Fuck nice. Fuck gently and tenderly. An act of intimacy and care with a loved one. An inherently social act. Fuck nice. “He’s nice” is not an adequate defense. He is either a good artist or a bad one and you are intrigued by her work or you are not. “Nice” should get you invited to the dinner party if one has also invited their grandmother. Otherwise, I am more interested in devious or generous. Nice is good behavior. It isn’t even personality. Eddie Haskell was nice. It’s a social term.

A paradox of language, is fuck nice. Existing in the social, we pivot on one foot, turning, always turning. Face the mirror, face the world, face the work, face the mirror again. Dizzy, I took off, on the move, traveling the world, looking for the mirror, the work, the world.

A song by the Tindersticks called “traveling light”

Him: There are places, I don’t remember
There are times and days, they mean nothing to me
I’ve been, looking through, some of them old pictures
They don’t seem to jog my memory

Her: I’m not waking in the morning staring at the walls these days
I’m not getting out the boxes spread out all over the floor
I’ve been looking through some of them old pictures
The faces they mean nothing to me no more

Him: Hey I travel light
Her: You travel light
Him: Everything I’ve done
Her: You say you can justify, mmm you travel light
Him: I can’t pick them out I can’t put them in these sad old bags (saddle bags?)
Her: Some things you have to lose along the way
Him: Times are hard I’ll only pick them out, wish I was going back
Her: When times are good you’ll be glad you ran away
Him: Hey I travel light
Her: You travel light
Him: Everything I’ve done
Her: You say you can justify, mmm you travel light
(Short musical bridge)
Do you remember, how much you love me
You say you have no room in that thick old head.
Him: And it comes with a curtain of guilt, and memories,
If I had to take them with me I’d never get up from my bed
Her: There’s a crack in the roof, where the rain pours through
That’s the place, you always decide to sit
Both: Yeah I know I’m there for hours, the water running down my face
Her: Do you really think you keep it all that well hid
Him: No but I travel light
Her: You don’t travel light
Him: Everything I’ve done
Her: It’s just a lie, you don’t travel light
Him: Traveling light
Her: No no you don’t travel light
Him: Traveling light
Her: No you don’t travel light