Other Things

Was friends with Edward Gorey and published a couple of things of his. He designed the box for a conceptually packaged magazine I did in the 70's, his first silk-screen. My mentor in the book business was Edward Darling, CEO at Beacon Press in Boston. He wanted me to do a biography of God, consequently I've read almost everything that wasn't included in the bible, and several translations of the book itself, the best of which is "The New English" and also, because Darling was publishing him, all of Claude Levi-Strauss. I'm a pretty good hunter of mushrooms and eat a dozen varieties, probably more, seasonally, including a lovely little thing with almost pink gills that I collect from cow paddies in north Florida, mid-winter, when I visit my folks. I've farmed and ranched on a large scale, harvested acres of crops and herded many hundreds of animals. I'm a good shot with a long gun, a couple of documented times I've made impossible shots, and I know several people that are better than I could ever be. A former friend shoots open iron sites at a thousand yards. I can't even see anything at that distance. I'll be frank, it's a blur. I published some great poets, I remember that, but the actual books fade from memory. Have always gravitated toward people with which good, witty, intelligent conversation is the norm. I'm a story teller in the southern tradition. Since the divorce, I've mostly lived alone. for the last eight years absolutely alone, on a remote ridge top, far away. It suits me. I heat and cook on the most beautiful wood cook stove in the world, a Stanley Waterford, built in Ireland. Not being in a relationship, means that there is little compromise, especially of time, especially at night, when I usually write, for three or four hours, almost without fail. I've lived without power, or without running water: seldom both at the same time, though my standard is different than the norm, I do require creature comforts. I've built any number of beautiful staircases, and several hand built, plastered showers of which I am truely proud. Building a bathroom, a really nice bathroom, is an intimate affair; I usually built in a small bookcase within reach of the toilet and stocked it with books and magazines that seemed appropriate. I've built half-a-dozen composting toilets and have a large library on shit management. I could honestly say I know more about shit than anyone else I know. People talk to me because I listen: I'm a janitor, come on. I love nothing better than resting my chin on the top of the handle of the mop, and listening to some sad sack of woe, or some critical opinion of a piece of art. There's a point here, I want to be making, about the way we spend our time. Everything distracts, nothing furthers. You see what Harvey meant. Period, right? You stop the sentence. Then you're curious it might have been a comma. I'll grant you this, there are more borrow-ponds in Ohio, than any place I've ever lived.