This weekend I am visiting Toni's sister and brother-in-law in Arlington, Mass. Way back when I audblogged some of their son's electronic music and today he is off to college in Boston- Emerson- evidently a good place to focus on music composition and theater. Some years back, my favorite antiquarian bookstore in the world, Arlington Books moved to Boston so I haven't been there in years. Bob and Beryl kindly brought me there today and for a little over six bucks I bought what I might consider some pretty good desert island material. By the way, my top choices for desert island reading would be: V.imp (Nada Gordon), Swoon (Nada Gordon and Gary Sullivan),"How to Proceed in the Arts" (Gary Sullivan), Jordan Davis' "Million Poems", three books in manuscript I have by Stephanie Young, the works of Walter Benjamin (in translation), the works of William Hazlitt, the works of Paul Celan (in translation), "Trilce" (Cesar Vallejo, in translation), the works of Rainer Maria Rilke (in translation), the collected Wallace Stevens, Charles Bernstein's "Islets/Irritations", Ashbery's "Tennis Court Oath" , "Desire" by David Bromige, "Wobbling" by Bruce Andrews, and "Moving" and "Studying Hunger" by Bernadette Mayer, as well as "The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book", Kathleen Fraser's selected, Ann Lauterbach's selected, one of Alan Davies' books and one of Michael Gottlieb's and one of Ray DiPalma's. Carla Harryman's "Under The Bridge", Barrett Watten's selected, Ron Silliman's collection of essays including "The Chinese Notebook", Ron Silliman's Ketjak, a book of Douglas Messerli's, a book of Lynn Dreyer's, a book by Lyn Hejinian, one by Kit Robinson, one of Leslie Scalapino's, a book by Keith Waldrop and one by Rosemarie Waldrop. I'd also include both Sun and Moon Gertrude Stein Awards anthologies and probably several books of aphorisms, including the Oxford Press selection. And because I have not yet read them, but I'm confident I will be fascinated, I would bring all the books published by Tougher Disguises Press, though I don't yet have them, and all my copies of Kenning, including the CD and several issues of Chain. I would probably also bring a book of Rotella's collages and maybe some other books of collages, including my own: "Free Fall" (unpublished).This is a big box, but I brought a bigger one to Rapallo when I went there for a year in 1968 (I wound up suffering through all the books of Virginia Woolf in the English language library there). I would also toss in the five books I bought today at Antiquarian Books of Boston,( Old South Meeting House, Washington/Milk Streets, 1-617-292-4700.)

I will do a list of desert island CD's and movies another time.

I bought: (lovely, just like its author): "Apprehend" by Elizabeth Robinson (Apogee, 2003)-winner of the Fence modern poet's series. By the way, if you are in Berkeley or near it and ER has any more of her backyard poetry readings, my advice is GO.

"Childhood" by Nathalie Sarraute (Braziller, 1984)

"Sesame and Lilies" three lectures by John Ruskin, Thomas Crowell, originally published 1871, surely a more recent reprint

"Essays, Reviews" by Willliam Makepeace Thackeray, 1909, leatherbound small edition

"The Double Dream of Spring" by John Ashbery, Ecco Press, 1976

(I'll post a few quotes later)