Comments on: Fitter selves

By: quiet regular

quiet regular — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:31:27 +0000

this is fabulous! thank-you

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:46:43 +0000

Thanks, Natalie! I’m surprised you felt the wolves went on too long, though. Me, I couldn’t get enough of it. I’ve been listening to the track over and over, skipping to the middle so I don’t have to listen to myself each time. :)

Joan – Glad you liked the guts. That imagery came in part from a shared interest Teju and I have in Rabelais and other pre-modern depictions of corporeality.

I don’t think dogs, wolves and coyotes howl at the moon so much as in response to it, just as you or I might write a haiku. And yes, I believe there is a moon, and that howling does us — if not necessarily the moon — a world of good.

By: Joan

Joan — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:26:00 +0000

I loved this one. The overtones of sooth-sayer/religious men reading the entrails. The entrails themselves. The visceral howling from the gut rising up through the body. The fact that wolves are our ‘better halves’. I’ll try to keep in mind, that the dog who howls mournfully each morning across the street when his master leaves for work is just ‘praying’ for him to come back. Do you think we are just howling at the moon or that there actually is someone up there who hears us? Just in case, we do tend to do keep howling anyway don’t we? Probably not as musically as the wolves but earnestly, nevertheless.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:03:36 +0000

Seriously seriously good, stupendous! Makes me want to illustrate it or video it or something.
The audio is terrific too, although I think the howlings at the end could have ended sooner.

I *love* “medicine (always the best laughter” Brilliantissimo!

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:02:11 +0000

Hey, thanks, y’all. I’m especially gratified to hear that those of you who do pray liked it… and that Christine’s dogs joined in! I’m sure Teju Cole’s response will be interesting.

By: Jo

Jo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:05:22 +0000

So good I came back for another read. Really, really like this.

By: marja-leena

marja-leena — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:23:52 +0000

The audio is definitely important – wow, amazing!

By: christine

christine — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:18:35 +0000

My dogs started howling at the end of this poem, *smiles*

What a reading, and what a poem, the words on the page, and from your throat. Great work.

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:34:24 +0000

You read like a snake-oil salesman, and I am buying.

By: beth

beth — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 22:02:23 +0000

Oh, man. I loved this.