3.03 / November 2008

He speaks about the arm wrestling championship, the evolution of the Tudor and the T’ang, the nature of Einstein’s obsession with Mozart and the gene sequences of hybrid fruits, he speaks about trying to drink himself down so far that skunks would caper across his face in some Carolina campground, or the way snow fell

Five of us were sitting around a fire; the other three—I mean other than John or me—I didn’t know. They were part of our traveling group but we hadn’t really learned each other’s names yet.

Step away from the piano when the group takes a break. You’re not one of the strings. You can leave your instrument behind. Push the bench back in. Forget all the times your hands have felt empty.

1. if I could, I’d loan day- light my teeth and teach it something human what it is to eat without a dollar. 2. I’d fingerprint the clouds with a nose- bleed, and stain every frozen side- walk back to life. 3. I’d warm what- ever nowhere passed through my neighbor’s ordinary lips. 4.