the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse

April 1: skosh

I wouldn't argue with just a skosh of unseasonably warm weather. Like, a day or two. Please?

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1. Have you ever been in a situation with a lover where you did not know what tomorrow would bring?
   is there an alternative to that? Seriously?
   I mean, of course marriage wasn't like that. And I dated a couple of guys that were very Nice, with whom I pretty much knew what was coming at all times.
   Look, all I'm looking for is some sort of middle-ground between the stultifying sameness of that sort of relationship and the complete mayhem of literally NEVER knowing what's coming, in which I seem to have specialized over the past few years.
2. What worries you most today?
   
   today? Finishing the laundry, I suppose. Buying groceries. In a more meta sense: paying the bills. Coming up with thirty good, new poems in thirty days. Wondering about the true identity of Alex Ludd. Trying to make a plan to get to the home state sometime within the next month or so. You know--the usual.
3. Could I tell if you were lying to me?
   
   if you know me, you'd know. If you don't, then you probably couldn't tell, no.
4. What do you miss most about the 80s?
   
   everything that was then, still is. And--surprise!--some things are even better.
5. What's going on that you can't understand?
   
   a big project seems to be creeping inexorably forward despite its obvious, glaring flaws. Politics continues to flummox me. And what makes a person appeal to another person? I wish I knew.
6. How would I know if you liked me?
   
   I'm not sure. That's probably a question to ask a person who knows that I like her/him. Their insight would likely be more useful here.
7. If you ever won an award, what would you want it to be for?
   
   magnanimity with my huge salary? HA!
   How about one of those MacArthur 'Genius' grants? That seems acceptable. "Just for being me."
8. What would we be surprised to know that you've done?
   
   besides 'time' and 'drugs' and [redacted]?
   Not much.
9. What’s the most exotic mixed drink you remember trying? Did you enjoy it?
   
   it was called The Volcano, a sort of 'table drink' from the Hala Kahiki in the Grove. A bowl of rum mixed with something vile (and stocked with funky long ice cubes), with a smaller cup of stronger rum propped in the center--flaming. Each person at the table had a long bendy-straw, which we quickly turned upside down so they were more like little hockey sticks, so we could whack at the ice cubes.... Anyway, the point was that you had to decide quickly whether to let the fire burn off or to blow it out and dump the rum into the drink. Considering with whom I was sitting, there was no question: BLOW & DUMP, thanks! By the time the drink was consumed (along with a smallish seashell-shaped plastic dish--a soapdish?--sparsely filled with pretzels), we were pretty blitzed. It didn't stop us from ordering a couple more rounds. I remember a piña colada (blegh) and a raspberry daiquiri...and not much else. Good times. I think?

[from The Cat, who got it here; the title quotation is by Walt Whitman, from "O Me! O Life!", in Leaves of Grass]