Beaming

The air was so humid yesterday

that halfway through my morning

run turned into a morning

swim through Line Creek

This Week's School Lunches.

This piece was taken from McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

This Week's School Lunches.

Monday:
Chicken-crisps (hamburger may be substituted), peas, milk. Dessert: apple or chocolate cookie. I can’t sleep unless I check all the switches. 

Tuesday:
Choice of French-bread pizza or turkey ham sandwich, steamed vegetable mix, chilled peaches, milk. If I bang my head I count 1 plus 1 is 2, 2 plus 2 is 4, 4 plus 4 is 8, 8 plus 8 is 16, and I keep going until I ‘m sure I don’t have brain damage. 

Wednesday:
If everyone had seven fingers it wouldn’t even be weird because everyone would have seven fingers. We would all go around and say, wouldn’t it be weird if we had five fingers. I can see into the future. Choice of steak-um sandwich or Italian-style cold-cut sub with lettuce and tomato, quick-baked potato, fruit shortcake, milk. 

Thursday:
Sometimes when I have to pee I drop a tissue square in the toilet first and then pee on it so no one will hear me, peeing. It really helps to quiet the sound, of the pee, when it goes in the toilet. Steak and cheese sub, carrots, applesauce, milk. Secondary schools add green beans. 

Friday:
When I am older I will carry things around in buckets. All kinds of things. I will have secret areas that I will put them in, and then each day the things in the buckets will be different. I don’t know why I like buckets, but I saw a picture of a lady with wooden shoes on and she was carrying around things in buckets attached to a pole. I asked my dad why, and he said it’s her job. I could do that, easy. Alternate for the week: Chef’s choice.

- by the hilarious Peter Bebergal

Gelaye

I first heard this band while watching the phenomenal A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Its atmosphere and acting aside, the film has a fitting soundtrack full of gems which were yet-unknown to me. I recommend it if you're into horror movies more complex than scantily-clad teenagers, creative cinematography, or sad vampire stories.

- "Gelaye," by Radio Tehran, from 88 (2010)

Exploring Abandoned Castles

Yesterday, my new pal Celeste showed me the Vine Street Workhouse. This building, which looks like an abandoned limestone castle, was built as a jail in 1897. It's been abandoned since the early '70's, and has since become a relatively benign, high-traffic hangout for graffiti artists, local kids, and curious eyes. While we were there, we ran into a young, high-heeled couple on a date, as well as a suburban mom who learned about the place from her kids. As one might imagine, she wasn't too happy to know her sons were spending time there, but the space itself seemed very lived-in and (dare I say it?) "safe."

When non-locals ask me about Kansas City, these are the vignettes I want to share: the unexpected, the accidental, the strange. Days like yesterday help me uncover the true depth of my attachment to this place, to its streets and its spirit. Though my worldview is still narrow, I have yet to find a place as quietly alive as K.C. The air here carries an electricity I can't describe, one that belongs to both the people who breathe it and the space which contains it.

When I leave, I imagine I'll miss this city quite a bit.

Boxers, fire, vodka, and the Sponge

Morning #2 (More New Writing)

I'm writing indiscriminately these days, at least when I make the time (which, admittedly, isn't often enough). Mostly, I find that the things I make are little unrevised stanzas of sentiment without substance. But maybe these tidbits can be the seeds for better writing later.

Here is the yet-untitled fruit of this afternoon.

Fantino

This morning I went to an enormous booksale with my mom. (If you're interested in going for yourself, here's the website for the Wesport Half-Price Books, which has more info.) It was, quite simply, a giant expo center filled with $2 books. While 25% of those books were Twilight, I still found a few needed nuggets, including White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and a collection of John Ashbery poems.

In the name of early rain, reading, and chugging coffee, I'll leave you with some quiet morning music.

- "Fantino" by Sébastien Tellier, from L'Incroyable Vérité (2001)

Jeans Instability (Some New Writing)

Jeans instability is when a cloud of interstellar dust doesn't have the adequate internal pressure to counteract the inward gravitational pull of its own mass. At this point, the cloud collapses and begins its transformation into a star. The idea that nearly all matter is born from this volatility...I like that, in a foolish, pathetic fallacy sort of way. It makes strange sense.

I wrote a short little poem yesterday. Because I'm beginning to navigate this whole world of publication, and because many magazines won't accept "previously published work," I've decided to keep any new tidbits immediately off of this blog. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, even the smallest personal blogs count as "publication" in the eyes of many publishers.) The poem is here, on Google Drive, for your reading. In the name of tradition and transparency, the line "the shooting stars in your black hair" is not my own: it was lifted from the Elizabeth Bishop poem "The Shampoo."

As always, I'm grateful for suggestions, feedback, and the like, so please feel welcome to reach out with any ideas or responses you might have.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading.

Netsanet

Balance is tough. I'm coming to appreciate that differently, now that I'm out of the structure of school.

My resolution is to blog here more. Even if it means having to use a computer.

- "Netsanet" by Mulatu Astatke, from Yekatit Ethio Jazz (1974)