September 2001

I used to go to the theater to see movies with my friends.

Today, as I was walking out of the office, this well-dressed guy approached me with some sob story: flat tire, kid waiting in the car a mile down the riverway, forgot his wallet, needs forty bucks for a plug kit. He was smooth and well-practiced, and I, disarmed and distracted, mind still reeling from work, hastily handed over a twenty and kept moving.

A few seconds later, when I realized what had happened, I decided to tail the fucker to see who he hit up next. He slimed some change from a guy on a bicycle, and then proceeded to actually go up to someone getting into his car, and, as his door was closing, plead his case.

The handoff.

Kid waiting in the car? Uh huh.

Thus far a frenetically busy week, made up of the kind of days which by the end leave you breathless, panting, stumbling up the stairs home to bed where, despite everything, you lie twitching and buzzing for an hour till finally, finally, you fall asleep.

ee cummings: “nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands”

Martin Amis is obsessed with writing as a way to boldly expose “the universal,” and through exposure, to justify it.

Ogden Nash: “The cow is of the bovine ilk; / One end is moo, the other, milk.”

Something in me is instantly repulsed by poems that begin with the word “O.” This must be the same visceral instinct that makes me despise Emily Bronte.

Emily Dickinson:

“Faith” is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see –
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency.

Gilligan’s Island:

This is a tale of our castaways
They’ll be here for a long long time
They’ll have to make the best of things
Cause it’s an uphill climb.

Oh, how junior high prep school.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit: “I see a street of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food, tire salons, automobile dealerships, and wonderful, wonderful billboards as far as the eye can see. My god, it’ll be beautiful!”

Last night, things got a little strange.

I’m not exactly sure what came over us.

But early in the evening, we were all suddenly and simultaneously overcome by the same indescribable, atavastic urge…

Time slowed.

And the weasels closed in.

Where Tower Records used to be, Boston.

The eat-to-win diet.

Taylor and a bic.

The Bambino tells it like it is.

Gandhi: “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

05:43AM 20 September 2001 This is wonderful. (1024×716)