This Morning

Sparks beneath plow truck as it passed on the left,

Heat of hands pushing polls into snow,

Beautiful, ominous, marble slate sky,

Crackly orange leaves hanging on old oak trees,

Breath in the chest by the top of the slope,

Toward untouchable expanse of mountain and lake,

And quietude in the thick of it.

More on what books are

 More book notes from Johanna Drucker's "The Century of Artist's Books"

"The book's ability to functon as a conceptual space. This is done either by presenting a conceptual piece or by using the book conceptually to duplicate a function normally served by a real space of performance or exhibition" (309)

Miles Deloster: "Television" 1981 "a blend of history, creative writing, documentary evidence and original insight"

"In works like Sol LeWitt's book 'Brick Wall' sequence is mainly a matter of time, which makes the temporal extension of the work into an experience of reading" (258)

'Maximilliana - Max Ernst and Iliazd "Maximilliana is a veritable catalogue of the possibilities of invented and conventional writing. Iliazd takes typography into many constellations and configurations to produce an effect of astronomical phenomena under observation" (231)

"Dieter Roth's book production was the outgrowth of experimental work in graphic design combined with concrete poetry" (73)

This book lists so many books that I need to go find and look at...

"Its sequential regularity and its stable finitude. Order and binding, relation and containment; these are the basic principles of the book whether amplified, resisted, or transgressed." (218)

"The vision becomes a book which is able to pass into the world with the fewest obstacles between conception and production, production and distribution." (88)

That quickness between vision and conception...

"The mobility of the book is one of its most unique characteristics, as well as its capacity to be preserved through that mobility (imagine a painting which had passed from hand to hand, been carried on the subway for two weeks, and then ended up in the pocket of an airline seat only to be rediscovered and enjoyed again.) (88)

Coincidences

I asked Mom for a book to read. While searching the living room, she exclaimed, "Oh, Hildegard of Bingen. That's where that book went." I didn't think anything of it other than, oh, good she's found a book she's been looking for. But what about a book for me to read? A few minutes later, from her bedroom, she calls out, "Have you read Deepak Chopra's 'The Spontaneous Fullfilment of Desire?'" I told her I hadn't and she said I should because its along the same lines of what I've been talking about recently. Seeing the word 'Desire' on the title, I ask "You mean about relationships?" Mom laughs. "No, I wasn't thinking of that, though it could help." 

I began reading the book and quickly realized its about coincidences. On the 4th page there is a quote by the 12th century saint,Hildegard of Bingen. Well, that's a coincidence right there - the second time I've heard that name tonight, never having known it before in my life. And now Mom is re-reading that book right now.

Looking back on the day, as the book requests, I recall another coincidence. I ran into my brother's ex-girlfriend from high school. She must be the 10th person I've talked to within the last month who just did or is going to teach english in another country. In Bree's case, she just returned from a year in South Korea. Apparently there are no training courses required, anyone can go and they pay for your return plane ticket, food and accommodation. Hmmmm.