sidebrow

§§§§

when you’re in your early 60s, if you’re in good health,

you’re pretty much at the top of your game as a philosopher,

enough experience

without wear —

poets are young

and they seem like they get worse

that’s where being ensconced is a real problem

once you get the knack

you can just go

and maybe not saying anything anymore.

Ashbery can make an Ashbery poem whenever he wants,

constant generation,

but there’s always hope

you never know what you might be good at

that you haven’t tried yet,

like I’ve never been skiing;

I hope you never ski…

also glad I’m not a taxi driver,

not knowing how to drive would really make that job suck,

how did I find myself here:

or the operator of a lock and dam:

OH SHIT, THE LOCK!

§§§§

…don’t think I want to travel to India.

realized a long time ago,

anywhere else you want to go?

Japan

just for style, minimalism,

just a really distinct, well-articulated, aesthetic,

strange morality: I mean where do you get warlords?

In Afghanistan, the shittiest country in the whole world

and then you say, if warlords are a factor

refined and ugly

semi-permeable

yet well articulated…

but obviously Japanese people have an inner life,

but do people have an inner life in North Korea?

Let’s pretend like they do, watching reality TV in their heads,

but I really think people can be brainwashed.

§§§§

when you said it didn’t matter the type of book you read.

I just think I can just read books well,

I was interpreting the hell out of this Kafka parable,

and I was like

I know this is right:

“point of the myth is to situate the interpreter in time and space

part within a whole;

interpreter as part, unless you will never belong”

whereas, the interpreter of the parable

is completely anonymous,

instead of situating, dislocates;

takes you precisely out of time and place,

forces you on yourself”

and fake myths situate people better than any other

but I think that’s money,

money in the bank;

written a lot of poetry as something,

but then always satire,

could poetry actually be something else?

to stand on its own.

like the Ion

I want to write a book called

And Are You The Best General, Ion?

always ideas for books, but don’t merely take a weekend,

passages and interpretations

about reading esoteric texts, clumped,

if you don’t have an axe to grind it’s cooler

and if you’re not trying to be a virtuoso,

but they’ll be real interpretations of different shit

done soberly

but it would be strange because

you probably didn’t think

the book was about that