From Minima Moralia:
Love you will find only where you may show yourself weak without provoking strength. 192
He who has laughter on his side has no need of proof. 210
… legitimate works of art are today without exception socially undesired. 213
The almost insoluble task is to let neither the power of others, nor our own powerlessness, stupefy us. 57
Normality is death. 56
Once the last trace of emotion has been eradicated, nothing remains of thought but absolute tautology. 123
Listening to Dolly Parton this morning, thinking to teach “position of adverbs” with “I Will Always Love You.”
It’s too easy for my class.
But I was thinking listening to “Coat of Many Colors” that it advocates a politically complacent romanticization of poverty.
Maybe Dolly Parton should read Brecht?
Learned the other day that Sharon Mesmer and I have the same mantra:
“All is Maya.”
Reading Juliana Spahr’s talk on Poetry in a Time of Crisis…
… thinking, I have never preferred Brecht to Adorno.
OK, I admit the cast-iron rolling pin image is a little violent. It’s an image for the sake of effect.
I love Gary. I would never hit him with a cast-iron rolling pin.
Some bridal shower epigrams & exchanges:
Me: I hope someone is going to give me a cast-iron rolling pin. That or a male chastity belt.
Sharon Mesmer: Honey, marriage is a male chastity belt.
………………………………………..
Me: (on receiving sexee negligee/ thong ensembles) Butt floss! Good thing I’m over that bout with hemorrhoids!
………………………………………..
Me: (on receiving an adorable little decorative pair of wall hooks in the shape of an elephant) Perfect! We can hang our wedding rings on them when we get in fights!
Sharon Mesmer: No, you can hang your wedding rings on them when you do the dishes together. [chirp chirp]
……………………………………………
(hey Sharon, let’s you and me start a borscht-belt act, whaddya say?)
(p.s. I made these remarks in the spirit of bawdy all-girl fun. It was truly a beautiful party. Thanks, dear ladies!)
This map makes me realize how few (rather than how many) countries I’ve visited.
Upon request, I have a created a little wishlist blog for wedding gifts. As I mention therein, gifts are strictly non-obligatory, and/but enthusiastically appreciated.
Anyway: ifwisheswerefishes.blogspot.com
Experiments & Disorders at Dixon Place heads back to where it all
began -the heart of the restaurant supply district-for a spectacular May reading.
Marianne Shaneen + Keith Waldrop + Rosmarie Waldrop
Monday, May 3
Experiments & Disorders
@ Dixon Place
258 Bowery
(between Houston and Prince)
7:00pm: $5
Marianne Shaneen is a writer and filmmaker living in
Brooklyn. She is currently finishing a long prose
work, “The Peekaboo Theory,” excerpts of which can be
found in Snare, the Beehive Hypertext Literary Journal
online, and Faux/e Press. She has poems forthcoming in
VANITAS and an essay on the architectural poetics of
Arakawa and Gins forthcoming in INTERFACES. Her blog
can be found at http://www.froth.blogspot.com. She is
co-curator at NYC’s Robert Beck Memorial Cinema.
Keith Waldrop’s recent books include The House Seen
from Nowhere (Litmus Press), Haunt (Instance Press),
the trilogy: The Locality Principle, The Silhouette of
the Bridge (America Award, 1997) and Semiramis, If I
Remember (Avec Books), Well Well Reality (with
Rosmarie Waldrop, Post-Apollo Press), and the novel,
Light while There Is Light. (Sun & Moon). He has
translated, among others, Anne-Marie Albiach, Claude
Royet-Journoud, Paol Keineg, Dominique Fourcade,
Pascal Quignard, and Jean Grosjean. He teaches at
Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and is
co-editor of Burning Deck Press.
Rosmarie Waldrop’s most recent books of poetry are
Blindsight (New Directions) and Love, Like Pronouns
(Omnidawn). Her memoir, Lavish Absence: Recalling and
Rereading Edmond Jabès was published by Wesleyan
University Press. Northwestern has reprinted her two
novels, The Hanky of Pippin‚s Daughter and A Form/of
Taking/It All in one paperback (2001). She has also
translated Edmond Jabès, Jacques Roubaud, Emmanuel
Hocquard, and, from the German, Friederike Mayröcker,
Elke Erb, Oskar Pastior, Gerhard Rühm. She lives in
Providence, RI, where she co-edits Burning Deck books
with Keith Waldrop.
Otohime 