omnipotent Princess, most Lizbek, she who smiles the dawn and dreams from the deep to make our days, most worshipped and adored, most high, most low, most important, most well equipped with all kinds of visas, auras, sensors, solars, lunars, pulsars, peculiars and lumbar punctures. May I humbly and with great restraint present my credentials in search of a post for a while as Minister... by the recommendation of your very own Minister for Physical Matchmaking... at The Ministry for Now... as attached... God Bless... long live Lizbekistan... 353 days to go... etc...

The Ministry for Now. It's about time. The present time. An elusive allusion to an illusion this delusion is. A trick even. Still. It's only words.

Policy statements:

now a blood red moment; begins true and ends false; hard to find
now now an admonition as nursery rhyme; repetitive
now then a conciliatory murmur too late; a true echo; leads nowhere
now and then a gesture at precision; evasive; meaningless
now what a threat to peace; rancour; official use only
now really a sweet exasperation; rare
now is the time a promise unlikely to be fulfilled; a nonsense
now put that down an invitation to thwart authority; a road sign of the times
now open a street full of dentists and advertisements; a hopeless queue
now try the sound of cooperation; or not
now hear this the truth is not the future; now is the truth; the past is surreal
now this should do the trick right.

Procedure:

Applicants are advised in the first instance to complete previous history and future plans prior to now. Failure to comply may result in unavoidable delay. Unavoidable delays are the responsibility of the applicant and must be forewarned in advance or the application will be terminated. Terminated applications may result in irreparable damage.

Acting up:

Here at the Ministry for Now we realise everyone is different. But we are all in the same boat. Or if we were then it would be worse. So if you are not now in this boat nor have been before, you are unlikely to be after. Now is a convenience invented for us to escape the future as well as the past in one go. In one fell swoop. Please do not complain as you will then appear more pathetic and now you do enough already. Please be patient; very patient indeed, as patient as you can believe anyone could ever be and then more, much more. Please wait as if you wanted to wait all your life, breeding in line and handing over your grim place to your children. Please learn to love dismissal and contempt. Please remember the cool cutting caress. Please enjoy standing. Please clutch what you have to your heart and pray to your gods with your souls that you will not lose everything all at once. Behave properly. Work brings freedom and you have none yet.

Disclaimer:

The Ministry for Now has no opinion or position in regard of anything at any time except now - which of course is too late for you reading this. Nothing is our fault including you. In contacting the Ministry for Now you revoke all rights and accept our terms in full. In reading this you are deemd to have contacted the Ministry for Now. Our terms include provision for extensive and prolonged payments of various kinds at our discretion. You may be hearing from us.

Forbidden:

Beauty is forbidden and soul play. The gentle arts of love and ocean. Deep seas, rolling breaking waves, clean and grainy sand, blue green colours, tidal influences, uncharted waters, reefs, lighthouses, all are forbidden. Power is not allowed nor fish and things that live in water. The weather and the wind, the sun, the stars, night, day, the lot.

Images:

"Images of now are rare and fleeting" (MFN Press Office, 1998). The use of words to signify images is encouraged. A typeface is worth a thousand skies. Do not overestimate the usefulness of imagination. Keep things moving and not lined up. If you are reading this then this is a draft, if not, it is everything.
 
Links:

We reserve the right to make links out of here; out of every word and sound; every breath, glimpse, gurgle, fidget, reflex, passion.
 

Christopher Roff Marsh
Minister in Waiting