I STAND ON THE SHOULDERS
I stand on the shoulders of tyrants & their victims
of warlords & the slain & enslaved
on the shoulders of comfortable heirs
& of migrants & their children
& those emancipated without tools, skills, or information
scrambling for traction amid others' pride & contempt
& on the shoulders of generations following traditions
of tribes now nations & of tribes now forgotten
& of tribes grimly surviving by temporary expedients
I stand on the shoulders of brilliant innovators
including entrepreneurs who give far more than they take
& of the merely lucky & unscrupulous using others' creations
& the time & attention of people defeated by circumstances
to operate the machines, & promote & distribute the products
& to harvest the profits & enjoy what money can buy
I stand on the shoulders of fanatics & cynics
of the obsessed & the disengaged & coolly composed
I stand on the shoulders of dreamers
& also on the shoulders of those unable to conceive
of the potential being born within what's actual
or being strangled or culled
I stand on the shoulders of the the healthy & the sick
of doctors, & maintainers of clinics & operating rooms
& of those who figure out the costs & prices & send the bills
I stand on the shoulders of producers & consumers
& on the shoulders of bureaucrats who stand on my shoulders
& beginners & experts, the triumphant, the frustrated & flattened
on the shoulders of embryos, children, old people, & corpses
& if you're standing on my shoulders, don't be too grateful
because I'm standing on your shoulders, too---
I stand on the shoulders of the Neanderthals
& of the crocodiles who preceded & have outlived them
I stand on the shoulders of song birds & birds of prey
I stand on the shoulders of trees, grasses, & forbs
I stand on the shoulders of creatures without shoulders
of jellyfish, worms, plankton, protozoans
I stand on the swarming shoulders of insects
mitochondria, neurons, & phagocytes, sperm, & eggs
I stand on the shoulders of viruses, bacteria, fungi
of gases & rocks, clouds & puddles & streams & oceans
I stand on the shoulders of soil & seams of minerals
& on the shoulders of autistic & worldly analyzers
I stand on the shoulders of steam engines & transistors
of languages, writing, printing
classics, pop songs, propaganda
I stand on the shoulders of centuries of mechanics & plumbers
& algorithms, codes, & programs
of geniuses, mediocrities, & giddy sorcerers' apprentices
I stand on the shoulders of rows & rows of crops
& cattle---stalls & pens, milk, slaughter houses, meat
& of builders of houses, ships, planes, munitions
& factories & elaborate mobile processing plants
& operators of trucks, ports, roads, warehouses, & stores
I stand on the shoulders of middlemen
straining to maximize profit without breaking contract terms
comedy & tragedy, balance & harmony---far-off ideals---
I stand on the shoulders of the honest & dishonest
& those so long dishonest with themselves they believe it---
of those who have developed their intellects
& of those mired in ignorance & opinions based on errors
I stand on the shoulders of who I was in the past
& of criminals & police, judges, guards, convicts, & fugitives
I stand on the shoulders of crowds of excited gossipers
& of manipulators of crowds' wild hopes, resentments, fears---
& standing on the shoulders, I have seen further
than a rabbit, mouse, or fly---
but it's not enough.
Having stood on the shoulders, I have seen
that in the midst of what's gloriously inspiring
injustice & consequent suffering prevail---& pretense---
because it's unbearable, knowing you're wasting your life
merely adapting to what's being done to you against your will.
Having stood on the shoulders, I have seen
that I must climb down from the shoulders
&, very carefully, do what has never been done before
what I have never been capable of & am not yet capable of---
& if I fail, I'll be only one more, however far-seeing
pretending---
while adapting to what's been done to me against my will.
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Paysage avec Orion aveugle cherchant le soleil (Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun) -- Nicolas Poussin
Oinopion ("wine drinker" or "wine-rich" or "wine face") was the son of Dionysos the wine god and Ariadne, the daughter of king Minos of Crete. He introduced wine-making to Ophioussa ("snake island; modern Khios), which had been given to him by Minos' brother Rhadamanthys (who was named as Ariadne's husband in some ancient sources.) Another of Minos' daughters had a gigantic son, Orion, after her dalliance with Poseidon. Able to walk on water as the son of the sea god, Orion visited Ophioussa, where he got drunk and raped Oinopion's daughter Merope. With the help of Dionysos and his satyrs, Oinopion stabbed out Orion’s eyes, and Orion, blind, wandered to Lemnos, the island where Oinopion had been born. Hephaistos, the god of metallurgy, who had his forge there, took pity on Orion and gave him to the care of his smithing tutor Kedalion (whose name was derived from a word related to phallus). Riding on Orion's shoulders, Kedalion took him to the uttermost east, where Helios the sun god restored his sight. Then Orion returned to Ophioussa to slay Oinopion, but he hid in an underground iron fortress built by Hephaestos. So Orion traveled on to Crete, where he would meet his death.
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