Posts By: Karl Low

Darjeeling Jones

Darjeeling is a teacher, writer, and amateur drycleaner. Fetishes include ’70s funk, Stanley Kubrick, Korean barbecue, and cream-filled donuts.

Porkpie Hat—A New Universe

“Listen: there’s a hell/ of a good universe next door; let’s go” – e.e.  Cummings He’s right, you know, take it from me! I’ve been back and forth quite a bit lately because I’m planning a permanent move, if only in my imagination.  Frankly, this one has been getting pretty sketchy.  There’s a lot to… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Some Thoughts from a Wayward Traveler

I used to feel a little bit guilty and inadequate, as I was backpacking around strange cities, seeing all of the other tourists who were dutifully lining up for admission to the Eiffel Tower or the Uffizi. It was my private shame that I was so frequently within a stone’s throw of the Vatican, the… Read more »

The True Nature of Luxury and Wealth

I feel that many of us have been conned, or have tricked ourselves, into believing that money is the only form of wealth. Monetarily, I’ve been poor and I’ve been (relatively) rich.  Having had the opportunity to compare and contrast, I would have to say that rich is much, much better.  I did not enjoy… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—An Epiphany in the Gallery

I took a mental health day for myself last week and paid a visit to the art gallery.  I arrived there just as it opened, and it was a day of inclement weather.  Perhaps for that reason, I was the only visitor for well over an hour.  Freezing rain and high winds were hurling themselves… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Midwinter Wishes

I don’t know what it’s like in the place where you live, but, here in Winnipeg, the winter, for all its majesty, can be hard and brutal.  I am not a spiritual person, but I do believe there is some sort of warmth and benediction from the lighting of metaphorical candles, the offering up of… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Basic Rules for Post-Midwinter Survival

As we all know, January has been scientifically proven to be approximately twice as long as all the other months of the year put together. This is indisputable. This, by itself, is a problem, and contributes to psychological balance and physiological homeostasis becoming approximately as stable as an existential tilt-a-whirl. This, of course, follows hard… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Into the Woods

This world is a forest from a dark fairy tale, dreamed up by the fevered imagination of the Brothers Grimm. At the moment, it seems to be locked in eternal winter, but, far away, the sky is burning red, and I fear it’s not from the approaching dawn. The trees here are black and gnarled;… Read more »

Pokrpie Hat—The Night Picnic

In the English seaside town I grew up in, there was an urban legend about a certain apple tree that grew on the edge of the town park, or the Recreation Grounds, as the place was known. The story went that a woman, a single mother with three young daughters, had brought her family to… Read more »

Porkpie Hat—Random Thoughts About the Mind and the Year to Come

“To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.” – Emily Dickinson Ah, the human brain.  That overstuffed gray matter enchilada, filled with shredded images, diced ideas, and gooey melted memories.  Packed full of primo chemicals, tiny electrical sparks, Shakespearean sonnets, nursery rhymes, erotic  visions, misremembered lyrics, film noir dialogue, esoteric formulae,… Read more »