“The Wise Man Is just a Smart Man Who Does”(A Poem)

by Martin Anton Smith

The smart person who chooses to not use their smarts,

Must logically be *much* worse that the dumb person who *can’t do*.

Much much worse than the dumb person who *tries to do* yet fails;

And *infinitely worse* than the dumb person that does, in fact, *do*.

There are far more smart people that *don’t do* than dumb people that *do do*.

Smart people who *don’t do* seem to think they have an a-priori greatness,

As if their ‘real self’ is alive in some kind of a parallel Platonic-like-universe,

Where great thoughts & ideas are the only game in town

But really, here on Earth – they are by any practical definition,

The dumbest people around.

Someone with an IQ of 120 or more should not forever be cleaning out chicken coops,

& having no real impact on anyone or anything…..

I blame the ‘Quad-um-virate’ of Universities, Corporatism, Politicians, & the Thinktank elitists –

They have installed this mindset in the people via their deft duplicitous chicanery,

For this ‘Quad-um-virate’ likes to build up social hierarchies in people’s minds –

& How can a Uni student ever mix it with Einstein, Tolstoy, Jobs & Woz, Dirac, Crick & Watson & JFK etc?

They like to ignore the fact that people usually succeed through trial & error, obstinacy & just turning up.

The obscure the fact that doing anything is ultimately just a process & is available to anyone.

But why would the knowledge gatekeepers do this?

They do this because they must keep only a small % of people ‘succeeding’ –

They must vigilantly police who gets to the upper part of the pyrimid –

They can’t let everyone succeed on merit or by access to ungated resources –

For how else could you fleece the last remaining few shekels?

Yes The shekels of the great billions running on the hamster wheels –

A few small dollars stolen off the great 8 Billion strong majority adds up very nicely,

When it is shared to the few tens of thousands the apex levels of the pyrimid scheme.

But you must convince them that they can’t do.

& This is why I say it is so bad when a smart person knows this & still enslaves themselves.

The others have an excuse.

The smart do not.

Did not the ex-Roman Jew-prosecutor-turned-Christian Paul say this:

“Do not make yourself a slave unto man”?

These are wise words.

Also, Bukowski the drunk poet said something similar:

“If you know & don’t do you have attics & dark halls in your mind to walk up & down in & wonder about”.

I am convinced that if you took the millions of smart people who let themselves be brainwashed to ‘not to do’ –

by some Machiavellian character in higher education or some villainous corporatised entity,

They’d spontaneously do the great works on this Earth they were meant to do.

Someday, someone or something will make this all happen.

For it is the greatest swindlers tragedy to be on this beautiful pale blue dot life support system,

Which has bountiful food & the only barriers to movement are the geographic gates:

Mountains, Rivers, Seas, Deserts.

Yes – it’s amazing that even one man was ever fooled into seeing these false & invisible barriers –

Yet the entire times of mankind suggests it was entirely normal.

Yes, all of Earths entire generations have seen this elongated swindle we now call History.

History’s litany of records of the invisible barriers has never been real truth –

it just proves & documents that ‘the swindle’ has been effective for too long.

For a swindle is still a swindle no matter how long it is plied for.

A smart man that finds his voice & so ‘does’ is known by a better name:

A ‘Wise Man’.

The ‘Wise Man’s’ function is to show people the Truth of what is really happening.

Hazaar to the Wise Men!

Rare in modern times – but not yet extinct – maybe they can still save us….

….If only they’d finally find their voices soon…..

…..For there must be a few million of them at least….

For isn’t the ‘Wise Man’ just a ‘Smart Man Who Does”?

“A Page In Time” (A Poem)

By Martin Anton Smith

Reading a really good book very slowly…

In Slothe-like fashion…

Is actually quite the joy….

Taking in each sentence with ‘comprehensional’ aplomb…

Not unlike the last grasps of a starving man…

As he reaches for a ripe-aciously rounded plum…

As it floats holographically in the air…

Only in this case…

The book is actually there…

As is the 10,000 songs on Shuffle…

As is the half empty can of beer….

As low or no lighting…..

As is the battery charging solitude…

Yes, despite creeping melancholia….

There are still simple & life reviving pleasures out there….

Even I must at least admit that…

When the day has been a giant hassle…..

Thoughts About “The Mirror Book” by Charlotte Grimshaw (Book Review)

Book Review: ‘THE MIRROR BOOK’ BY CHARLOTTE GRIMSHAW

Published By: Penguin

Rating: 4.5 Stars Out Of 5

review by Martin Anton Smith martinantonsmith@gmail.com

WARNING MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

I read this book inside 2 days. This was actually the best book I had read for a while. Charlotte Grimshaw is a well-known novelist & the daughter of a “heavyweight of NZ literature” – CK Stead. This is her autobiography. She is a woman in her mid 50’s her career started in Law but then she quickly left to pursue writing & “the rest is history”.

I have not read any of her Novels but was interested to read the book after a family member read the book & also having read an article which also mentioned the book (or was it a radio interview? It’s a bit hazy).

This book is roughly split between description of/trying to figure out her early life as raised by her parents – the one she saw as a child & the one she has looked back on as an adult. The other half is about an early relationship with a troubled Lawyer who was manipulative & often abusive; her next relationship with her husband & a break up & the swift reunion.

The Book describes how CK Stead her high status father who was also a university professor as well as a writer constructed a “public family persona” that was often incongruent with reality according to Grimshaw. She mentions that her father would often describe their family as essentially “happy normal interesting with a minimum of piety, yet there was plenty of odd things happening to refute this description. She mentions her father would often flip out over small things – such as starting a new bottle of jam before the other was finished. She mentions his bad temper & yelling was appraised by her mother as “particle male energy to be respected”.

She mentions the many affairs her dad had which were swept under the carpet by the family & namely her mother. She mentions that her mother didn’t really seem to like her & often gave people the silent treatment – which Charlotte was exposed too for a period of years. She mentions that she went off the rails as a teenager, including run ins with the law for petty crime, yet this was seen as a positive thing by her selectively anti authority parents (They didn’t like Teachers or Cops in particular).

She talks briefly of a terrible house sharing situation she ended up in after leaving the abusive first love – a bunch of males who eventually kicked her out for upsetting a friend in conversation. She writes that her father & mother seem to automatically favour the male in public sex scandals – indicating they are actually very old fashioned & conservative despite the veneer that a literature family is going to always be “progressive”.

Yes, this book is largely about outing the contradictions she regularly faced. It’s also about “gaslighting” – being told she has lost her sanity when bringing up alternative narratives to that of her father & mother. It’s also about being a mother & wanting to raise her kids differently & with more respect for institutions/authority. She mentions her inability to have close relationships with females & how she goes to a female therapist to help resolve this on top of the therapy she requires to help her answer life’s questions.

This book I believe was almost required to be written – as if Charlotte had to write it to finally “set the record straight” – to remove a monkey on her back. It is as if She wanted to exorcise the spirit that was the fabrication of her early familial life story. A story that was actually a false, self-serving appraisal by primarily her father, but ably supported by her mother.

Writing a book like this takes a lot of guts – her parents are still alive and of very old age. Not many writers would risk massively upsetting their parents & remaining family members by writing a book that lays out the family in a plain light of day. Not many non-writers would even have the guts to talk privately about these matters. This I believe is the reason the book is really good. It’s ‘truth factor’ is huge, mountainous. The reader wonders how much this has affected Charlotte’s current relationship with her parents – although we are told the answer to some of this by the fact that her father has said “I remember things differently”.

This book will make you think about yourself & your relationship with your family. Readers will see a lot of Charlotte’s story in their own families. Many Parents will actively promote a “polished” to “totally fake” version of the family they created & raised – after all we would expect that, it’s it the Parents self-interest to do that after all. But of course, the children will be hurt by extremely false appraisals that cover up the hurt they felt – this book is a testament to that. Many children now adults will sympathise with Charlotte’s experiences.

Many Parents now elderly will recognise their own whitewashing of family history & perhaps will feel embarrassed. Perhaps The Mirror Book will help build a few bridges within middle age children & elderly parents – even if in true NZ ‘sweep under the carpet’ culture specifics may never be raised – & that would be a great thing.

Charlotte Grimshaw showed a tonne of guts to write this kind of warts & all autobiography, and it worked a treat. It also makes me wonder about her father’s work – having not read any of it.

As an aside – this book reminds me (because of the descriptions of the father) of the “They are a bastard but they made good art” phenomenon. Do bastards make better art? Is CK Stead a bit of a ‘Bastard’? Is his work actually really good? I will read at least some of his work in the near future perhaps – I wonder after reading The Mirror Book if I will think to myself am I being deceived here, are his characters wolves in sheep’s clothing?.

The books style is very easy to read – straight, simple & to the point – and that’s why I read it inside two days. The chapters aren’t too long. The book isn’t too long or too short.

The only mild criticism I have is the first 100 pages felt a little laboured, & perhaps 25 pages could have been swapped out for more of what came after the first 100 – i.e. the really interesting stuff. But apart from that minor quibble it’s a solid 4.5 stars out of 5.

It will be interesting to delve into one of her fictional works & see if they are as good as this autobiography.

“The Mirror Book” By Charlotte Grimshaw Is Published By Penguin & is available online & in bookstores.