When I went to the doctor on
Thursday for the "clearance for surgery" physical, I
should have asked him to check to see if I am growing
gills. Can humans breathe in air this wet without
evolving into some fish, marine mammal, marine
invertebrate, slime mold mutant? Bright green mold is
growing on my fence and the light pole. I check myself
for mold in the shower every morning. If I had wanted to
live in the tropics, I would have moved to Costa Rica or
someplace far less expensive than "the projects" here.
The crazy lady was out there with a weed whacker
yesterday in the intervals between rain showers. Not that
a weed whacker is the tiniest bit effective against mold,
nor even crabgrass it seems. The crabgrass that I whacked
a few days ago has already grown back! Meanwhile, Pajama
Woman's jungle grows ever more impenetrable. Pretty soon
it will overrun the parking lot and piss off the crazy
lady. I think it will be awhile before Pajama Woman
plants a garden outside my unit after all. Something
about the mote in your neighbor's yard versus the beam in
your own...
A turkey vulture has been hanging
around in the trees on the other side of the complex. It
perches on a snag and commands a great view of the whole
place. I keep expecting the condo association to send out
a memo about how turkey vultures aren't allowed and we'd
best all move our turkey vultures to some other tree by
7:30 AM. But no, the missive that slid under the door
yesterday merely tells us to move our cars out of the
parking lot by 7:30 AM on Monday. Not a word about
unauthorized turkey vultures.
My
concentration/attention/motivation is greatly diminished
by the humidity. Not only do I not want to do yard work
or cook or take the trash out, but I can't seem to read
one book through to the end before I start another one.
Of course, it would help if the books I'm choosing had
some kind of sustained narrative throughout. Banvard's
Folly by Paul Collins is lots of fun but each chapter
is a separate vignette about and obscure historical
failure. They're meant to be read one at a time, not
whole book start to finish. I'm not even reading them in
order any more. I just pick the one that strikes my
fancy. The Hungarians by Paul Lendvai is meant to
be read start to finish as a history of the Hungarians.
Unfortunately, the English translation is written in an
academic style with which I lose patience. I am reading
it by looking things up in the index when there's
something I am curious about. An application of
hypertext, I guess. I picked up a book yesterday about
the Connecticut River. It's loosely structured around
history in the towns along the watershed from sea to
source. Again, it's a bunch of vignettes well worth
reading but no narrative to move it forward. Nonetheless
I am reading it in order start to finish. I kind of want
to understand that one's structure because I've been
musing about how to structure my "Jordan Mirrored in
Merrimack" thing. Do I start with the glacier relocating
the outlet from Boston Harbor to the Gulf of Maine at
Plum Island and go chronologically? Do I start at the
source and go to the sea? Do I just put together essays
about the Merrimack River grouped around themes like bald
eagles, alewives, Atlantic salmon, purple loosestrife,
witches, abolitionists, mill workers, labor organizers,
poets ... What makes me think I am ever actually going to
write anything at all about anything whatsoever?
By the way, the theory that
Hungarians have extraterrestrial origins way predates my
acquaintance with Zsolt. Here come the Magyar
Martians.
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Today's Reading
The Hungarians by Paul Lendvai
This Year's Reading
2003
Book List
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