Dagger. The Bible has the story of a fellow who fashioned himself a dagger, fetched it hidden into the chambers of an unsuspecting portly man, and plunged it into the man’s belly so deep that it disappeared, unextractable. The King James remarks laconically that “the dirt came out.” Observationally spot on, no doubt; the dirt would be feces oozing from punctured intestine.
Cock fight. In Nathanael West’s Day of the Locust a character repeatedly puts a bloody rooster’s beak in his own mouth while tenderly stroking the bird, administering a kind of resuscitation therapy in order to motivate the creature to fight its losing battle to the bitter end.
Synthesis. The two narratives, leaking intestine and cock fight, intertwined in my head with the performative carnage staged at the White House on June 16th in which the old boy who “won” the melee screamed that a former first lady, accomplished wife of a living two-term ex-president, is a man.
Moral. Blood and soil: When you stab a country in the gut, the dirt comes out.
Note. The analogy of cage brawling to cock fights belongs to Senator John McCain, Solon-Warrior-Patriot. Rest in Honor, Sir.
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
EthicalDative 
Blood and Dirt
Dagger. The Bible has the story of a fellow who fashioned himself a dagger, fetched it hidden into the chambers of an unsuspecting portly man, and plunged it into the man’s belly so deep that it disappeared, unextractable. The King James remarks laconically that “the dirt came out.” Observationally spot on, no doubt; the dirt would be feces oozing from punctured intestine.
Cock fight. In Nathanael West’s Day of the Locust a character repeatedly puts a bloody rooster’s beak in his own mouth while tenderly stroking the bird, administering a kind of resuscitation therapy in order to motivate the creature to fight its losing battle to the bitter end.
Synthesis. The two narratives, leaking intestine and cock fight, intertwined in my head with the performative carnage staged at the White House on June 16th in which the old boy who “won” the melee screamed that a former first lady, accomplished wife of a living two-term ex-president, is a man.
Moral. Blood and soil: When you stab a country in the gut, the dirt comes out.
Note. The analogy of cage brawling to cock fights belongs to Senator John McCain, Solon-Warrior-Patriot. Rest in Honor, Sir.
(c) 2026 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
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About JMN
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.