ack.

Separating poetry and lyrics in Saul Williams, which reminds me of an interview, read a while ago, in which Lucinda Williams (no relation), whose father is an English teacher, asked the question: "Dylan, great poet or great lyricist?" I'm not sure whether to reject the distinction, the binary, or to simply argue lyricist. It depends on when you catch me.

The creamer we currently have in the office:

A general anatomy of non-dairy creamer.

Interviews from the Dalkey Archives. Authors include Angela Carter (whose book Burning Your Boats is a favorite), William T. Vollman, and Gilbert Sorrentino. (via http://stevenhartsite.wordpress.com/)

From this week's New Yorker

"The world of Gilbert & George, now on gaudy, overwhelming display at the Brooklyn Museum, revolves around the artists themselves, a pair of Brits dressed in conservative suits--or in nothing at all. On the evidence of some hundred photographs and drawings made between 1970 and 2006, the couple's work, which has expanded from postcard to billboard scale, has remained almost defiantly autobiographical and queer in every important sense of the word. Installed on two floors with no regard for chronology, their signature photographic grids feel especially dark and dense here; the best of them are as monumental, mannered, and arresting as history paintings. Gilbert & George use their own working-class East End London neighborhood as a microcosm in which to explore urban vitality, anxiety, bigotry, and decay, along with the bigger issues of sex, death, faith, and the redemptive power of beauty. Their companions on these explorations are handsome young men--women are utterly absent--who loom like demigods in landscapes that veer between Heaven and Hell. For the reliably provocative, even maddening Gilbert & George, there is little middle ground."

Andrei Codrescu:
"make yourselves at home
you won't be bailed in or out again
you're safe in Second Life"
More here.