About as Anti-Climactic as Possible

Well, there will one day be a new and improved KTCR--it's just going to take a little more cyber-finagling before I get it right. Between my technological ineptitude and my recent move from the boonies back into some semblence of civilization, this here conversation's been much too much silent. So we's back, in our usual format, for now.

Hopefully this makes up for it:

Got it? Good. Now, we may proceed.

Back in black,
CQ 

Signs of Order: Kertész and Ruefle

Art Fair Participant Reading, Washington Square, NY, 1977

 

Browse more work by André Kertész here: Bulger Gallery.

And check out this essay by poet Mary Ruefle, which makes for a good companion to Kertész's photos: Someone Reading a Book is a Sign of Order in the World. 

Here's a snippet:

Is there a right time to read each book? A point of developing consciousness that corresponds with perfect ripeness to a particular poet or novel? And if that is the case, how many times in our lives did we make the match? I heard someone say, at a party, that D. H. Lawrence should be read during one's late teens and early twenties. Since I was nearing thirty at the time, I made up my mind never to read him. And I never have. Connoisseurs of reading are very silly people. But as Thomas Merton said, one day you wake up and realize religion is ridiculous and that you will stick with it anyway. What love is ever any different? 

Silly and sticking with it,
--CQ  

Music Tuesdays

After a heavy Monday spent brooding over:

1. George Saunders,
2. "Remaining Awake," the subject of yesterday's post,
3. my reading/watching, then rereading/rewatching, of the President's inaugural address, and finally
4. how disturbing the combination of those things were, the subject of an as-of-yet unfinished post,

I find myself in need of some dancing, prompted by Ms. Monae:

     
     Because sometimes you just need to do let it go and dance, Saunderaugural blues aside. 

Go on, get funky with me.
--CQ

George Saunders and the Dude Abide. And, You Should Really Think About Buying a Brand New Book.

From The New York Times Magazine: George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You'll Read This Year
  
     Man, what a great interview--both mind and heart clearly at work with this guy.

      I bought my very own, brand-spankin'-new hardcover copy yesterday. I very seldom buy hardcover books at full price; I have shelves full of browning and delightfully musty used books. Any pretty hardcovers were almost certainly gifts. 

     I also picked up a copy of Jeff Bridges's and Bernie Glassman's collaboration, The Dude and the Zen Master. (Okay, fine, Brent--you picked it up, but whatevs. I'm still gonna read it when you're finished.) Also glossy and new. And full price.

     All by way of saying: this is a big deal for me. We cracked open our knee-high Natty Light change bottle and went to Subterranean Books. (Side note: I tried earlier in the week to get my Saunders fix from Pudd'nhead Books in Webster Groves. What a bummer that was, walking up to their now vacant space on Big Bend . . .) We paid for the $58 tab almost entirely in one dollar bills. Thanks again to the gracious guy who waited patiently as we counted it out twice before forking it over. And yes, Brent's male stripping is going quite well, thank you very much for asking. Well enough to support our bibliophilia, anyway, which has to offset any moral qualms you may have. 

     So let that be a lesson to all of you, dear readers: take off your clothes, let people stick one dollar bills in whatever crack, crevice, or orifice available, and then use that money to go buy a brand new, glossy book that will help ease the pain of the humiliation of life. Or some uplifting shit like that.

The Dude: It's like what Lenin said... you look for the person who will benefit, and, uh, uh...
Donny: I am the walrus.  

     Words we can all live by.

--CQ 

Reading In the New Year

From NPR: Guns, God, and A Reggae Beat: A 2013 Poetry Preview

 

(in regards to the zinger at the article's opening)

     NPR--Part Time Poetry Peddlers. NPR's website is a daily stop for me in cyberspace. I'm sure you'll see more from them on this blog in the future. (13.7 Cosmos and Culture Blog, anyone? That Marcelo Gleiser gets my cerebral juices going every time.)

     Gleiser-inspired lubrication aside, I was excited to see this little round-up of new poetry. I'm particularly intrigued by Red Doc>, Metaphysical Dog: Poems, Senegal Taxi, Duppy Conqueror, and Ron Padget's Collected Poems. 

     I'll admit right here, right now--Ron Padget is the only author on that list with whom I am familiar. And I read more poetry than your average twenty-something Jane. Only serves to remind me how little I have read in the grand scheme of things . . . and how much reading I'm fixin' to do this year to (futilely) try to remedy that fact. 

     No one will ever read it all, right? C'est impossible.

     What's on your literary hit list for the New Year?


Happy Reading!

--CQ

Introductions and Whatnot

Hello All,

     Welcome to Keep This Car Running, a personal blog, the main purpose of which will be to share articles, poetry, prose, photos, music, nonsense, questions, quips, quibbles, and beyond.

     At its best, this blog will manage to be about us, the community of crew members and passengers on Spaceship Earth, so feel free to join in the conversation via the comments section.

    I hope you will enjoy this little collection of cyber-stuffs, curated by yours truly. Perhaps, you'll even find something you can use.

All the Best,
--CQ

    

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."  -Roald Dahl