He patted the table on which rested an imaginary pile of books : the new canon, the new literature of a reborn again America. Melville was strong drink and for the whole long twentieth century young American men had been swilling down jugs of the old sailor’s fermented juice by the gallon and now “we” (the literati) had just woken up with handovers.

#LuminousDiary #HermanMelville

The title for my current work-in-progress is Best Imitation of Myself. It’s set in Barcelona and in 2015. The narrator is participating in an Amplified Literature Festival called Metatropolis 2015. He writes haiku and takes Sebaldian peregrinations on which he encounters a mysterious woman (Leonora), a plot to murder someone, and his own double. I don’t think I’m giving anything away. If you’re interested, excerpts will be tagged w/ #BIMv5. 3/3

#LuminousDiary

I’ve been immersed in an absorbing writing project and found that it’s difficult for me to divide my efforts : to cut two different paths through the dark forest. Why not, I thought, just share “toot-sized” excerpts from my work-in-progress? That way I will be “putting stuff out there” and you’ll have some idea of what my world looks like. Of course, I’m not here “to build an audience.” I’m interested in what you are doing too. 2/3

#LuminousDiary

@JaminBogi Hey thanks for reading my #LuminousDiary experiment. BTW, I write the (more or less) final drafts of these "entries" by hand on high quality paper using my favorite fountain pen in a sepia-purple ink. Then I make a typescript and edit for length. / Rough drafts are worked out in a spiral notebook with a ball point pen.

#WritersAtWork

All my literary cities—conquest by rubber sole, a photographic memory, and a set of field notebooks (+ silver bullet pen) :: a cascade of quartets ensued … Barcelona, Prague, Oxbridge, Paris but Roma, oh Roma was my first love. / All my adventures have been urban : the city is a cage (Cavafy). Pacing round and round (Rilke). Any writer who knows the tricks can transform a walk around the block/park into a Sebladian … One only needs to clear a path. #LuminousDiary

Perhaps a word of explanation is in order : the posts I mark with #LuminousDiary are "very short stories" that I'm writing esp. to post here on Mastodon as a way to contribute the literary culture.

Most of these very short stories are fictional, but "Getting out of the house" is based on a trip I took to the Imperial Valley with "P", a trip that is the subject of a novel I wrote nearly fifteen years ago. #Explanations

Getting out of the house … a beer garden in Santa Teresa (a Mexican border town you’ve heard of : the future is burning) … by any other name : Mexicali, Loredo, Juárez. P & I chatted up by a slicked-back, baby-faced daddy & a couple of plump comfort professionals. Later, P said we were in real danger. The heat he was packing. Seriously? No real danger, just a walk on the seedier side : two dollars goes a long way in Santa Teresa ,,, at least that’s what they say. What do I know? #LuminousDiary

I’ve spent vast periods of my life in a trance state : a waiting game ,,, a way of passing the time.

To disengage—but not a real escape plan, only a switchblade maneuver with the point pressed firmly against the page :

the opposite of paying attention (to open up). Oh I have wandered ,,, if only

to get out of the house (pending virus protocols), to see the world in motion, to pull a Hemingway—if only

to have something to write about.

#LuminousDiary

Every four or five days, I feel really good. I feel content, interested in what I’m doing, looking forward to what comes next : the state of being most would label “happiness”. If I experienced these momentary “highs” before (“my illness”), did I notice them? Now when I feel good, I’m thankful :: Enjoy it now, b/c tomorrow… / What else can I learn from what my body is telling me? What have you learned? Have you discovered new music, new literature? #LuminousDiary

I don’t want to write “my illness” because I don’t want it, I won’t claim it, but it is me who is enduring its effects, both good and bad. What good can come from illness? Proust knows! My fellow writer, P. discovered a new genre of music b/c of illness. Is it a coincidence that my most artistically productive period began in April 2020, one month before “my illness” began? Correlation isn’t causation, but… has enduring physical discomfort help focus my mind, to waste less time? #LuminousDiary

When afflicted with something unpleasant, it’s natural to ask “why me?” While it’s tempting to wallow in despair, to become frustrated when one isn’t getting better and the condition seems like it will go on until the BIG END, there is another side : illness drawing attention to the body. Proust wrote about this. (I’ll have to find the quote.) It offers an opportunity to become aware of physical states one wouldn’t know about otherwise. And not just unwanted ones. #LuminousDiary #MarcelProust

Recently, I was chatting with another writer about music and they asked me if illness had ever led me to discover new music. Illness? I’m not ill, I thought. I mean, I have been from time to time, like everyone else, but illness isn’t a state that frames everyday life. Or am I in denial? Since May 2020 I’ve been coping with a condition that I’d prefer to ignore. When people that know ask me how I’m doing, I say “fine” : I’d rather not talk about it. #LuminousDiary #Illness #Music