To The Happy Few

I don't know
that Jacob ever
did anything for Reverdy
but I know
the haunted books
of anticlerical poets
make for difficult
translations
(very long sentences
with complicated clauses
and grammar).
How do you keep
anything in balance?
Arcane puns, I call
my friends:
it's the tiny debris
and differences between us
that make it very naked
shocking and thrilling (really).
The shadow of a pin
on a peach (such tiny
things on a Tuesday).
But still the epics
of Zola, the nighttime
vision and craven
formal dignity
of my passing days
into night. I'm not
known for anything
but that sudden evolution.

Tuesday Top 10

1) Werner Herzog
2) Harmony Korine
3) Pierre Klossowski
4) Rene Char
5) Jane Bowles
6) Jeni Olin
7) Samuel Beckett
8) Baroness Elsa
9) Chan Marshall
10) Exene Cervenka

Top 6 Books of July 26th, 2007

1) Ted Berrigan: An Annotated Checklist by Aaron Fischer
2) The Last Novel by David Markson
3) Iraq: The Borrowed Kettle by Slavoj Zizek
4) A Guide to Philosophy by Wiltold Gombrowicz
5) Will You Please Be Quiet Please? by Raymond Carver
6) American Youth by Phil LaMarche

They Sell Giant Magnifying Mirrors (back by the window shades) at Home Depot (23rd b/n 5th & 6th)

Sigh

Now You Can Sit Back

My star sign is WOLVERINE
I heat Crest
in the microwave
in a shot glass with
spores from a glory rig--
don't ask.
Let the fine white plastic
shavings from the faux
wood blinds come to rest
in your delicate pink lungs.
Fade in so I can rub
the frequency of desire
into your green ways--
the smell of TV
is electric on you,
and that's a fact.
Cross the lush bridge
all darted and foamy
while I comb the glass
from your hair.
This is great.

Here's What I'll Be Doing on Sunday:

Up at Lake Placid I'll be competing in my 4th Ironman race--which means I'll be: Swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles--in the same day. Above is a photo taken at the start of Ironman Lake Placid from a couple of years ago--it's kinda like horizontal slam dancing in the water with 2000 people. As crazy as it sounds, it's a hell of a lot of fun--though VERY painful. Needless to say, there are some incredibly interesting people that do these races--they're certainly not all stereotypical jocks.

Think a good thought (or three) for me on Sunday.

You can watch live updates if you fish around on the site below after 7 a.m. on Sunday July 22nd:

http://ironmanlive.com/events/ironman/lakeplacid

Oh boy...

"Grace to be born
and live as variously
as possible."

-Frank O'Hara

Love,
Todd

For Everyone

My name is Todd
the mirror states
just that electric
energy forms gaps
& goals become
pleasant ways
to make haste-
the air we breathe,
the tongues we use
to lick vast spaces-
open your faces
into bright books-
shuttle to and fro
from sun to room
from water to air-
I want your hands
on my hamstrings
as I stride along-
this is going
to be fun
for everyone,
I promise.

Four From the Weekend

Dinner at Po'

Amy brought Bruno over for a birthday visit

Thursday Top 5

1) Green Vibrance.
2) Blue Sky.
3) Friendly people in the pool.
4) Oat Bran Cereal with maple syrup and a dollop of peanut butter (& milk, of course).
5) "Conversations With Rudy Burckhardt About Everything" -by Simon Pettet

Tuesday Top 10

1) Dawn.
2) E's Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee
3) Oneida: "Happy New Year"
4) Nirvana "All Apologies" (MTV Unplugged version)
5) Briefly: a general feeling of well-being.
6) Sopranos, Season 4, episode 13: "Whitecaps"
7) Henri Michaux: "It's a matter of holding on for a little while longer--two hours, three, four, after which the hardest part will be over...if I make it until then. The future, how much of it is left for me?" From "By Surprise"
8) Basquiat's drawings.
9) Blueberries and a kiwi while reading the NY Times.
10) Saying hello to friends in the park.

Walter Benjamin

"Anyone who has ever climbed a mountain on his own and arrived at the top exhausted, and then turns to walk down again with steps that shatter his entire body-- for such a person time hangs loose, the partition walls inside him collapse, and he pushes on through the rubble of the moment as if in a dream. Sometimes he tries to stop, but cannot. Who knows whether it is his thoughts that shatter him, or the roughness of the way? His body has become a kaleidoscope that at each step presents him with ever changing figures of the truth."

-Walter Benjamin, 1932, from Ibizan Sequence, in Selected Writings, Volume 2: 1927-1934, p. 593

Saturday