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From: Vol.07 N.02 – Writing in the Pause

from The Institute of Loafing

by Tim Shaner

28 MARCH 2020 (EUGENE, OREGON)

AFTER A DAY OF FUTILE FACEBATTLING ABOUT BIDEN & BERNIE, THE INSTITUTE OF LOAFING OFFERS A RESPITE FROM THE TRENCHES OF SELF-ISOLATIONISM. WISHING Y’ALL PEACE & LOVE IN THE TIME OF C0-V.

[TITLE: WHY]

CAPTION: THE NEIGHBOR’S LATE LAZING TREE, LEANING ON A FRIEND (SHED) FOR SUPPORT (HUGS). SAYS DOUGLAS FIR: “HEY, SHED, CAN YOU SPARE ME SOME HUGS.”

SOUNDTRACK TO FOLLOW, TO BE LISTENED TO WHILST GAZING AT TODAY’S BEAUTIFUL UPDATE:

THUNDERCAT, “A MESSAGE FOR AUSTIN / PRAISE THE LORD / ENTER THE VOID.”

1 APRIL 2020 (EUGENE, OREGON)

ANOTHER WORK DAY, TO BE DISTINGUISHED FROM A DAY OF LABOR (FOR
THE MAN, OR MANKIND), AT THE INSTITUTE OF LOAFING.

TITLE: NO GLAZED CHICKENS

NOTHING DEPENDS UPON
CAPTURING AND POSTING
RHODODENDRON PETALS
BESIDE THE PLASTIC
RED WHEELBARROW
ON FADEBOOK.

MUSIC (BELOW): HIGH LLAMAS, “LITERATURE IS FLUFF” –FIRST LINES: “TAKE CARE TO AVOID THE HEAVY STUFF. / I GIVE UP, THIS LITERATURE IS FLUFF.”

MARYROSE LARKIN: YES BUT THAT IS A CAMELLIA

SUE DEANE: AND SINCE YOU’RE BEING CORRECT AND CORRECTING THAT IS A WAGON. THIS IS A WHEELBARROW

15 MAY 2020 (EUGENE, OREGON)

FRESH OFF THE PRESS, THE INSTITUTE OF LOAFING IS PLEASED TO
ANNOUNCE ITS LATEST INSTALLMENT (WITH SOUNDTRACK TO FOLLOW):

TITLE: NO MOW MAY (FOR LINDA RUSSO)

1.
HANDLELESS MANUAL
MOWER STRIPPED OF
USE VALUE NOW
REPURPOSED AS
RUSTIC PORCH-WEAR.

2.
DE-HANDLED, REDUNDANT, MO IS EAGER
TO RETURN TO WORK AND HIS PROTESTANT WAYS,
BUT THE FLOWERS ARE JUST BEE-ING THEMSELVES AND
THE EVIL WEEDS ARE HAPPY DANDIES AT LAST. SO, WHY
RUIN A GOOD THING, MO, JUST CAUSE YOU GOT NO MONEY
AND CAN’T RELAX? THERE ARE TINS IN THE BASEMENT, AND
THE PIZZA IS FIGHTING OFF FREEZER BURN, JUST WAITING
FOR YOUR FINGERS TO PUNCH IN THE CODE.

SOUNDTRACK: YOUTUBE.COM: 3 HOURS OF LEAF BLOWER SOUND EFFECTS

20 MAY 2020 (EUGENE, OREGON)

MORE FROM THE IOL’S “NO MOW MAY” WAY:

TITLE: NO MOW MAY COLLAGE (WITH ICONS)

NATURE IS NOT NATURE
AND THIS LAWN’S NO LAWN.
GRASSES OF ALL MINDS
GROW HERE, THERE’S NO
UNIFORMITY, IT JUST LOOKS
THAT WAY WHEN MOWN.

Published: October 2020
Tim Shaner

is the author I Hate Fiction: A Novel (Spuyten Duyvil, 2018) and the poetry collection Picture X (Airlie Press, 2014). His work has appeared in Capitalism Nature SocialismThe Poetic Labor Project, Colorado ReviewThe Claudius AppJacket, Kiosk, The Rialto, Ambit and elsewhere. He teaches writing at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon

An Australian and international
journal of ecopoetry and ecopoetics.

Plumwood Mountain Journal is created on the unceded lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and to elders past, present and future. We also acknowledge all traditional custodians of the lands this journal reaches.

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