CESSATION
GUARDIANS OF THE CESSATION
Right now in Toronto there are a few theatre
groups doing death+dying An auspicious time
is early November when the scrim is thin around
the edges & the dead walk among us
The un-dead are busy as usual inventing ways not
to waste time So precious so rapidly diminishing
(just toss your watch! burn your Calendar!)
Take the cubicle rats of Silicon Valley tech-savvy
millennials tired of chewing their food
They are touting Soylent: a healthy alternative to
normal food It allows users to transcend a basic
biological need Soylent’s slogan: FREE YOUR BODY
which used to be known in simpler times as: being dead
It seems that everywhere they are trying to put us to sleep
Note the recent discovery that memory is exquisitely sensitive
to anesthetic drugs How many times have you had surgery?
Based on the newest mouse study memory deficits persist long
after surgery Face it general anesthesia is NOT the same as sleep
It is instead the Big Pharma Coma They will put you under but
in most places they will not let you die with dignity
Beware of Resuscitation Dying in Canada is currently a techno-
laden odyssey Few are brave enough to broach the subject of
dying with the dying Euphemisms abound: Get Your House In Order!
At a recent death-bed scene I overheard these words: Let the doctor tell
her that’s why he gets paid the BIG BUCKS
3 things the dead won’t miss about the living: their cowardice their avarice
their mendacity 1 thing they will: their immortality
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It is because in the wild and outraged earth too soon too soon too soon.
Willam Faulkner As I Lay Dying 1930
Late Fall 2014
