Associations, Four

10. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy And Its Consequences- John Allen Paulos

I think I borrowed this book from my Dad in the 80s. There are roughly 7 billion people living today, every person has around 1 gallon of blood (women and children less), (7 x 10 to the 9th) = 7 billion gallons of blood. 7.5 gallons per cubic foot, so we get 6.7 x 10 to the 8th cubic feet of blood. The cube root of 6.7 x 10 to the 8th is 870. Thus, all the blood in the world would fit into a cube 870 feet on a side. And here's where it gets cool, "Central Park in New York has an area of 840 acres. If a wall were built around it, ALL THE BLOOD IN THE WORLD would cover the park to a depth of something under 20 feet." Don't try using this "all the blood in the world" business in a poem, I've already done it.

 

11. Visions Of The Daughters Of Albion- William Blake/ edited by Robert N. Essick

When I moved back to SF after two years in Boulder, CO Brandon Brown asked me what it was about Blake that I liked so much. I think I said something about Cosmology, Contrariness, Politics, Myth, I might have mentioned something about the illuminated plates. In other words, I had a really hard time articulating what I loved about Blake. I have a hard time talking about anything I really like though. I can go on and on about how silly hats look on girls, or about how much I hate "street art" but ask me why I love George Oppen and I'm suddenly tongue tied. I was thinking of getting a Daughters Of Albion tattoo (so profound) for a while, but realized that the piece would probably turn out looking like a pastel colored smear more than anything else.

12. Sulfur #4

I remember Clayton's wife Caryl combing his hair for him right before he was set to take the stage at a Poetry Center reading back in 2002. It wasn't a reading actually, it was a slide-lecture about Ice Age cave art in Southwestern France. I feel like it was an evening event, it was dark outside. I started reading Eshleman in earnest this year after being blown away by the "6 Writers On Eshleman" section in Temblor #6. I would like my wife to comb my hair in the presence of strangers someday. I would like to see Ice Age cave art someday. I really hated Herzog's Cave Of Forgotten Dreams.

 

13. New Yipes Reader #4 edited by Rachel Levitsky/ Bill Luoma

I think Rachel was sick at this reading. I met Rachel at Naropa in 2005. I should say, Laura Jaramillo and I met Rachel at Naropa in 2005. For a while there I thought I was going to be the first boy published by Belladonna. I wrote a play with Laura that Summer. We gave it to Rachel hoping she would love it so much she would Belladonna the hell out of it. That didn't work out. Laura and I used to drink coffee on The Hill every day after class. The Streets were in town playing the Fox Theater. Laura and I were drinking coffee when Mike Skinner walked through the door. I said "oi oi, Mike Skinner...," he turned around and smiled at us. I like exploring new cities by skateboard, it gives you the opposite of a bird's eye view (snake's eye?), close to the ground, amongst the detritus; when I first got to Boulder (crashing at the hotel next to Naropa) I would head out in the mornings to skate the bike trails, creekside pathways, parking lots and suburban streets, I got so many bloody noses.

Here's a photo of Laura and I walking back to the Naropa dorms on The Hill after some reading and cocktailing no-doubt

 

 

14. Amorgos- Nikos Gatsos/ translated by Sally Purcell

"On the stubble after harvest, and we ate the cut clover." In 2008 Susan Gevirtz invited me to co-organize the Paros Translator's Symposium with her. Here are two photos (yes, self portraits, I was alone, so very very alone) pre-Symposium hiking around Amorgos with a makeshift turban/ marinating on my hotel balcony with a belly full of honey and yogurt reminiscing about all the goats and rocks I saw that day. I was the youngest person on the island, I stayed for 5 long days.

 

15. Excess Space- Christina Fisher

Christina has a very fantastic energy. I couldn't remember her name for the longest time. I introduced her to my brother one night at Dalva in the Mission, I said "Hey James, have you guys met yet?" James knows that "have you guys met yet?" really means "introduce yourself and then ask her her name in front of me because I've forgotten it and I don't want to look like a dick by asking her her name again, we've been hanging out for too long at this point, it would be weird". So James says "hey, I'm James, what's your name?" and Christina goes "I'm Christina, nice to meet you."