My Jandek Plague Journal: 5/20/20 "The Ruins of Adventure"

"I hate that I got any responsibility/I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to walk/But maybe if I walk I’ll escape talk/If I can be alone I’ll live through this." My students came back to school today and all pretense of social distancing went right out the window. And why wouldn't it? The children have been more locked down than anyone else in Korea. Three months without being near their closest friends, and this is a touchy culture. These children don't just hug, they hang upon each other, lean upon each other, entwine themselves with each other--in a non-erotic way. Students walk with their arms braided together. Three months without touching anyone, without being touched and reminded that you exist because you've been felt. I saw them mobbing each other as I left and I thought, there is no way we escape a 2nd wave, but here, and only here, would I be willing to think the cure is worse than the disease. -5/20/20. "The Ruins of Adventure" from The Ruins of Adventure (lyrics) (one week earlier) (one week later)