Notebook 2003

Date: 2003
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Strasbourg - Munich
13 October 2003

One pig met a man with bricks
a substantial study dealing with earth formation.

The third pig met a man with bricks
a substantial study having to do with earth formation.

an exceptionally clear day with the curtains moving languidly

information! More information.
Arrived at Munich in very good time. The train was fast and comfortable.

Who would ever be interested in reading this?
I would.

The curtains in the room in Strasbourg were yellow and blue striped that were vertical
the blue stripes being thinner than the yellow with once in a while a wider than ever yellow stripe.
The fabric was a rich heavy silk.

Here in Munich the room is mainly green, but there is a wall of window with a balcony. The window is covered with a translucent fabric which lets in light. The fabric doesn't touch the floor quite, and has a handsome blue ribbon bordering about eight inches from the bottom of the curtain, which moves languidly when the door of the balcony is ajar.

Here in Munich we sleep under a feather comforter. It doesn't tuck in under the mattress, but is its one shape and one sleeps under it. The bottom sheets here are not fitted.

I have been in Germany before, and it is familiar enough to notice that it takes a lot of talk before there is a laugh.

Once upon a hill we sat beneath a cherry tree.

It's according to the assignment. Make yourself an assignment and you will know where you are.

Think of something that you can't help but think of. Let it be a complete thought, don't neglect it, don't force it, and it will go away just like it came.

When is a key upside down? There are keys that have the same pattern on each of their edges but I am describing a key that is flat on one edge and key-textured on the other. When this type of key meets with the lock for the first time, there is always a chance finding which side is to enter the lock to work the lock.

The key I have has a thin red cord that has been used so many times that it has been overly knotted. Upon sorting which way I should use the key, dangling it by the cord, it breaks. Because it has an independent paper label, I cannot easily get it back to the way it was. I tie yet another knot, fit it back to be the way it was when it was handed me.

The slick edge is the upper side of the key when inserted into the lock. The lock turns counter-clockwise. The lock was on the lock. Now the lock is unlocked.

I open the wooden door. It pushes inward and hits the wall of the narrow hallway. The hallway is poorly lit and has a wooden unpainted floor with its boards going the long way.

At last, in my life, I have experience enough not to walk along these boards without pausing. I have never been here before, don't know where I am, and can choose not to continue. I could close the door. I know how to lock it. I could return the key.

Standing here for awhile, forcing myself to calm down, trying to make this all into a fiction where I am not responsible -- losing the scene and convincing myself I am somewhere else. Just like I do when I am waiting in a doctor's office, having arrived too early and there are no magazines and I have forgotten my pen so I can't doodle on the old printed matter that is available. It's now I must practice waiting. I am practicing waiting. Whatever is about to happen is not as important as now.

I should worry like a tree.

***
Where is your favorite a
A A a as in after

Where is your carfule (carful) B b b
B b b B  b as in before

Where is youre (your)
daring c
C ccccc c as in careful caution

Where is your dutiful d final d
D (ed) as in dedicated dutiful

Where is your eventual e
E as in eventual

***
innocence

Piero della Francesca

again
when lime green began
when profiles began
to make sense

when sound was used in the medium
all innocent
all during the plan
all knowledge falling into
place

there is a strain on proportion, a strain on facial focus -- a strain on anatomical placement of the body which makes
that what we see there

Like the secret pool which
we find that no one knows about,
but in a while one discovers the
spigot that lets the water in
is Piero della Francesca

He is from innocent mathematics
to mathematics

all problems solved
but there were no problems
until now
what do you do with all
these feet?
account for each one
what do you do with all
these horses -- all these
people?
what if the building doesn't
fit into the new perspective?
Fit it into the new perspective
this is the new perspective.
Piero della Francesca

I went to Arezzo
to see that Piero

I went to Arezzo
To see that Piero
whose story goes on
and on

there are faces with faces
all filling the spaces

I went to Arezzo
to see that Piero
the story is
stacked up on top
of itself
I read it like
taking books from
the shelf

I went to Arezzo
to see what I could
with faces against faces
mathematical spaces
magic illusions
and fighting horses
there forced conclusions
and pictures in courses

I decided that all
of this looks like it should
this early realism
all of the information
the structure is spartan
there are faces on faces
like eggs in a carton
and spaces with spaces

It's a long way
from Arezzo to Paris
I don't know how
I feel

Paris is wide and deep
Arezzo is light
and shallow
with old architecture
that starts from the
the surface and asks
to go high on the horizon.
Paris has no such
worry.

hang over

midnight oil

London where everything
seems to be already
handled

Franz Liszt
sprung his wrist
while playing for Rossini

these and those
were the names of my aunt's cats
she said that when the cats
were separate their names
sounded Egyptian.
these was gray and
those was black.

and wake in the morning
eager for the day ahead

the clicky monotony
of some of the passages
are hauntingly out of tune

***

now December

the excitement dwindles
when you're last on the list
Does December remember
turning one way,
like Falstaff

we had oranges
in December and stale
candy from the five & dime
Visitors arrive at the
end of the year.

December and up a tree
you can get what you
wish for. so be careful.

December, last on the list
All said in green and red.
Heavenly daze.

December and up a tree
when all is done and said
in colors of green and red
Be careful what you wish for
December is last on the list.
Heavenly daze.

when wind whittles
names into the siding
the only time of year
when there's a tiding.
December and up a tree
when all is done and said
on colors green and red.
Heavenly daze

Still jumping on the bed
No matter what the parents said
is it the anticipation
of happiness that gets
boring?

No matter what's said
still jumping on beds
Facing the depression
that comes from anticipation
It's the end of a year

One only wonders
though the days are level
the weed in gear
there's a hiccup on seven

awake
with candy
new socks
how could
this year end
how could this year
end

END