Brand Me

Thursday, April 16, 2009 | comments (12)
Hi. I am a brand.

On occasion, I write funny things.

Other times, I write things so I don't cry.

I will occasionally be honest.

I will occasionally lie.

And yet, I will never be insincere or falsely sentimental. (Though you may disagree.)

I will never write poetry, because I think poetry is a sham.

Mainly, though...I am just a brand.

Hello.

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Comments

Whose sake do you exist for? Your answer impacts whether or not I buy the "I will never be insincere or falsely sentimental" bit. Right now I'm skeptical.

Posted by Hammer on Apr 16, 2009 at 12:03:03 PM
Hammer: I could never answer a question like that. I'm not even sure I do exist. I'm also not sure it makes sense to say what I just said. I'm with Wittgenstein in that I think to ask "Is this my hand?" doesn't really make sense in our particular "language game" known as English.

So maybe that's a cop-out answer. I don't know. I know what C would say, though, if you asked her for whose sake I exist.

Posted by rothko on Apr 16, 2009 at 12:21:43 PM
You are a brand and you write poetry.

Posted by ma on Apr 16, 2009 at 3:14:05 PM
ma: No, no, no! This is NOT a poem!!

Posted by rothko on Apr 16, 2009 at 3:31:03 PM
"I'm not even sure I do exist."

Well, at least with this statement it looks like you're thinking about the problem the right way. What about the key element in this whole thing that is alluded to but not directly mentioned? Specifically, the entity that is branded? Does that entity even exist? ('Cuz if it doesn't, then the question of the viability of the brand becomes awfully damn moot.)

* Oh, and sorry for ending a question with a preposition in the earlier comment - I'm kinda hung over right now and not at my sharpest.

Posted by Hammer on Apr 16, 2009 at 3:33:36 PM
@ma: The Love Song of J. Rothko Prufrock? "I have measured my life with website hits?"

The boy's clearly had a bit of a day. Go easy on him.

Posted by Hammer on Apr 16, 2009 at 3:50:47 PM
Hammer: Oh! Well, I think the entity exists. As much as anything does. Including myself. Otherwise, what the hell are we talking about? So ... for whose sake does that exist? Mine, clearly. Does this implicate me as insincere or falsely sentimental? I hope so. Because I'm being neither insincere nor falsely sentimental when I say that I love to contradict myself.

And to both of you: If I had written this as one long paragraph instead of several short ones would it have allowed me to go unscathed by the whole poem accusation?

Posted by rothko on Apr 16, 2009 at 4:09:13 PM
Nah, we're just breaking your balls - it ain't a poem. More of a short, free-flowing meditation that reads like it's 3/4 of the way through its second beer and is giving serious consideration to a third.

Frayed and loose ends get a bad rap. If I wanted wrapping paper and pretty little bows I'd go to the Hallmark store. Sheeit.

Posted by Hammer on Apr 16, 2009 at 4:46:25 PM
I'm used to ball breakin'. (I'm married, doncha know?)

But I am hurt you don't think my poem is poetry ... ;-)

(Sorry, had to use a wink emoticon just to make sure my tone was correct. I do this even though apparently it's very unbecoming of people of my gender, at least according to some things I've read.)

Posted by rothko on Apr 16, 2009 at 4:58:08 PM
Ya'll are way too intellectual for me. I can't keep up with you.

Rothko you need to get out of New Jersey for awhile. C'mon down to DC and hang out with your friends. Seriously.

Posted by Reya Mellicker on Apr 16, 2009 at 9:23:45 PM
i just bought stock. is this the wrong climate?

Posted by j on Apr 16, 2009 at 11:39:53 PM
Reya: Yours was the first comment I understood.

j: You might be better off buying some mortgage-backed securities.

Posted by rothko on Apr 17, 2009 at 8:20:50 AM

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