I lack the courage to talk words very much
because they are terribly finite and
final and I don’t enjoy the risk.
—Joe Brainard
Memory of a late May
tarot card reading
on a pile of rubble.
Don’t multitask be
cause it’s literally
impossible to multi
task. Give each step
your complete atten
tion (totality). The in
ternal attention that I
am unable to see: pro
jection. The outer influ
ence that I already know
(all too well): playfulness.
In retrospect, all too well
turns out to be not nearly
well enough. So what do I
need in order to resolve this
playfulness problem? Well,
it says here “a ticker-tape
parade.” And “I should ride
on the tiger of success” and
“squeeze every drop of juice
out of the happiness.” The
memory, a few lines written
on frayed and yellowing note
book paper, ends obliquely:
first, with an “AMEN!” and,
all by itself near the bottom
of the page, “The Monster.”
