A MATTRESS OF WORDS

is softer, for me, than a mattress filled with down feathers. By which I mean, I sometimes read books not to read them so much as just to set my brain down among words for a nap. (Relatedly, I can't go to sleep without reading myself to sleep, even if it's only a page's worth of reading.) For me, I need certain words to relax my brain by reading books that deliberately don't tax the intellect. A paradox, perhaps. But that's the way my brain is wired.

In the past, this particular need has been assuaged by reading Star Trek novels. Having dropped my Trekkie past, this need more recently is assuaged by reading from the category "romantic fiction." In these categories, the books are often interchangeable and easily drop from memory. I could read the same books over and over and never remember that I'd read them already. Because I don't read them ... I just need them -- words -- to be there. Like looking, perhaps, at some stud's abs without needing really to, ahem, converse with those abs. (Don't worry -- I'm also groaning here at myself now.) Or, perhaps it's akin to the pleasure one gets from being surrounded by books -- just to pass by and see all those book spines...? That books exist...that words exist....that people speak. Speak to each other.

Anyhoot, the last two titles in book list below are from this category of metaphorical down feathers (others may call them "fluff"). I'm not a snob (at least on this matter) -- I won't not admit I read this type of books because they have pillowed moi head (particularly in airplanes).

But, also, as one attempting to make poems, I don't want to privilege among potential raw material...matter of fact, some lines from a Nora Roberts novel even made it to a poem. See -- some poets drop Slavoj Zizek's name; I could do that, too, but like doing so in the same breath as Nora Roberts'. Just being open to the world here....[insert grin].

Relatedly, have you ever noticed how some poets are so careful about publicly sharing their reading lists? Like, they have to use reading lists to impress. One can usually tell when a poet is using a reading list to impress others. Relatedly again, there was a Poets & Writers article on Alice Notley not too long ago and I much ENJOYED learning how she's almost addicted to mysteries...

And I view wines the same way. I have drunk some of the best wines made on this planet, but I don't allow that to stop my hand for reaching for a plastic cup of Two Buck Chuck at some impoverished art gallery's opening. Context... matters.

(I know you guys are groaning over moi 2 buck chuck reference; I dont' wanna hear it...!)

Anyway, here's moi latest relished whines and wines:

BOOKS:
one / generation to / double your consonants, poems by Marlos Unas Esguerra

BODY OF THE WORLD, poems by Sam Taylor

CARBON, poems by Michael Ford

BETTINA COFFIN, poems by Micah Ballard

NEGATIVE CAPABILITY IN THE VERSE OF JOHN WIENERS by Micah Ballard

AMERICAN ELEGIES, poems by Robert Hazel

EL TSUNAMI, poems by Kevin Opstedal

THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS, poems by a.b. spellman

NECESSARY STRANGER, poems by Graham Foust

RECYCLOPEDIA: TRIMMINGS, S*PERM**K*T, AND MUSE & DRUDGE, poems by Harryette Mullen

THE ARCHITECTURE OF LANGUAGE, poems by Quincy Troupe

2 POEMS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL by Logan Ryan Smith

IGNOBLE TRUTHS, poems by Gail White

ECONOMICS, short stories by Fanny Howe

LIVING BY THE WORD: SELECTED WRITINGS 1973-1987 by Alice Walker

ANYTHING WE LOVE CAN BE SAVED: A WRITER'S ACTIVISM by Alice Walker

CAT BEHAVIOR: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING HOW YOUR CAT WORKS by Roger Tabor

WEST OF JESUS: SURFING, SCIENCE AND THE ORIGINS OF BELIEF, meditations by Steven Kotler

STEALING LOVE: CONFESSIONS OF A DOGNAPPER, memoir by Mary A. Fischer

THE SHIRLEY LETTERS, epistolary autobiography by Dame Shirley (Louise A.K.S. Clappe)

THE LAST GIFT OF TIME; LIFE BEYOND SIXTY, meditation by Carolyn G. Heilbrun

A SABBATH LIFE, meditation by Kathleen Hirsch

SUMMER MOON, novel by Jill Marie Landis

THE VINEYARD, novel by Barbara Delinsky


WINES:
2000 Behrens & Hitchcock Los Amigos Vineyards merlot
2000 Behrens & Hitchcock King of the Gypsies cabernet
2000 Behrens & Hitchcock Cuvee Lola
2003 Ch. Rauzan Despague
2003 Battely Sojourn
2000 St. Joseph Cuilleron Les Serines
2003 Marquis de Calon St. Estephe
1996 Clos Clare shiraz
1993 Turley petite syrah Aida Vineyards
2001 Schrambsberg Brut sparkling wine
1997 Von Strasser Reserve
1992 Dunn Napa Howell Mountain
2001 Lodi Turley zinfandel Dogtown Vineyard