Like Scozia, Africa is also far away. But sometimes there is no alternative and we have to go there in order to meet somebody we have to face-to-face because, you are absolutely right, email, social media, text, mobile, or Skype won’t do.
Think back to Scipio Africanus and the glories of Rome: first stop Carthage, then on to Libya, Egypt and Abyssinia. I remember when I was also face to face with the relics of Mussolini’s more recent Italian imperial dreams. It was not so long ago – a meeting with the fanciful archaeological reconstructions of the imperial baths in the great imperial city of Leptus Magna, the ruins being exposed from under the centuries of sand on the Libyan coast. In other words on this occasion it was a fascist deal.
Or think of dealing with Dr Bobomka!
The deal? It is never just about the money, although of course the price also matters. Of course it does, but truly said the money is mostly about good manners. Whether in the souk in one of the cities of Mahgreb or on the west coast of Scotland, it is the business of showing mutual respect. Haggle over the deal because, buyer or seller, you and I are coming from strangely different positions. That is what the conversation is for – a long conversation by the way.
A Long Conversation… reading Adrienne Rich Later Poems, I’ve reached the years 1997-98, that being the dateline for a long poem (P53-69 in Midnight Salvage) with that name at its title, including these lines:
“…pierced, jammed, scratched out.
bans, preventive detention, broken mouths,
and on the scoured bench sequestered
a human creature with bloody wings
its private parts
reamed
still trying to speak…” (P. 58)
If you still don’t believe me, just ask yourself what is the money for. The money is for more than for buying a few overpriced ice creams at a top table restaurant, or a week at a seven star palace in an exclusive resort. Don’t be lazy about money! Be bold, because you too are here to do the deal with someone (maybe this time it is with Dr Bobomka himself)! If you can’t understand that, like the proverbial jackpot Lottery Prize winner you’ll be rags to riches, and, just deserts, quickly back to rags in a trice.
Take heed of the warning, if there isn’t a real story behind the deal, the money soon runs out. Valeria Ugazio talks about the “semantic possibilities” – but it is more graspable if we call them ‘Permitted Stories, Banned Stories’, as her book (2012) is titled in Italian. For the deal to work there is always a formation of mind involved Valeria explains. For instance, at Leptis Magna where the fascist Italian archaeologist worked in the 1930,s – or for Scipio Africanus millenia before – the preferred story is one of power.
For others the deal is about Freedom. This is my preferred construction as it happens, and where many of my real stories are to be found. You’ll have noticed I expect and that I’ve been exploring the polar opposites of freedom: courage/boldness, cowardice/timidity. “Contraries [… ] are yet the life of one another” (says Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudoxia (1646)) . Valeria Ugazio quotes Sir Thomas in her work which explores four different co-positions of person to person, face-to-face meetings, the strangeness of our conversations with somebody who is neither totally honest nor a liar, and the both terrifying and beautiful struggle to overcome our differences.
And remember in the deal: Since you are still trying to speak…
… the issue still is Happiness