The sandbox

Posted on February 20, 2009 | Comments Off on The sandbox

Reading Updike’s surprisingly pornagraphic but nevertheless entrancing meditation on the futility of human life, Toward The End of Time, I was reminded of Mr. B.’s sandbox in the back forty. It was Updike’s passage on his main character’s futile attempt to build a dollhouse that did it. The sandbox, created of two-by-twelves and filled with several barrows-full of white sand, was rather more successful–being less ambitious to begin with. But Mr. B. has outgrown it and it sits out there covered with creepers, the sand become the home of several ant colonies, and begs to be removed. I’ll get around to it. Meanwhile, it is, as Updike says of the dollhouse effort, merely a reminder of relentless Nature. Our time is fleeting. The creepers and the ants are forever.

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0 responses to “The sandbox”

  1. SnoopyTheGoon's avatar SnoopyTheGoon | February 22, 2009 at 7:59 am |

    Aha… I see he got you.

  2. Dick Stanley's avatar Dick Stanley | February 22, 2009 at 11:59 am |

    He did, more or less. I need to do a review of the Centaur, which I enjoyed more than this current one. It held together better. But this one has its moments–and I don’t mean just the porn, which is interesting enough. I wasn’t aware one of our chief lit authors was so decadent. It is lit, at one level, but it’s also a bit childish.

  3. Dick Stanley's avatar Dick Stanley | February 22, 2009 at 11:59 am |

    He did, more or less. I need to do a review of the Centaur, which I enjoyed more than this current one. It held together better. But this one has its moments–and I don’t mean just the porn, which is interesting enough. I wasn’t aware one of our chief lit authors was so decadent. It is lit, at one level, but it’s also a bit childish.