Welcome, avant-garde historians
Walking at the outermost edge
Unburdened by possessions
Unmediated experience!
We investigate, thoroughly
We inquire, search, witness
To see, to know, to be
A cavalry of futurists precedes us
Projecting, predicting
But our mission remains: vigorously engage
Deliberately free this time and space!
Our vast records are kept
In this all-encompassing image
Of all moments past
Image credit: Artist’s logarithmic scale conception of the observable universe, Pablo Carlos Budassi (2021).
The avant-garde générale, avant-garde stratégique, or avant-garde d’armée is a strong force (one, two, or three army corps) pushed out a day’s march to the front, immediately behind the cavalry screen. Its mission is, vigorously to engage the enemy wherever he is found, and, by binding him, to ensure liberty of action in time and space for the main army. [“Sadowa,” Gen. Henri Bonnal, transl. C.F. Atkinson, 1907]
Primitive Joe 
