{"id":16165,"date":"2026-03-15T00:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T22:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=16165"},"modified":"2026-03-16T00:13:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T22:13:34","slug":"poems-by-jim-murdoch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/?p=16165","title":{"rendered":"poems by Jim Murdoch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Found among Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s papers after his death<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

I<\/p>\n

\n

Poetry can be<\/p>\n

in<\/em> black and white and yet not<\/p>\n

be <\/em>black and white.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

There comes a point when<\/p>\n

you can see there is no point,<\/p>\n

at which point you stop.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

The cat in the box<\/p>\n

was thinking outside the box<\/p>\n

of other boxes.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

Why a cat? you ask.<\/p>\n

Because spherical cows are<\/p>\n

so hard to come by.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

Why a box? Because<\/p>\n

someone kept letting the cat<\/p>\n

out of the damn bag.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

The cat is a ghost.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no other solution.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s so obvious.<\/p>\n

\n

II<\/p>\n

\n

I\u2019m wondering how<\/p>\n

Wittgenstein\u2019s beetle\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019ll phone him.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

Always the show off<\/p>\n

Dyson couldn\u2019t use a box<\/p>\n

like the rest of us.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

Of course, it was just<\/p>\n

a matter of time before<\/p>\n

Einstein jumped on board.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/p>\n

\n

And then came Newcomb.<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t I think of that?<\/p>\n

A transparent box!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Immaterial Evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n

Proof is not the same as assertion \u2013 Neil deGrasse Tyson<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So here are the facts in evidence.<\/p>\n

Thinking, remembering and seeing<\/p>\n

all depend on the imagination<\/p>\n

to explain<\/em> our world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The same is true with sensations.<\/p>\n

Feeling, intuiting and awarenessing:<\/p>\n

all are driven by our e<\/em>magination<\/p>\n

and each enhances<\/em> our lives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some ontologists even posit the<\/p>\n

existence of a spimagination.<\/p>\n

Mostly among the faithful few<\/p>\n

and even then, mainly the zealots.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the jury\u2019s out on that last one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Selfalities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Properly speaking, a man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry an image of him in their head <\/em><\/p>\n

[William James]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s more than one me in here.<\/p>\n

Me and Myself are sorta in charge.<\/p>\n

All the others just come out to play<\/p>\n

(let\u2019s stick with play) as and when.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All fun and games in here. Identity<\/p>\n

is an odd cuss. Pretty easy to lose<\/p>\n

yourself if you\u2019re not careful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Actually, I\u2019m not sure if Yourself is<\/p>\n

one of mine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Truthiness<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026 is what you want the facts to be as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support. <\/em><\/p>\n

[Stephen Colbert]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Truth is, most of the time,<\/p>\n

a compromise, a settling, the outcome of<\/p>\n

a negotiation, conversation or squabble:<\/p>\n

that\u2019ll do, that\u2019s truthy enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We think this is something new,<\/p>\n

something those dang Americans dreamt up<\/p>\n

and the rest of us are playing catch-up<\/p>\n

but that is far from the case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Truth\u2122, as most of us now understand it,<\/p>\n

has, frankly, always been a bit flaky but<\/p>\n

it markets itself well and it doesn\u2019t hurt<\/p>\n

that God is on the board of directors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slap a banana label on an apple<\/p>\n

and most people will concur,<\/p>\n

it\u2019s not a pear,<\/p>\n

but that\u2019s as far as they\u2019ll go<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

and even then<\/p>\n

a part of them will still swear blind<\/p>\n

they can taste the banana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Optional footnote<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ester isoamyl acetate is the major contributor to the characteristic \u201cbanana\u201d flavour and aroma. It is also present in various other fruits, including apples. The Bisbee Red Delicious, has been reported to contain up to 0.043% of isoamyl acetate in its volatile compounds which is more than any banana cultivar (0.2 – 0.4%).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taxophilia<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the destination, it\u2019s the journey <\/em><\/p>\n

[Ralph Waldo Emerson]<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every day he begins again. With the things.<\/p>\n

Always the things. Arranging the things.<\/p>\n

Order, however, is not the goal.<\/p>\n

The process is. Always was.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Same with writing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I get Grand now, I do.<\/p>\n

Some bloke writing variations<\/p>\n

of the same sentence<\/p>\n

over and over again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Writing would be so much easier<\/p>\n

(and satisfying) if we arranged words,<\/p>\n

say, by alphabetical order, by length,<\/p>\n

by part of speech or by syllable count.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But not meaning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The problem with arranging words by meaning<\/p>\n

is proximity; proximity changes meaning.<\/p>\n

You see, words need their personal space.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re surrounded by a gravitational field\u2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

or magnetic, or maybe it\u2019s metaphysical\u2014<\/p>\n

either way, words attract other words<\/p>\n

and the closer they get<\/p>\n

the less like themselves they become.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Words take on a life of their own.<\/p>\n

Things not so much.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s their beauty.<\/p>\n

Their simplicity and complicity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Optional footnote<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ataxophobia is an extreme, irrational and surprisingly common fear of disorder or untidiness. Logic, therefore, would dictate that taxophilia would be a love of order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Found among Erwin Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s papers after his death I Poetry can be in black and white and yet not be black and white.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1843,77],"tags":[1845,1123,1864],"class_list":["post-16165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-egophobia-88","category-english","tag-egophobia-88","tag-english","tag-jim-murdoch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DakB-4cJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16165"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16166,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16165\/revisions\/16166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egophobia.ro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}