what’s new
Laurie Anderson (1947-, vocals, electronics, violin, compositions) with Roma Baran (synthesizer), Rubin Kodheli (cello), live (“Let x=x,” “Violin Cello Improv,” “O Superman”), New York, published 5/20/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, outside Chicago (Glen Ellyn)

*****
reading table
The distant mountains
are reflected in the eye
of the dragonfly—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from the Japanese by Sam Hamill
sounds of Chicago
Kimmel/Ali/Harris (Jeff Kimmel, clarinet, electronics; Ishmael Ali, cello, guitar, electronics; Bill Harris, drums, synthesizer), live, Chicago (Constellation), last night
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.

*****
reading table
Summer night
transforms to daybreak.
I count fleas.—Ryokan (1758-1831), translated from the Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi
what’s new
Scary Pockets featuring Solomon Dorsey, “Shake It Off” (Taylor Swift cover), live, Los Angeles, published 3/22/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.

*****
reading table
who is the owner of unremembered moments
would they open their great book
if I stood
at the door
and begged?–Xiao Yue Shan, from “details escape” (Poetry, 4/21)
what’s new
Mogwai, live, Scotland (Glasgow), published 3/18/21
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Spring and All
by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast—a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen
patches of standing water
the scattering of tall trees
All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines—
Lifeless in appearance,
sluggish dazed spring approaches—
They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar wind—
Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined—
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
But now the stark dignity of
entrance—Still, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken