It’s
not possible anymore to hop a late night box car in Albuquerque and be in Los
Angeles a day later.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that some pseudo-Jack Kerouac routine is going
to land you on the cover of Time Magazine.
It’s
not possible anymore to lead a large scale political revolution that will have
as one of its main features a revision of the purposes of cinema.
It’s
possible to spread a leaflet with the facts but it’s not possible to hope that
anybody’s going to do more than stuff the leaflet in their pocket and throw it
away as soon as possible.
It’s
not possible anymore to know whether your full-time salary will support your
family.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that if you get sick you can actually go to the
doctor.
It’s
not possible anymore to know that your college degree wasn’t a waste of time.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid hate mail from people you don’t know.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that any of your potential political leaders
have any of your interests in mind.
It’s
not possible anymore to buck the ratings.
It’s
not possible anymore to have a starring role on TV as a feminist detective.
It’s
not possible anymore to find a parking spot.
It’s
not possible anymore to put your hope in the children of the future.
It’s
not possible anymore to go back to the city where all your friends live because
they don’t live there now any more than you do.
It’s
not possible anymore to think that anyone’s coming to help you.
It’s
not possible anymore to think that wars will end.
It’s
not possible anymore to come in here with all that earnest eagerness.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe you’re going to have fun at the party.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid that sensation of, “I think someone here is out
to get me.”
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that love will lead you to change your
priorities.
It’s
not possible anymore to devote your life to art without an income.
It’s
not possible anymore to cooperate with the professionals for your mutual
benefit.
It’s
not possible anymore to one day become President of the United States.
It’s
not possible anymore not to enter the competition.
It’s
not possible anymore to understand the details of that benefits package that
supposedly you’re damn well lucky to have.
It’s
not possible even to know whether those benefits really are benefits or just
another way of having your paycheck taken back from you.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that your dentist wants your teeth to be
healthy.
It’s
not possible anymore to know exactly how prisoners are being mistreated.
It’s
not possible anymore to know whether you qualify as a citizen.
It’s
not possible anymore, because of all the traffic, to know that you can get
there on time.
It’s
not possible anymore to know where the water you’re drinking has been.
It’s
not possible anymore to enjoy an encounter with dolphins or seals or whales
without the phrase “oil spills” coming up repeatedly.
It’s
not possible anymore to let the mind drift away serenely.
It’s
not possible anymore to hope that anyone will learn anything.
It’s
not possible anymore to do better next time.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid debating the meaning of the word “torture.”
It’s
not possible anymore to be opposed to marriage.
It’s
not possible anymore to think that another bubble won’t grow from the bubble
that bursts.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that if you wrote the Great American Novel,
you’d have any place to publish it.
It’s
not possible anymore to say, “Things’ll be better soon,” without looking
sheepishly at your shoes.
It’s
not possible anymore to know what kind of vehicles will be clogging the bike
lane.
It’s
not possible anymore to make the freeways wide enough.
It’s
not possible anymore to get off the freeways.
It’s
not possible anymore to say, “There’s room for you and me both.”
It’s
not possible anymore to get out of town by sundown.
It’s
not possible anymore to use all the cheap labor you want and pass laws against
immigrants at the same time.
It’s
not possible anymore not to kiss ass.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that your friends will use better sense.
It’s
not possible anymore to get your work done.
It’s
not possible anymore to be unreachable by phone.
It’s
not possible anymore to epatez le bourgeoisie.
It’s
not possible anymore to escape the phrase “having an impact.”
It’s
not possible anymore to do your own job without having to do somebody else’s.
It’s
not possible anymore to think you can stick this one out.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid the pressure and the meddling.
It’s
not possible anymore to be more cynical than your TV.
It’s
not possible anymore to walk before they make you run.
It’s
not possible anymore to sleep through the night.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid that feeling that something creepy is crawling
down your back and you don’t want to see it.
It’s
not possible anymore to pitch in and do your part.
It’s
not possible anymore to have time to think.
It’s
not possible anymore to leave your work at the office.
It’s
not possible anymore for the group to make a decision.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that the group ever had any intention of making
a decision.
It’s
not possible anymore to make the decision individually.
It’s
not possible to turn down the request.
It’s
not possible to submit the request.
It’s
not possible to fill out the forms.
It’s
not possible to get there from here.
It’s
not possible anymore to repair anything without calling in an expert who may
not know how to repair it either.
It’s
not possible anymore to be on the lookout.
It’s
not possible anymore to borrow from Peter to pay Paul.
It’s
not possible anymore to get right on it.
It’s
not possible anymore to gather the working class.
It’s
not possible anymore to know who even knows the meaning of “working class.”
It’s
not possible anymore to be so sure about revolution.
It’s
not possible anymore to know that the people on your side are really on your
side.
It’s
not possible anymore to bridge the gaps between what different audiences want.
It’s
not possible anymore to write a poem without knowing how the already defined
social networks will react.
It’s
not possible anymore to know who your friends are.
It’s
not possible anymore to keep your friends close but your enemies closer.
It’s
not possible anymore to trust anyone’s advice about romantic relationships
since it’s so clear we’re all fucking them up.
It’s
not possible anymore to think “all you need is love.”
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid the feeling that the whole project seems a little
naive.
It’s
not possible anymore to laugh without feeling that you yourself might be the
joke.
It’s
not possible anymore to afford buying a house anywhere that you would want to
buy a house.
It’s
not possible anymore to have enough fun on the way down.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that the tribe, the underground or the
alternative hasn’t already been co-opted by some of the same tendencies they’re
struggling against.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid your niche.
It’s
not possible anymore to stop saying “please” or “thank you” or “sorry” more
than anything else.
It’s
not possible anymore to absorb the content.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid psychoanalyzing the urgency.
It’s
not possible anymore to take it back.
It’s
not possible anymore to watch televised news without worrying that the world is
careening towards destruction because a few people think they’ll make money on
the deal.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe in the enlightenment fiction that people are
reasonable enough that if you help them focus on the contradictions in accepted
public attitudes, they will recognize those contradictions and in good faith
work together to resolve them.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid asking, “What’s in it for you?”
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that you’re that much freer of your own
pre-conceptions than any of the confused people you see all around you.
It’s
not possible anymore to find on the highway any food to eat that’s got much
real food in it.
It’s
not possible anymore to have enough time to get really good at it, whatever it
is.
It’s
not possible anymore for wages to keep pace with inflation.
It’s
not possible anymore not to have been there and done that.
It’s
not possible anymore to get that same lift from a Beckett character saying, “I
must go on, I can’t go on.”
It’s
not possible anymore to balance the demands.
It’s
not possible anymore to cut out the middle man.
It’s
not possible anymore to look up into the sky and see the meteors.
It’s
not possible anymore to narrow the list.
It’s
not possible anymore not to go out on that limb.
It’s
not possible anymore to find the cover story credible.
It’s
not possible anymore not to prefer wasting time.
It’s
not possible anymore to get out to see more than a few of the amazing things
you’d like to see.
It’s
not possible anymore not to be just a little half-assed.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid feeling grossed out by the perks.
It’s
not possible anymore to get over it.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid thinking that the most commonly shared sensation
might be delay.
It’s
not possible anymore either to keep it to yourself or to talk about it.
It’s
not possible anymore not to ask, “Why are you asking?”
It’s
not possible anymore to be only a little skeptical.
It’s
not possible anymore to seek solitude and privacy without being part of the
reason there’s no solitude or privacy.
It’s
not possible anymore to be sure that your vote will be counted.
It’s
not possible anymore to know where the money is going.
It’s
especially not possible anymore to know where the $12 million or even the $12
billion is going.
But
it’s also not possible anymore to know where even your tiny portion is going.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid the aggressive loudmouthed bystander.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid the stalkers, the moochers, or the managers.
It’s
not possible anymore to go to pieces in quiet.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that expecting the worst can really prepare you
for the worst.
It’s
not possible anymore not to think most of the time about poverty and violence.
It’s
not possible anymore to become famous by joining a punk band that plays a
concert on the Thames and curses on a television talk show.
Not
only is it not possible to believe that others are going to do what they said
they were going to, it’s not possible to believe that you yourself are going to
get around to many of your own best intentions.
It’s
not possible anymore to know what anybody is talking about.
It’s
not possible anymore to get good cheap Friday night fish fry.
It’s
not possible anymore to empty the buckets.
It’s
not possible anymore to mail even your close friends a bag of Colombian.
It’s
not possible anymore to stop your computer from talking at you.
It’s
not possible anymore to duck and cover.
It’s
not possible anymore to try the back door.
It’s
not possible anymore to go to Vancouver if you left your passport in Nashville.
It’s
not possible anymore to say to yourself, “Something good has got to come of
this.”
It’s
not possible anymore to think that anybody likes it better than you do.
It’s
not possible anymore to trust that your therapist wants you to feel better.
It’s
not possible anymore to assume that no one in your class is carrying a pistol.
It’s
not possible anymore to assume that no one in your class is carrying a pistol
in the belief that it will make everyone safer.
It’s
not possible anymore to assume that the security guards have been trained or to
feel better if you know they have.
It’s
not possible anymore to go on vacation without thinking about how much you’ll
have to do when you get back.
It’s
not possible anymore to stop counting the days.
It’s
not possible anymore to know whether the person doing your job review knows anything
about your job.
It’s
not possible anymore to get it over with.
It’s
not possible anymore to catch up later.
It’s
not possible anymore either to have the right attitude or to fail to show the
right attitude.
It’s
not possible anymore not to deal with that guy who thinks his shit smells like
roses.
It’s
not possible anymore to get beyond the cliches.
It’s
not possible anymore to move on to the next step in your thinking.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that anyone even understood the first step.
It’s
not possible anymore to try again when you’ve thought about it further.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe in a third way.
It’s
not possible anymore to make up for it next time.
It’s
not possible anymore not to live dangerously.
It’s
not possible anymore to know more about your own habits than your customer
surveys already reveal.
It’s
not possible anymore to get up on the barricades.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that any of your good intentions will have a
good result.
It’s
not possible to try anymore, but it’s even less possible to give up trying.
It’s
not possible anymore to make that leap of faith, but it’s even less possible to
give up that leap of faith.
It’s
not possible anymore to end on an instance of effective rhetoric.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid preaching to the converted.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe your hard work will get you ahead.
It’s
not possible anymore to believe that you’ll be better off than your parents.
It’s
not possible anymore not to know that one morning you’re going to wake up in
your room and see it all coming back to haunt you.
It’s
not possible anymore not to wonder if you haven’t been mistaken.
It’s
not possible anymore to take that big fresh breath of morning air.
It’s
not possible anymore to say anything that’s not optimistic.
It’s
not possible anymore to repeat after me.
It’s
not possible anymore not to send in the clowns.
It’s
not possible anymore to feel like the first time.
It’s
not possible anymore not to dedicate yourself to every basic thing you believe
in and work as hard as you can for them without knowing what will happen.
It’s
not possible anymore to give up on things because they’re not possible.
It’s
not possible anymore to end a poem either with hope or despair.
It’s
not possible anymore to say it one more time.
It’s
not possible anymore to want your mistreatment.
It’s
not possible anymore to avoid looking around and saying, “Here we go,” and
diving right in.
It’s
not possible anymore to be a believer.
It’s
not possible anymore to choose, but it’s even less possible to stop choosing.
It’s
not possible anymore to put your feet down and walk away.
It’s
not possible anymore to keep on going or to not keep on going or to not not
keep on going or to not not not keep on going or to not not not not keep on
going or to not not not not not keep on going...
It’s
not possible anymore to stare right at it.
It’s
not possible anymore to look away.
It’s
not possible anymore to ever be sure of what’s not possible or to be sure of
what’s possible either.
It’s
not possible anymore to know where it’s going, but then again it never was.
It’s
just not possible, and yet here we are.
It’s
not possible anymore that something else won’t happen next.
Mark Wallace recently published the novel The Quarry and the Lot (BlazeVox)
________________________
Mark Wallace recently published the novel The Quarry and the Lot (BlazeVox)
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