5.23.21

Dearfrilendandfellowworker
I would like to kiss you goodbye
Gurley Flynn in always
apparent and dominating fear
to prove his words or eat them peaceful

—Dierdre Kovac, “Yoursasever,” Mannerism, 9

Up at 4:30, watched SNL, went back to bed until about 9:30.
Worked 11-1. Started revising a new section. 
Read at E77; 30 p. Fanon bio, di Lampedusa story from the Italian anthology, first section of Dierdre Kovac, Mannerism.
Cooked mushrooms, bok ahoy, and rice in the evening.
Read over Bree’s draft letter to a composer. Asked about commissioning fees in a couple places online; varied replies.
Bought a timed ticket for MoMa tomorrow.
Went to bed around 11, started reading Margery Sharp, The Eye of Love on my iPad.

5.22.21

The drama of which I speak, which perhaps one day I shall unfold to you in its entirely, would seem to me to depend essentially on this: that whenever one of the underprivileged, being either weaker, or less cautious, or more selfish than the others, decided to break with his family out of a desire for the unknown, or an urge for a better life, or curiosity to know the world, then the world, like the voracious fish that it is, swallowed him up along with his nearest and dearest. From this point of view you will see that the drama is not without interest.

—Giovanni Verga (trans. G.H. McWilliam() “Picturesque Lives”; in Jhumpa Lahiri, ed., The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories, 15.

Up around 8. Verizon technician came around 9, done about 11. Did some other set up and rearrangement w/ Bree.
Didn’t do a hell of a lot; took a walk around 2, not even as far as the park; found a bench and read quota of Fanon bio. Understanding a bit more about the roots of the Algerian uprising; the French were quite willing to torture North Africans.
Made 2nd cup of coffee, made myself write from 4-6.
Phone call w/ Jenny.
Ordered a chicken and salad from Pio Pio - nice to order in (not that we did it often, before or during the pandemic) w/o a food-handling ordeal.
Read the story quoted above. Lights out around 12:30.

5.21.22

Is everything
endlessly finite?

Maybe that’s just the feeling
you get on an island

finitude I mean

so many steps
down to the beach

in any direction
smoke lifting from 

canefields on the other 
side of the freeway

—Monty Reid, “cuba A book,” Disappointment Island, 115

Up 8.
Read 30 p. Fanon bio.
Started making arrangements to get together w/ Laura C. + Mark Spencer and significant others in her garden, probably first week of June; also taking delivery on the Nord keyboard I bought from Mark a couple months ago.
Therapy.
Got a cup of coffee and sat outside at E77 for the first time since March 2020. Not as dramatic as it might sound. Finished reading the Monty Reid collection, wrote several pages ahead in poetry notebook, and read 2 above/ground chapbooks; ava hoffman, that I want, trans vispo; Edward Smallfield, a journal of the plague year, as advertised.
Got back around 5. Put on some records while Bree exercises - another side of Love Saves the Day (Wilson Picket and a live version of “Give It Up or Turn It Loose,” part of the Disney recording of the songs from Say One For Me, w/ Roberta Shore + Rex Allen, and side one of a strange Annette Peacock record, X-Dreams, just this side of Beefheart. Leafed through a couple of Manny Farber reviews from the big Library of America collection I’ve never read cover to cover, and the Elio Vittorini story that leads of the Penguin anthology of Italian Short Stories. That might be part of June’s reading, a story a day.
Joined Bree for part of her phone conversation w/ Ron.
Got offline b/c I got a text that I was using up data. Watch a movie I had on the hard drive - The Third Girl From the Left w/ Kim Novak and Tony Randall - and a couple of Dory Previn songs. Weirdly, the Chubby Checker/Ernest Evans thing comes up. Lights out 11.

5.20.21

[North Africans in Algeria believed that] A woman who temporarily bound her husband because he had been unfaithful was, according to the collective’s ethics, justified in doing so. Making a man totally and permanently impotent was not justifiable; such actions were carried out under the influence of ‘Chitan’ (Satan). The spell could be cast in a number of different ways, ranging from tricking a man into stepping over an open knife or a new mirror, to inscribing a goat’s horn with magical formulae and throwing it into a cemetery.”

— David Macey, Frantz Fanon, 238

Had to deal w/ internet re-wire today; Verizon technician came around 10, but found that a hole needed to be drilled; contacted his contractor, who came in the early afternoon; that work got done, but we didn’t hear from the 1st guy to finish the job. Called customer service, turns out they can’t do anything until one other piece of work is done, then we’ll be contacted - but we weren’t informed very well about this. In the meantime, our internet has been off except for phone access, which is why I hadn’t posted the last couple entries. Eventually figured out to use Bree’s phone and my iPad as personal hotspots, around 4 pm, which I guess will be ok for a few days though it might be running up the callphone bill, not sure.

All that back and forth took up a lot of the day. Otherwise, read 30 p. Fanon bio - picking up the pace now that I’m done w/ the Broven, still on track to finish by the end of the month. Wrote in poetry notebook.
Called dad. He’s been to a neurologist for an EEG, and has recently replaced the tennis balls on his walker.
Watched Farewell, My Lovely (Dick Richards 1975) w/ Robert Mitchum, later in the evening started watching A Man Vanishes (Shohei Inamamura 1967).
Listened to the first side of v. 1, Love Saved The Day (LP comps accompanying a book on 1970s dance music/culture) - most of it taken up by Chuck Mangione’s strange “Land of Make Believe.”
It doesn’t seem as though a great deal else happened.
Lights out 11-ish.

5.19.21

8. The most important thing is to bring out the words of the singer. He should be way out in front of the music. However, at no time shall the rhythm be lost.

13. Generally, it is a good idea to save all takes. The tape is not wasted, as we ca always reuse the bad takes for rerecording at a later date.Frequently, the bad take will sound better than the best take a few days after the session.

— Art Rupe, Speciality Records memo on recording R&B, mid-1950s; appendix to Broven, Record Makers and Shakers, 474.

Didn’t sleep well. Up around 9. Coffee, breakfast.
Internet down, couldn’t figure anything out immediately. 10 p. Fanon bio.
Therapy, by phone.
Called Apple, then Verizon customer service - it turned out our service was suspended b/c I hadn’t set up a maintenance visit. I don’t recall the notification. Anyway, they’re supposed to turn it back on, nothing as if this writing.
Went out about 12:30; looked for unlined colored index cards in the stationary store for Bree. First time inside, practically anywhere, for that kind of errand since last March. Read 30 p. Broven in the park - finished the main book, there are some appendices.
Had to try Verizon customer service again; looks like we’ll be offline until tomorrow.
Couples therapy.
Made some ground lamb with peppers and onions, and some rice; Bree steamed carrots. Had dinner together, tried to explain what I knew about Noam Chomsky.
Read a couple of sections of Monty Reid, Disappointment Island. Not a bad poet - more “deep image” than most of what crosses my path. 
I forget when, but also caught up (3 p.) in poetry notebook, played piano a bit; messing around with “Donna Lee,” though I can’t play it at a consistent tempo. 
No writing.
Went to bed at 10, finished Stephen Brown, Writing Marketing.

N.B. NY mask mandate (for vaccinated people in most situations) was lifted today.