From Bob's archive: The revolution of flowers, February 2011
This post dates from exactly a decade ago, 7 February 2011, as the "Arab Spring" spread from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya and beyond. A time of hope. I have slightly edited it, especially the ending. "An invitation to the dance Come to the corner of Cross and Sickle At eight sharp Put on your masks Look to your bayonets Don't mind the barricades Take your lives into your Hands off the morning's tall sun straight through the question men will ask How did you fare Tell them our love was like a town with gods there Our love was like the top of time and we above to look down And were we sad or dead or simply tired Tell them dynamos were toys and towers and joy joy was hired" ---Kenneth Patchen, 1936 "Bourgeois revolutions, like those of the eighteenth century, storm more swiftly from success to success, their dramatic effects outdo each other, men and things seem set in sparkling diamonds, ecstasy is the order of th