The Best Stuff I Read This Week

“this will be a little test to see if expressive(?) writing is a cure for the malaise of the coronavirus. well it doesn’t cure the pain in my left knee…”

— Bernadette Mayer / “Unconditional Death Is a Good Title”

“… I see Columbus’s three boats
going backwards on the sea
Getting smaller
Crossing the Atlantic back to the
ports of Spain …”

— Victor Hernandez Cruz / “El Poema de lo Reverso”

“In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.”

— T.S. Eliot / “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

“I think procrastination can be a really helpful creative tool. So when I procrastinate, I try to do it with intention. I’m like, ‘For the next hour and a half, I’m going to procrastinate.’ I think my writing tends to be stronger after that because I’m giving myself the time and the space to ideate and create.”

— Amanda Gorman, to Samantha Leach in interview / “Amanda Gorman Procrastinates, Too — She Just Does It Better”

“7. Give yourself permission to cry.
If not now, when?”

— Sandra Cisneros / “Instructions for Vigiling the Dying”

“The metrics don’t hold the weight. We’re giving them weight they don’t actually have. We’re giving them emotional weight and weight over how we feel about ourselves and our work across the board. People do that when they do a personal post and see that it hasn’t gotten a big response. Thinking about those things and trying to dismantle them and break them down is counter to capitalism. It’s trying to reveal all the tricks that are going on.”

—Meg Remy / The Creative Indepenent interview

“unconditional death is a good title because it’s almost completely meaningless, yes?”

— Bernadette Mayer / “Unconditional Death Is a Good Title”

What I’m Listening To:

“Hey, couch testing man!
Lay it on my fine ended car
Fry an egg on my bonnet
These lonesome evenings suck!”

— Dry Cleaning / “No Decent Shoes For Rain”