[The above photos is of a blossom on one of the pear trees we planted in our back yard last summer.]
It’s been an even crazier week than usual, which for this year is really saying something. In the coming days I might make a long post about the intersection of homelessness, carceral capitalism, and West Michigan Nice. But for now I need to keep my focus narrow.
Reading
Back in October I bought Jean Daive’s book Under the Dome, which was a memoir of sorts of Daive’s friendship with the poet Paul Celan.
Last week I finished Celan’s Selected Poetry and Prose, and found it…underwhelming. Perhaps my mind was not in the right place to appreciate his work, or perhaps I am simply not the target audience for his poetry.
A few days ago I finished Daive’s A Woman With Many Lives, and also found it not to my taste. I’m not saying the poetry was bad. Daive is a talented writer. I just…didn’t vibe with it.
All of this is a little confusing for me, because Under the Dome was one of my favorite reads of the past several years.
Now I am reading All that is Evident is Suspect: Readings from the Oulipo 1963 – 2018, which I purchased from McSweeney’s a few years ago.
Writing
Subject: Super Powers, Fae
Setting: Ship
Genre: Slipstream
Listening
I picked up Bowie’s album Never Let Me Down on cassette tape, and listened to it A LOT on the ride to and from the Eaton Rapids pickle factory during the summer of 1987. This was my holding pattern between the end of high school and the start of my extended stay at Grand Valley State University. This is the first time I have seen the video for “Time Will Crawl”, despite having listened to the song for literally decades.
Interesting Links
- “Criminalizing the Unhoused Is Inherently Cruel” (Farrah Hassen, Common Dreams)
- “More Economic Effects of Our Ongoing Covid Pandemic (with Cognitive Dysfunction and the Labor Market)” (Lambert Strether, Naked Capitalism)
- “Precaratize bosses” (Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic)