(let me begin with a confession: "my own writing sessions became these things that could barely be countenanced.")
(that's ok. i was used to it. for some reason, i was already used to it! and my reading sessions? puh-lease!!! puh-lease don't ask about them! if i didn't know any better i would say that they too could hardly be countenanced! i know, i know, i know- ok? not such a terrible thing. "being countenanced" has always been a little bit overrated, i feel. we venture out, venture in, up the stairs, take off our coats, go to the counter, order something, and then start to take our own little orders in turn. a harmonious system. writing seasons incarnate. they become "things", and then, if you're lucky, they pass over into the realm of "ideas." gathering news clips from the shop floor, cuttings from the dying utopia... gosh. tony's poetry started to seem more and more like almost pure machination.)
(but that's ok! i've stated that! i was already prepared! i had been prepared for several years, but didn't mind the protracted wait in the slightest! what's the sickest thing that could happen? did tony become a little bit lazier, possibly? and again- is that really, given the context, the worst thing that could happen in a crisis situation like this one? venturing past, then across, then down the hill to the strip, looking for cardboard, insulation, a history of the alleged "key things and ideas"...)
(those were bizarre years in pittsburgh. tony seemed to finally "come into his own." and that's not necessarily meant to imply a healthy or desirable thing, btw. "his own" was a makeshift (something) down by the ohio river. there was an old man who lived there. there were no children, women, or animals. i've already outlined this bizarre period of his life in my published "writing experiments", so to try and do it again, here, in this makeshift of virtual speaking...)
(oh well. i'm a player. i attended the dog show. then the horse show, the owl show, the lily show, and the shawl show. i bought one of each, and them donated them to respective foundations. there was no way i was going to be able to keep that many creatures alive.)
