want.\u00a0 Go and try again.\u00a0 Make new oceans.\u00a0 Lug yourselves around the earth.\u00a0 I will stay here.\u00a0 Rest on my errors.\u00a0 Looking up on all sides.\u00a0 No longer delude myself about Afri.\u00a0 Stop playing their continental kaleidoscope.<\/p>\n

7.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tethys, Eury, and Asi abandon Pangaea for good.\u00a0 They always had their own arrangement at heart.\u00a0 Pantag will not give up Afri.\u00a0 Or is it the opposite.\u00a0 Why do I care?\u00a0 What were they or any of the others to me?<\/p>\n

Happy now (shouted Tethys)<\/p>\n

Just want Antarc wanted (said Pantag)<\/p>\n

They find voices when Pangaea no longer matters.\u00a0 I never wanted their dream of having purpose.<\/p>\n

I used to advance two or three inches a year.\u00a0 Now ice accumulates and depresses my land more cruelly.\u00a0 Suspended beneath everyone, I wish to let go and drop into space.\u00a0 Into and through the blue.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Antarc\u2019s fault Pangaea\u2019s breaking up (said Eury)<\/p>\n

Antarc refused to move (said Asi)<\/p>\n

Indi frees itself.\u00a0 Jettisons toward Asi.\u00a0 As if to defend my honor.<\/p>\n

At last, Afri breaks contact and veers toward Eury, though still stuck to Pantag.<\/p>\n

Indi heads for Asi\u2019s belly.\u00a0 Continental sucker punch.<\/p>\n

Austral remains at my side.\u00a0 Speechless. Bitter as a glacier.\u00a0 Unlucky as Pantag is lucky.\u00a0 Strangely less burdened as I with the depressing ice.<\/p>\n

Must you leave us (Pantag called out)<\/p>\n

We will join you later (said Tethys)<\/p>\n

We will crush Antarc later for destroying our happiness (said Eury and Asi)<\/p>\n

So, I am wrong to be right.\u00a0 Wrong not to believe in Pangaea.\u00a0 Think ice throttles my laughter at their threats.\u00a0 Choking on the mere idea of a new arrangement.\u00a0 The new purpose becomes…revenge against Antarc.\u00a0 A billion years to dwell on it.\u00a0 Or will they forget why they have drifted to avoid me?<\/p>\n

Afri\u2019s nearly out of sight.\u00a0 Plates inexorably rub rub rub<\/i>.\u00a0 Occasional forgotten caresses.\u00a0 When?\u00a0 Occasionally slowed to a whisper.\u00a0 That was Pangaea.\u00a0 A good moment of silence, relief, and contentment.\u00a0 For someone.\u00a0 Now the magma flows.\u00a0 Shouts from Tethys: HERE WE GO.\u00a0 Regain momentum.\u00a0 Flows through the cracks.\u00a0 Only I won\u2019t crack up.<\/p>\n

Unmovable Antarc waits.\u00a0 Listens to the arrangement.\u00a0 Other continents flow to new hemispheres.<\/p>\n

Even Austral leaves.<\/p>\n

All must go apart.<\/p>\n

Time to measure the silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cenozoic<\/b><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Robert Castle has an author’s site at\u00a0www.amazon.com\/author\/robert_castle<\/a>.\u00a0 Bob writes a regular blog on films for the Collingswood Patch:\u00a0http:\/\/collingswood.patch.com\/blogs\/robert-castles-blog<\/a>.\u00a0 He also teaches History, Film, and Sociology at a small academy outside Trenton, NJ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sun\u2019s unfiltered poisonous rays.
\nCrusts of Algae scum.
\nSlow amoebic waves.
\nBubbling magma of words.
\nPushing and scraping underneath.
\nMovements across hemispheres.
\nGrunting.
\nEroding.
\nMagma movements.<\/p>\n

rub rub rub <\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":5908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,199],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5807"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5916,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5807\/revisions\/5916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}