A True-blue Rebel

“I will die like a true-blue rebel. Don’t waste any time in mourning—organize.”

—Joe Hill, November 18, 1915, a farewell telegram the day before his execution by firing squad.

Pale hands, pink tipped

“Pale hands, pink tipped, like lotus buds that float
On those cool waters where we used to dwell,
I would have rather felt you round my throat
Crushing out life; than waving me farewell!”

—Laurence Hope, Kashmiri Song, Garden of Kama, 1901.

sexophones

“The sexophones wailed like melodious cats under the moon.”

—Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932.

the sun

“Mother, give me the sun.”

—Henrik Ibsen, Ghosts, 1881.

the carbon atom

“Life exits in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.”

—Sir James Jeans, Mysterious Universe, 1930.

The snotgreen sea

“The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea.”

—James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922.

The heaventree of stars

“The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit.”

—James Joyce, Ulysses, 1922.

the sole purpose of human existence

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”

—Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, 1962.

little black sheep

“We’re poor little lambs who’ve lost our way,
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We’re little black sheep who’ve gone astray,
Baa-aa-aa!”

—Rudyard Kipling, Gentlemen-Rankers, Barrack-Room Ballads, 1892.

the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River

“Then Kolokolo Bird said, with a mournful cry, ‘Go to the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees, and find out.’”

—Rudyard Kipling, The Elephant’s Child, Just So Stories, 1902.