Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Sweet Rest in Heaven...

...said the hand-stiched sampler on the wall of Room 12 at the White Horse Inn where I had the best sleep so far of the East Coast leg of the tour; it felt kind of like this... ...and I'm pretty sure this restfulness is a testament to the comfort and hospitality of the White Horse, and not just the several or so beers Kyle and I downed at the Governor Bradford after our reading. Before we read, we were interviewed for the "Art Talk" radio program on WOMR, hosted by the generous and enthusiastic Chris Busa, pictured here with me and a couple of other fans at the Provincetown Art Association Museum: Provincetown shrinks way down in population during the off-season, so our crowd was not terribly crowded. But the room we read in at PAAM was acoustically awesome and the walls were covered in black and white photographs, including this one of my all-time favorite poet and mysterious disapearee Weldon Kees, who I think loved Provincetown the way I love it: Did you know that before they rocked Plymouth, the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown? They did! And Provincetown has the monument to prove it: Did you also know that I used to live in Provincetown, courtesy of the Fine Arts Work Center, where Martin was a fiction fellow? I did! And it's been wonderful to be back, if only for 24 hours. Look at this... ...and this...
...and this:
Provincetown is so beautiful, just contantly casually all-the-time, like your friend who is gorgeous even first thing in the morning, unshowered and with her hair all messed up and no makeup or anything. Provincetown, how do you do it, and what is your secret? Here, Kyle contemplates these questions, or maybe something else, as he gazes out across the lonely bay: The quality of the loneliness in Provincetown is ever-present, but superior to the loneliness of the Pacific Northwest, though I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe it's because, geographically, though it is at the very end of the land... ...it is also at the forefront of the country in the Eastern time zone, and even though you are isolated, you are also by default kind of avant-garde?

We have to leave the Cape soon to make it to Providence in time for our reading there at Ada Books with Brian Evenson tonight at 7:00. You should try to make it too! See you there.

3 comments:

Martin Seay said...

The loneliness of the Pacific Northwest is the loneliness of the land having no use for you: it's the loneliness of being provisional, of having no surface available to which human history will hold fast. The loneliness of Provincetown is the loneliness of the Box Lunch place being closed till spring.

Kathleen Rooney said...

The Box Lunch place was actually open, so there were hot guacs all around. It was a February miracle. Wish you'd been there.

Martin Seay said...

You are blowing my mind. Seriously? That's it: I'm applying for a returning residency.