jumping around reading. still at Hogfather, which I seem mostly to read whilst walking he dog. 3 times people have asked me how it is possible to read and walk the dog. it is true that I cannot walk and talk on the cellphone, but then I have trouble talking on a cell while sitting. when I had my rambling labrador, with whom I'd go 5-10 miles a day, the feat was as nothing, since she could go unleashed and would come when called even if a deer was in sight. the present canine comrade, tho elderly, cannot safely go unleashed, wild guy that he is. but I can read a few pages as we poke about. wonder why people approach me on such a point, tho, strangers that is. I recently read Gilbert Sorrentino's essays and selected poems. the essays excel, thoughtful and embracing. he's the sort of writer who can give you handholds for difficult writers, and freshness of perspective. his poetry semed to arise from an overly determined place. this is an influence, I think, of Williams. an active, or activated, presence in emotional situations. I guess you see his intention too much. compare to Creeley, who wraps himself into the fuzziness with such insistence that he derives a clarity. I think I speak of a certain forced facileness that I detect in Sorrentino's poetry. he overmanages the poem. I'll bet he was a good teacher, tho. currently reading 9-11 by Noam Chomsky. derived from interviews that Chomsky did soon after the event, and hurried into print. I like that idea of immediacy. so much chatter in those days, remember? I wrote a great deal at the time, really a lot. I'd say the events of 9/11 hang over it all, but I was unable to relate specifically for quite a while. I patentedly wanted to avoid the mock suffering, the exhortation, all the nervy emotional outpouring that such events naturally inspire. I didn't want to make literary hay. someone like Chomsky was unfazed by the shock, had perspective that could guide. 5 years later, the immediacy of the evetns still live in the book, tho I think he undervalued how much the administration might subvert the Constitution. anyway, a minor book round up there.