Overheard at the John Cage Symposium

Every time there is a large gap on radio or television,
John Cage is paid a royalty of $4.33.
This is why people sit and listen to rain.
I’ll make a presumptive statement…
I want to hug this guy.
He was very Zen.
A playground for the soul —
I like to wallow in silence for a few hours.
I cannot live on a diet of 100% ambient sound.
He seemed sad… I’m glad he could laugh there.
Just the kind of thing you would need for citations.
Every time I get to this part I laugh like a donkey on crack.
His laughter…
My role model still…
Duchamp is “the shit” as well.
He reminds me of my high school guidance counselor.
I also do elderly weddings and children’s birthday parties.
This is amazing, and his cat looks like mine.
I love this man.

***

Maps to Anywhere / Bernard Cooper (1990)

Understood. This is considered a landmark book of short creative nonfiction, but for my palate it’s uneven at best. The longer pieces — actually worked best especially “The House of the Future” and “The Wind Did It.” Both of these are comprised of a series of shorter essays and both deal primarily with Cooper’s father and his family. These are both excellent.

Of the flash / micro pieces “Temple of the Holy Ghost” and “Leaving” are exceptional. They work well as flash nonfiction and prose poetry.

But there’s something about the juxtaposition of all these disparate pieces that diminishes the whole for me. This is still a worthy read — as I understand it — the first to collect mostly flash nonfiction into one volume by one author. / Hardcover, 01/09/21.

“Writing is frustration — it’s daily frustration, not to mention humiliation. It’s just like baseball; you fail two-thirds of the time…”

— Philip Roth / New York Times, 18 Nov. 2012