Esoteric & Based Memo #22

The Twentysecond

1. A Book

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 1970

Or, really, anything and everything written by Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye was her first novel and my most recently read of hers, hence its feature in this week’s compendium. The story is set in 1940s Ohio and follows Pecola Breedlove, an eleven-year-old African American girl. Pecola comes from a troubled family, believes herself to be ugly, and, in turn, prays for blue eyes in the heartbreaking hope of becoming beautiful and loved. Morrison’s ability to deeply humanize even the villains in her novels never ceases to amaze me.

Toni Morrison was a gift to the world; if I were American, I would feel proud to share a nationality with this tour de force of a person. Don’t get me wrong, her writing will break your heart. The Bluest Eye sufficiently pulverized mine and left me gazing out the window in solemn contemplation for an amount of time unknown upon finishing its last page. It is beautiful though - even if you’re not a sensitive romantic with dramatic and masochistic tendencies à la moi - there is divinity to be found amidst (and partly, due to) the tragedy and pain.

Definitely also go watch the documentary Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (trailer below) for more insight into the rich life of our luminous Queen Morrison.

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2. An Artwork

Zenith, 2021, Rae Klein

Rae Klein is an American oil painter based in Michigan. Dreamlike and surreal (surprise, surprise - I have a type), her work features a lot of horses, candleabras, dogs, aeroplanes, and eyes. The often juxtaposed composition of her paintings draws you in, allowing you space to construct your own narrative and create your own world. There is an overall glow to her work that I can’t look away from.

Klein expands: “I look for images that have lost their relevance. That have lost their context, it frees them to become something new, a new image. The absence that they contain creates a space where I can give them a new purpose and meaning.”

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3. A Quote/Poem

“And I am out on a limb, and it is the arm of God.”

- Frank O’Hara, Olive Garden, from The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara

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4. An Audio

In Rainbows by Radiohead, 2007

One of the greatest albums of all time from one of the greatest bands of all time, Amen. That’s all.

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5. A Place

A graveyard near you.

Specifically, if possible, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles or the Kensal Green Cemetery in west London.

It is deeply damaging to our psyche and society at large to consider dying, death and the dead taboo topics. Life is only precious because it ends, death is a horizon save for the limit of our sight etc. etc. Subvert the extremely unwell Bryan Johnson-esque fear of death that disturbingly exists, and take time to reflect, remember - perhaps while strolling through a park of dead bodies. The quiet, peace and lush greenery that some graveyards provide is hugely underrated.

Although I do have a hot (semi-warm?) take - no more graveyards. There are enough already, and alternatives to burials exist. Same with golf courses and lawns. Waste of land and water. Get a new hobby, grow a clover patch and native plants. It is 2026: climate change is real, water is precious, the lack of public third spaces is rife, we must do better, bitch.

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6. A Film

Son of the White Mare by Marcell Jankovics, 1981

!!!!! woooooooowwwwww !!!!! The son of a divine horse sets out to avenge injustices and free three captive princesses from evil dragons!!! A Hungarian animated psychedelic fantasy adventure - so fun, so beautiful, so strange, you must.