“Fragments,” a loosely structured list of associated quotations, reflections, and provocations. I’m drawn to this form because it reflects the provisional and associative nature of thinking. It also reflects the way fragments of thought, often surfaced from another time, can gather around a problem to illuminate its contours, disclose its depths, and perhaps even reveal lines of actions. Such fragments, in any case, may be all we have to work with. I also appreciate the fact that the form invites rather than forecloses further thought.
The Convivial Society
I let my dog into their coop today and he was very curious and polite. Had one of them gotten the idea to run away in fear, things might’ve gone differently, but they didn’t. It was all very amicable. There was a certain familiarity between the animals, particularly between the roosters and the whippet.
But Archie sleeps inside, and the chickens have their ammonia smelling coop. While they may not, Archie most certainly does wonder about what’s going on in the house. He wonders about it so much that it’s singular, monomaniacal. He cannot sleep or function properly without staying abreast of all the latest news from this very specific corner of creation.
Are there houses around the corner I don’t wonder about? Too preoccupied with bugs and the feet of my friends. Would I recognize the wordless hound that sleeps by the wood stove as a creature who knows something I don’t, and is possibly tortured by that knowledge?
Maybe.