things move around

There are some people who have an innate unknowability about them, an inward strangeness which puts them at odds with conventional understanding. People who are in some way more or less real than they ought to be. I think of these people as ‘jokers’, in the sense that they’re outside the game, and they’re often very funny. Metaphorically, they’re always wearing dark glasses.

There are more of these jokers around than you’d think. For example, Mitt Romney. Whenever I see a picture of Mitt Romney, I think of an Easter Island statue. And it’s not because of his moronism. This idea of the joker transcends religion, which is a mundane thing. In my mind, Romney is always there on Easter Island, jutting out into an ocean vastness, the winds of reality swirling past him in a crosscurrent.

Or Grant, with whom I work. With most people, we empathise, naturally. In the course of dealing with people our brains form an idea, right or wrong, of the brains of others. But with Grant, it’s as though his inner being disappears from radar for long periods - or goes down a rabbit hole - and only pops into view again rarely and momentarily, sometimes in unexpected places. Now I’m sure this isn’t the case with Mitt Romney. But he’s a politician, and Grant isn’t.

Mitt Romney. Mitt. Romney. It’s a funny name, when you think about it.