---   J U L E S   B O Y K O F F  

A bell sat quietly on the table.

Acquiescence meant consent in that country.

A large-scale continental tour was out of the question then.

Architecturally speaking, it was radical.

At age eleven John Ruskin wrote a 2310-line poem.

Autumn meant "that smell" again.

"Being the target of trained killers is a powerful tonic."

Belief in god can ramify.

Cars are not made of wood.

Chickenfeet are not made of wire.

Cleanliness is more than absence.

Clocks are mechanisms of division.

Copper mines give more than copper.

Cross-cultural exchange made him feel good.  

Crossing guards mean socialism.

Coughing is a mode of expulsion.

Decisions are not always conscious choices.

Derision is a form of flattery.

Distribution systems are not dependent on wires.

"England is a non-stop ska party."

Emotional contraband kept thumping me under.

Everything pushed her toward Hollywood.

Exhilaration meant suspension of condition.

Expansionism sounded too aggressive.

Few toys came their way.

Formalism means many things.

Freedom seemed like a reasonable cover story.

Furious ideas sleep greenly.

Genetics had more than a little to do with it.

He brought his currency to the town square.

He killed his cat, as he thought it was the devil.

He knocked the clock to the floor.

He snapped his fingers but nothing happened this time.

Henceforward, a year would not be a meaningful unit of time.

Her fingers pressed tiny wrinkles into the blank page.

Her second-favorite food was backbacon.

His beard made him feel involved in something bigger.

His career was intermittently interrupted by ill health.

Humanity was the wrong way of putting it.

If he did not become a vicar he might have become a famous poet.

"If the markets don't like your policies they will punish you."

I'm getting ready to have been done.

Inaction is an antidote of sorts.

Income was the standard-issue measure.

"Indeed they have shilly-shallied on the four major questions."

Industrial emissions changed the air there.

"In short, the world remains a very dangerous place."

In the 21st century such behavior would be considered "creepy."

"Insurance firms out-Vegas Vegas."

In those days critical inquiry fell out of fashion.

It sounds much better with an English accent.

It was consumerism for campers.

It was mercenary-man for money-hire.

Keep moving before it's too late.

Legality had nothing to do with it.

Legislation may have hidden provision.

"Let the man concentrate for god's sakes."

Luck is the confluence of preparation and chance.

M16s are often quite inexpensive.

Many preferences are unobservable.

Margaret Thatcher was trained as a chemist.

Maybe he's just foaming at the mouth.

Medicine didn't root it out.

Modern-day Bantustans is what they are.

Moving companies will try to scam you.

Nothing in the world made me angrier.

One guy called it trickle-down economics.

Patience is a habit of mind.

Persuasion is the art of dull-knifed coercion. 

Poverty is not "a cash flow problem."

Ronald Reagan loved the sound of music.

Seclusion is an economic feeling.

Self-contained impulses are a pleasant myth.

She knew regulatory policy like an avuncular chum.

She often slammed grammar in his face.

She knew it was the right thing to do but.

She should have been a judge but.

Sheep factor into all modern economic models.

Shoplifting is an example of an epiphenomenon.

Some animals are forced to eat others.

Some buildings have fire escapes.

Some countries import machetes from China.

Some dialects are not actually dialects.

Some people have three cars and/or more.

Some people prefer tight pants.

Some steeples are made of red metal.

Speedboat speed records were made to be broken.

"Superfund Site" sounds much better.

Suspicious people are a social construction.

Swans are wicked little beasts.

"That's some stress I don't need."

That's why enamel is cheaper than silver.

That's why we call them the "formative years."

The alibi was worth a satchel of cash.

The bartender looked at her watch.

The book remained uncracked in the knapsack.

The butcher lost his concentration momentarily.

The carpark was under surveillance, too.

The corn model distinguished this intellectual from the pack.

The elements of murder were all there.  

The lessons were to continue for several years.

The lottery, frippery, and class analysis.

"The man was fervently pro-fern."

The moon meant something here.

The plaque said she was a prison reformer and friend of the poor.

The road snaked into the distance.

The rule of law has a nice ring to it.

The social architecture of Oxford was different.

The sun set over the freshly paved lot.

The word "plunder" rhymes with "gold-card customer."

The year just got longer.	

There's a new gas station in town.

They called it Point Rash Judgment.

They forced him to memorize vast swathes of the Bible.

This is not a science lab.

This time the heron was not there, um.

Those were the days before dental floss.

Throwing rocks typically leads to trouble.

To mourn is to celebrate sometimes.

Trees seemed like a reasonable topic at the time.

Trouble typically leads to throwing rocks.

Under such circumstances, adverbs felt like overkill.

Unemployed scientists constitute an example.

Unmarked bills never occurred to them.

Vitamins and minerals might fix that.

Wealth meant nothing that day.

Ye olde CCTV Empire.

Youngsters fear god more than most.


---


Sources:
* Kamau Brathwaite. X / Self. (Oxford University Press, 1987).
* James S. Deardon. John Ruskin. (A Shire Book, 2004).
* Margaret Thatcher. "New Threats for Old." John Findley Green Lecture at 
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 9 March 1996.
* Tony Blair. "Doctrine of the International Community." Speech at the Economic 
Club, Chicago, 24 April 1999. 
* Condoleezza Rice. "The President's National Security Strategy." Walter Wriston 
Lecture for the Manhattan Institute, New York, 1 October 2002.
* Ambulatory conversations with Betsy Fagin, Lisa Mackie, and Kaia Sand in Oxford, 
England, June 2005.