♬ The fiddler watches you
Wondering when
You’re gonna slow down or speed up
Finally, he just shuts his eyes again
He turns around once
And gives up
But me?
I’ve been coming here much too long
To fall out the first time it don’t work
It may take a while
To catch up to your style
So you just give the rhythm a jerk ♬
— “Broken Waltz Time,” Bill Morrissey, Night Tain
No matter what the header image implies, Pecos Bill did not get off on cosplaying a Village Person while dry humping wind storms he anthropomorphized as Donald Trump. Rather, according to Texas-slash-Oklahoma folklore, the man raised by coyotes just one time* used his powerful thighs to squeeze jets of fluid out of a slightly curved and hardened column of normally soft material.
Which, totally different.
But the underlying tale of taming chaos for the benefit of common folk bears great relevance to everything that has happened in the wake of the most unfortunate American presidential election since [choose your own adventure].
Michael Wolff’s newest tell-all on the Trump administration tells no intelligent person anything he or she did not already know about the Beagle Boys currently ransacking the federal government, betraying allies, and reneging on the promise of a better future. Still, unsurprising revelations such as everyone in the White House knowing that Don Sr. abetted not-technically-but-actually treason by Don Jr. and doing nothing about take focus away from the real, actual, ongoing, and sometimes irreversible harm these nutters perpetrate.
Which,** brings us to the coincident relevance of the quoted song lyric. Taken from the middle of a rueful recounting of a jam session with an unrequited and unreliable love object, the media res allows the narrator to lie to himself about his ability to steer through the maelstrom and stay on course of understanding intent and result.
Don’t make that a lie. Reap the whirlwind while also keeping your weather eye on unforgivable crimes against civil rights and de minimis humanity such as setting the stage to no longer require cities and counties to ensure compliance with antisegregation laws in housing. And this actually throws off a couple of sister storms. The move coming amid the furor over Fire and Fury also plays out against the HUD secretary’s personal biography of depending on federal housing assistance and red line bans to enjoy any kind of decent childhood.
So do a Pecos Bill. Hop on the cyclone, but take advantage of your vantage to stare into the abyss without blinking when it winks. Report what you see in the comments.
++++
*Cy-curious.
**You can stop thinking about twister fucking now. Uvular understands how you probably need permission to get that image out of your head. Until you need it.