hail porphyrion (the destruction wrought by a demon emperor)

horsemouth is spending time in the cloud forest. he has fed the forest beasts.

this morning he rose early, ground the coffee, and then wandered off (through the forest) to water the allotment. while he was up there rain fell. the storm clouds have now cleared and it is sunny again. today perhaps a bar-b-cue. he needs to find a power cable for his laptop (then he can enjoy that full internet access thing).

monday/ tuesday - a jam with paul and claire (probably). wednesday - the remove from the forest and a visit to a cemetary.

in the bosphorous a huge enraged whale nicknamed porphyrion was a danger to shipping for the best part of half a century. meanwhile on land procopius speculates that the imperial couple (justinian and theodora) are in fact demons sent to destroy humanity (viz. chapter five: the destruction wrought by a demon emperor). ‘the actions of demons are unmistakeably different from those of human beings’ 

like the andreotti of il divo the emperor prowls his apartments late at night unable to sleep, like him also ‘he could not be trusted in anything except inhumanity and avarice’, like him also he could be very friendly, charming even, but usually gave no indication of his feelings. like trump his pronouncements were random and chaotic, a near illiterate, uncouth, rude, ruthless.

a narrative of the mutiny on board the ship globe of nantucket, in the pacific ocean, jan 1824. and the journal of residence if two years on the mulgrave islands: with observations on the manners and customs of the inhabitants.

here we see a ritualised journey into a symbolic south (seas)  - of the kind made by melville and murnau (we could imagine a murnau - a secret history of metropolis at the triangulation point of horsemouth’s current reading). there are narratives of ascent from the south - of a differentiation of an individual self from community and history, narratives of immersion also, of a return to community.

today is the birthday of harry smith, collector of the folkways anthology of american folk music;

 “had he never done anything with his life but this anthology, harry smith would still have borne the mark of genius across his forehead. I'd match the anthology up against any other single compendium of important information ever assembled. dead sea scrolls? nah. I'll take the anthology.”
– john fahey