HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSES...

I

It could have been
into the sky
into outerspace
into myself
or just out
but of course it was into the lake
that I swam
and I swam so much
that my body changed.

There is now more meat
around the shoulders
and on my chest.

II

There is a word,
ORNICOPYTHEOBIBLIOPSYCHO-
CRYSTARROSCIOAEROGENETHLIO-
METEOROAUSTROHIEROANTHROPO-
ICHTHYOPYROSIDEROCHPNOMYO-
ALECTRYOOPHIOBOTANOPEGOHYDRO-
RHABDOCRITHOALEUROALPHITOHALO-
MOLYBDOCLEROBELOAXINOCOSCINO-
DACTYLIOGEOLITHOPESSOPSEPHOCATOP-
TROTEPHRAONEIROCHIROONYCHO-
DACTYLOARITHSTICHOOXOGELOSCO-
GASTROGYROCEROBLETONOOENOSCAPULIN
ANIAC that was used by mediaeval scribes to refer to a deluded person who indulges in superstitious practices. I found it in a post by modersbach after googling another word, GYMNOMETRIOCNEMUS a genera of the Chironomidae family of diptera (insects with a single pair of wings); the chironomidae being otherwise known as non-biting midges, or ‘lake flies’ in Canada, and ‘blind mosquitoes’ in Florida. Midges are gnats. Both midges and gnats are called moucherons in French.

There were a lot of them moucherons this year, at the lake. In the morning, they were flying in swarms over the gravel beach where I was reading or writing. Many died squashed in the pages of my various books despite my efforts to save them (and save my books—worst affected was LA NUIT REMUE by Henri Michaud.)

I saw:

A gymnometriocnemus—
crushed on this word:
Come!

I didn’t know the name of the bugs until I came back to the city. Their body was black, ink black, their head the size of a dot . . . . . .with fluffy, shaking antennae, although a few individuals had plain, simple antennae—those were males, I believed, but I was wrong. On Wikipedia, starting from the insect article, I found the Chironomidae article with a picture of Chironomus plumosus that resembled what I was looking for. I read:

“[the Chironomidae] is a large group of insects with over 5000 described species and 700 species in North America alone. Males are easily recognized by their plumose antennae.”

Gymnometriocnemus brumalis, shown on the Chironomid Home Page, looks much like my little friends.

III

Before I departed for the lake, a friend sent me an email with these words that I couldn’t understand:

You shall surely see two weeks ago,
I hope not more than you wish, in these e's.

What’s in the e’s? Emails? I have no idea. I’ll ask my friend, of course. Over the last two weeks, in the afternoon, when the other vacationers and me were playing petanque on a field at some distance from the lake, the non-biting Sevan midges were flying right over our heads in huge swarms, producing an incredible heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee sound that made me feel nervous, and want to move away to let the flies do what they were busy doing, which was, of course, love making. Interestingly enough, I didn’t see any bird preying on the mating flies. Was there hope, in these e’s?

Every morning dead
water dragons
in my coffee

To be honest, I didn’t like them until one morning when there wasn’t any wind, and I went swimming, and I saw them again: countless little worms with wings floating on wavelets of green and blue. At first, I thought they were exhausted or drowned. Then I noticed that they were flying off as I was breaststroking towards them. I slowed down my pace, and stopped, then I looked again around me. Most were alive, standing on their delicate legs, their plumose antennae shaking, their tiny wings beating, beating for the first time, I guess. I called my friends, shouting in Russian: THIS IS THEIR WORLD AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL. Over the next days, I returned to see them several times with other people who had heard my shout, and wondered.

In eight years of visits to lake Sevan, I had never seen the gymnometriocnemus in such numbers, at that time of the year. They came with fish—so many of them, we could see them from the shore. It wasn’t the only change. Temperatures at night were above normal, and all of us who had brought wools and coats in anticipation of the cold evenings didn’t wear them.

IV

When I came back from the lake, I read an article about giant nests of Yellow Jackets in Alabama.

“In previous years, a yellow jacket nest was no larger than a basketball […] it would contain about 3,000 workers and one queen. These gigantic nests may have as many as 100,000 workers and multiple queens.” -From Giant nests perplex experts by Garry MITCHELL (Associate Press | Sept. 5, 2006)

Then I read:

Bisphenol A, used in the manufacture of CD cases, lunchboxes, sunglasses, water bottles, babies’ bottles and tin cans, [that] has been linked to health problems ranging from cancer to miscarriage and infertility. […] It is well known that [Bisphenol A] can derail oestrogen, the female hormone, and evidence for a potential role in breast cancer is now mounting. […] There is also evidence that synthetic oestrogens affect the environment, leading to fish changing sex and snails' reproductive systems going into overdrive.” -From Cancer alert over tin and plastic bottle chemical by Fiona MACRAE (Daily Mail | August 25th, 2006)

Evidence of bisphenol A's estrogenicity came in the 1930s, but the plastics industry has always claimed that bisphenol A is safe.

Eleven industry-funded studies found no risk from bisphenol A, while 90% of 104 independent studies showed possible risks. In 2006, an independent review found through reanalysis of the data in one of those industry-funded papers that it in fact had found an effect, even though its conclusions stated otherwise. Several of the other studies failed to use positive controls or used a variety of rat that is known to be extremely insensitive to estrogens. Bisphenol A has been found in nearly every human tested in the United States. [See Bisphenol A on Wikipedia.]

Sometimes I wish like I could turn myself into Batman, or rather GNATMAN. At night, Gnatman would visit the authors of those induestry-funded fake studies, and ask them what they believe should be the appropriate punishment for their CRIMES AGAINST LIFE. Gnatman wouldn’t hurt them too much, but he’d find a way to convince them to stop lying. Biting off their tongue? Biting off their fingers? Singing:

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one finger for you, nine for me
'Cause I'm the gnatman, yeah, I'm the gnatman...

There are tons of ‘safe’ plastic bottles on the beaches of lake Sevan. Fishermen use them as floats, and neither the local tourists nor the local population nor the local authorities seem to understand what pollution is or what it means. I’m not sure that I know myself. But I would like to know, yes, YES, what are the risks from bisphenol A on Gymnometriocnemus, what are the risks for the fishes that eat the midges, and what are the risks for fish eaters.

V

Googling for “plastic bottles” +Armenia I found an (undated) project by Waterlok, an Armenian company, to export almost 6,000 metric tons of Armenian spring water to a country that really, really, really needs to import fresh water: CANADA.

The total amount of the first export contracts is about $1.42 million (220 forty foot containers, 27,000 bottles in each, at $2.90 per 12 one-liter packaged bottles CIF Toronto, Canada price).

There are no duties and taxes on exports of finished products in Armenia. How do you make a ’finished product’ out of water? You bottle it.

Hologram Plastic is another local company with 5-year experience of manufacturing PET pre-forms and plastic bottles for the domestic market, and supplies Waterlok with plastic bottles.

I couldn’t figure out if PET plastic bottles leach bisphenol A or not, but on Wikipedia I read:

Antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) is a catalyst that is often used in the production of PET. It remains in the material and can migrate out into food and drinks. While ground water contains approximately 2 parts per trillion (ppt) of antimony, freshly bottled water averages 160 ppt. Samples left up to six months had levels as high as 630 ppt.

And:

Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic. Clinically, antimony poisoning is very similar to arsenic poisoning. In small doses, antimony causes headache, dizziness, and depression.

What I am trying to say here, and although I haven’t checked all the details yet, is that IT IS A STRANGE LOGIC that enables a few men in one ancient, and little, and poor country to sell
tax free
high quality spring water
bottled in possibly toxic containers
to a
fresh water rich country
located half-way around the world.

VI

At the lake,
when I wasn’t swimming
or playing petanque
or rescuing gymnometriocnemus flies stuck in my body hair
or picking up plastic bottles from the beach
or playing chess
or playing mafia at night with 12 kids
or drinking Kilikia beer (great taste because of great Armenian water)
or pondering on the problem of what's Right and what's Wrong
or just sleeping late,
I was meditating by the waters and studying wave patterns. I wrote:

DAY 7 AT THE BEACH
So far
I could not really write
I could not really read
I could not really do asanas
but I did spend a lot of time looking at the water
and it seems to me that I understand it much better than I used to.

Okay, so what did I understand? I shall be writing about it. Meanwhile, in the Atlan/Bianu Anthologie du poème court japonais, I read:

C’est mon lac intérieur—
dans l’ombre rôde
un tigre noir

-Kaneko Tota

[It is my interior lake—
in the shadow roams
a black tiger]

VII

For the title of this post, I was considering both
GYMNOMETRIOCNEMUS and GNATMAN. Then I saw:
HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPEDALIOPHOBIAC
(36 letters, meaning a person afraid of long words) posted along with:
ORNICOPYTHEOBIBLIOPSYCHOCRYSTARROSCIO-
AEROGENETHLIOMETEOROAUSTROHIERO-
ANTHROPOICHTHYOPYROSIDEROCHPNOMYO-
ALECTRYOOPHIOBOTANOPEGOHYDRORHABDO-
CRITHOALEUROALPHITOHALOMOLYBDOCLERO-
BELOAXINOCOSCINODACTYLIOGEOLITHOPESSO-
PSEPHOCATOPTROTEPHRAONEIROCHIROONYCHO-
DACTYLOARITHSTICHOOXOGELOSCOGASTROGYRO-
CEROBLETONOOENOSCAPULINANIAC (310 letters).

So, I thought of asking you, the reader: are you a hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobiac?

VIII

I never really knew all the songs from the Beatles. Believe it or not, it was less than five minutes ago when I first read the lyrics of the song I’m Only Sleeping by Lennon & McCartney.

When I wake up early in the morning

Lift my head, I’m still yawning
When I’m in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream)

Please don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me
Leave me where I am—I’m only sleeping
When I'm in the middle of a dream

Everybody seems to think I’m lazy
I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy
Running everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there’s no need (there is no need)

Please don’t spoil my day,
I’m miles away
And after all I’m only sleeping

Keeping an eye on world going
by my window Taking my time
Lying there and staring at the
Ceiling Waiting for a sleepy feeling…

Etc.

Great words! Great words!

::: ::: :::

[Picture: Lap by reading_is_dangerous]